Juice may get dumped from Canada Food Guide as alternative to fruit : Report

Fruit juice, a common fixture in fridges and on breakfast tables across North America, may soon be struck off Canada’s Food Guide.

The guide currently says a half a cup of 100 per cent juice is the equivalent of a single serving of fruit, but there are concerns from nutritionists, doctors, and parents about the sugar content in the juices, which may undermine its nutritional value.

Dietician Sandra Cohen Rose says 100 per cent fruit juice does have nutritional value, but she’s still been worried about it since the early 1980s.

She says vitamins — and more importantly fiber — are lost in transition, and as a liquid, makes portion control much more complicated.

“Put it in the refrigerator, and three days later, you have a third less vitamin C,” she says, “because vitamin C is very easily destroyed by exposure.”

She adds while there may be a big difference between the stuff you find in juice boxes and a 100 fruit puree — nothing beats the real thing, in solid form.

Agencies/Canadajournal