Juice Vs. Drink: Which Is Better For Your Kid?
Posted May 9, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
What’s in a name? Even Shakespeare might not have known the answer when it comes to “fruit juice” and “fruit drink”. There’s only one word different in each but according to new research, that simple term can play a big role in whether your child falls victim to obesity.
For years, both have co-existed on your grocery shelf. And in many cases, the bottle or container with the ‘drink’ was a lot cheaper. But there’s a reason behind that bargain and it comes with a check of the ingredients. “Juice” contains just that – pure juice. According to research from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey introduced in Toronto earlier this week, having your kids drink fruit juice actually helps them maintain their weight and they tend to have a better diet. They also have an added bonus for parents with fussy kids – the beverages taste good and they’re good for you.
But having them consume fruit drink – which is sometimes more water than fruit and is loaded with artificial sugar – can have the opposite effect. That’s news to moms like Sari Diamond, who never knew the difference and believes many of the misconceptions about both kids of liquids.
“I’m not crazy about giving them juice,” she confesses. “I’ve done a lot of research, and dentists say don’t give them juice because of cavities, the doctors tell us about the connection to obesity.”
But pure juice has Vitamin C and lots of nutrients, and while you’d still be better off having your kids eat an actual piece of fruit, a drink is the next best thing. The research was sponsored by the juice industry but experts say the conclusions are sound.
“We did not find a relationship between 100 percent juice consumption and overweight among children,” explains principal investigator Dr. Theresa Nicklas, a pediatric nutrition specialist at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston . “Even among the children who consumed the most juice, we found no association at all with the children being overweight or at risk for overweight.”
How many servings should they have a day? The answer is in the Canada Food Guide here. As for the big differences between juice and drink? It’s easy to drink it in here.
