In case you missed this recent New York Times opinion piece published by three accomplished pediatricians, let me summarize it for you: Don’t drink fruit juice and don’t let your kids drink it, either.
What?! That’s right. Just don’t drink it. It’s really not much different from drinking full sugar soda. Both a 12-ounce glass of orange juice and a 12-ounce can of regular soda contain about 10 teaspoons of sugar. And the orange juice doesn’t really offer much in the way of nutrients or fiber or any of those many other “natural” benefits that we all thought it did.
“Parents should instead serve water [to their children],” the authors advise. We should all just drink water, the authors imply.
I suspect that the primary goals of this opinion piece are to serve as a wake up call to complacent adults and as a corrective to decades of misleading, pro-juice marketing efforts that we’ve all been subjected to. These goals are achieved.
But the advice to only drinking water is not really practical, or helpful.
Thank God for the New York Times comment section! Everything in moderation, we’re reminded by our fellow readers. Periodically drink small glasses of juice, not giant 12-ounce portions throughout the day. Mix your juice with sparkling water. Make your own juice and blend it with veggies and other natural goodies to up the nutrient and fiber content. Then mix that with sparkling water, too.
My wife and I like to mix our orange juice into brewed tea during the day and Prosecco during the aperitivo hour.
Whew! It’s actually OK to drink a little juice, if you put any stock in the collective wisdom and experience of New York Times readers.
Crisis averted, and just in time for aperitivo hour in the Richardson household . . .
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
