Introduction 

Keeping your body fit is essential if you want a good personality or to impress someone. Fitness is not limited to having a healthy body, but it is acquainted with metabolic health and metabolic fitness, which starts from inside of our body. For any normal person or an athlete to boost his Athletic Endurance and Athletic Performance, it is essential that he knows his body. If the person has a problem with sugar, he must go for CGM installation since that will help him to keep his glucose in check and stay fit. Also, it will help him in reducing his body weight if he is obese. 

Experiment Question

Which is Better? Packaged or Fresh Juice?

Experiment Answer

Fresh Fruit Juice!

Strained fruit juices are devoid of fibre. Especially those which are packaged will have added sugars with preservatives in them compared to those which is freshly prepared at home and consumed without removing fiber.

Scientific Rationale

The packaged juice products in a bottle or tetra packs are considered a bad option for people because; most of the packaged drinks do not contain any natural fruit juice. Rather, they have artificial fruit flavours with more additional sugar added to them. Instead of packaged juice or drinks, one can always opt for natural freshly squeezed fruit juice.

Discussion

Packaged Juice

‍Packaged juice includes a wide variety of fruit drinks, soft drinks and other vitamin water drinks. These are entirely made up of sucrose, corn syrup, and other fruit juice concentrates. Thus, it induces a faster rise in insulin as well as blood glucose levels as they contain high GI content. The packaged juice drinks lack certain nutrients such as Ca, Mg, K and other essential vitamins. They do not have adequate fibres or other antioxidants and phytochemicals. ACCORDING TO A STUDY, the GI values of apple juice and orange juice were found to be 92.17 and 99.07, respectively. When the GI value exceeds 70, the foods are categorised as high GI food or hyperglycemic food. Hence, packaged juice is one a hyperglycemic food. A high GI value suggests a high GL value too. 

‍Fruit juice leads to hyperglycemia by increasing blood sugar levels. This is due to the high GI value. Most packaged fruit drinks have their GI value between 66 and 76 when placed on a scale of 100. It has high-calorie content with high amounts of artificial sweeteners. The fruit juice should always be made at home with natural fruits as it has a high amount of fibre. Since the packaged juice contains no fibres due to the artificial fruit flavours and concentrates, it is easily absorbed by the body, causing a spike in blood sugar levels. Know about fruit for diabetes.

Fresh Fruit Juice

Two main reasons why you should ditch the packaged stuff and opt for freshly squeezed juice or ideally just start consuming your fruits fresh and whole.

1. Fruits Contain Essential Nutrients

We all are very well aware of how healthy fruits and vegetables are for our bodies. They contain several vitamins and minerals that help boost your immune system and overall health. However, did you know that most of the helpful nutrients of fruits are present in the fruit's skin? So when you discard the skin and the pulp of the fruit after juicing, you are getting rid of some of the nutrients because you picked up the fruits in the first place.

2. Fruits Help You Stay Full for Longer

Having a fruit between meals or even carrying one with you while travelling or working can help you avoid giving in and binge eating at your favourite fast food joint that may be just a few doors down from you. At the same time, a fruit keeps you fuller for longer than a fruit juice giving you enough energy to get everything done throughout the day. Avoiding processed snacks and fast food can go a long way in managing your weight, blood sugar levels, and diabetes.

Bottomline

It is much better to eat the fruit rather than drink its juice, however if you are craving for fresh juice, make sure you may blend the whole fruit and create a fruit smoothie, as most nutrients and fibre are retained in the smoothie. Blending fruits and vegetables is also a good idea for picky eaters as you would be able to mask the taste of the fruit you do not like while getting similar amounts of nutrients from the mixture. Results of this experiment done in the past have shown that fresh juice is a way better option than packaged juices since it makes a tremendous difference in the amount of sugar being absorbed and calorie content consumed.

FAQs

What Category does Packaged Juice fall under?

It falls under the hyperglycemic food category.

Why does Packaged Juice increase blood sugar?

Packaged juice increases blood sugar because it contains high levels of carbohydrates in the form of artificial sweeteners and no fibre content.

What type of Fresh Juice is good for diabetes?

Citrus fruit juice, aloe vera juice etc., are good for diabetes.

Can Fresh Juice be a substitute for water?

Water cannot be substituted with any fresh juices.

Why are fibres important in fruit drinks?

Fibres do not increase blood sugar levels inside the body, leading to slow absorption.