The Times

Chris Smyth, Health Editor, Vienna

Gerry Gajadharsingh writes:

 Whilst the research below relates to children the message is also applicable to adults as well.

 I remember over 10 years ago going to one of my children’s Parent open evenings at their primary school and having an argument with one of the teachers regarding their “healthy eating” guidelines, pushed on them by government/educational policies. The guidelines at the time suggesting fruit juice was one of the “healthy” options, I see things haven’t really changed.

 I also remember a few years ago sitting at dinner at an osteopathic conference getting into conversation with one of my colleagues regarding fruit juice. She simply wouldn’t “believe” that the amount of sugar that fruit juice contains could possibly contribute towards obesity (which is what the researcher below is about), never mind the overwhelming evidence that high levels of glucose (sugar), provokes an insulin response which tends to be pro-inflammatory and contributes to the many of the health problems that we see.

 Outdated belief systems are, in my opinion, one of the main contributors towards ill-health. People often ask me what I do as a clinician and very often my answerer is that I help people change their belief systems.

 You only need to go into a local coffee shop, which has rows and rows of so-called “healthy fruit juice and smoothies”, pick up a bottle look at the ingredients on the back and realise that the amount of carbohydrate/ sugar contained in the bottle is high. It’s not uncommon for a small 250 ml bottle to contain 30 g of sugar, equivalent to at least 7 teaspoons.

 People will still say things like:

I thought natural sugar was fine (sugar is sugar)

Fruit juices and smoothies “make me feel really healthy and energetic” (maybe at the time because you have had the sugar)

Vegetable juicing is fine (I agree it’s better than fruit juicing but I suspect research will also conclude it pushes up your sugar load)

 Essentially whenever you break down any carbohydrate (fruit, vegetables and starch), juicing, pulping or processing it will increase the sugar load.

 

If you want an apple, it’s better to simply eat the apple not squash it to pulp and think it’s going to be healthy for you.

 A few years ago, the Australians suggested a 7:2 ratio (seven portions of vegetables and a maximum of two portions of fruit a day, no fruit juice/ or diluted fruit juice with water). I wonder why our UK government seems to be so behind the times.

 The other interesting thing about this research was about children skipping breakfast. They said the “hypothesis” was that if they skip breakfast they might tend to want to eat more food later on during today. Actually, it’s more than a hypothesis, there is research out there looking at different types of breakfast and the effect it has on signalling messages for the amount of food we consume later on in the day.

A Breakfast containing good quality protein and low glycaemic load carbohydrate sets us up for the day and will often reduce the amount of food we need to eat later on during the day. By the way most cereals are relatively high glycaemic load carbohydrate, we don’t tend to recommend them for breakfast, apart from porridge!

 By the way WE CANNOT survive with carbohydrates(carbs). There is a FAD with people saying, “I eat no carbs”. If that really were the case they would be eating NO Vegetables, Fruit or starch!

 It is impossible to not have some sugar in your diet (all carbs release sugar/glucose). The issue is to give people information regarding Glycaemic Load (sugar load) so that they are better informed. I have written before about the unintended consequences of government policy in relation to health.

 However, for many of us, we are creatures of habit, we eat what we eat because we like it, it’s what we’ve always done, and maybe we believe it’s good for us. It takes time to change.

 I’m sure an occasional juice or smoothie is fine for most people, I just wouldn’t do it too regularly if you care about your health, but then again, we all have a choice to do what we want to do. If I occasionally squeeze an orange it will be 1 or a maximum of 2 oranges, you won’t get a lot of juice but also won’t get as much sugar as a full glass of juice or smoothie.

Children who have orange or apple juice for breakfast are 50 per cent more likely to be overweight, and their parents should give them water instead, Austrian scientists say.

Parents should not assume that juice is healthy and should replace it with a piece of fruit for their children’s breakfast, the researchers said.

Skipping breakfast completely is also a bad idea. Teenagers who did so were on average a kilogram heavier than those who ate breakfast, the study said.

The scientists questioned 652 children aged about 13 on their breakfast habits. Most types of food had no clear relationship with their weight.

However, those who drank fruit juice more than three times a week were 50 per cent more likely to be overweight or obese than those who did not. Those who regularly drank water saw their risk fall by 40 per cent, according to data published at the European Congress on Obesity in Vienna.

Maria Luger, of the Medical University of Vienna, who presented the findings, said the link with fruit juice was “surprising” because of the nutrients in it, but pointed out that it had as many calories from sugar as fizzy drinks.

“Fruit juice is considered healthy, but you have to add water,” she said, suggesting that Britain adopt the Australian habit of diluting juice. “Drink water or unsweetened tea and if you drink fruit juice, add water. For breakfast have unsweetened porridge or cereals.”

Children who often had pastries for breakfast were more than twice as likely to be overweight. Dr Luger said the key message to parents was to “reduce the sugar at breakfast”.

She said: “It’s very important to get a lot of fibre. So, eat an apple or an orange instead of drinking fruit juice . . . We have to look at the whole breakfast and not fruit juice alone. If you eat pastries and sweetened cereals and drink fruit juice as well, it’s more energy.”

More than a quarter of the children surveyed regularly skipped breakfast. They weighed 54.8kg on average, compared with 53.2kg for those who ate it daily. “The hypothesis is that breakfast skippers eat more junk food, pastries and sweets and drink more soft drinks” because they are hungry later in the day, Dr Luger said.

The results cannot prove that a regular morning glass of orange or apple juice causes weight gain. However, Professor Jason Halford, of the University of Liverpool, said that the findings should not be a shock. “Fruit juice is not entirely bad but in terms of appetite it is not as filling as whole fruit and has the fibre removed and consequently [it is] a concentrated form of sugar,” he said. He suggested opting for freshly squeezed juice over concentrate as it is less sugary. “The more you remove things the more you move from healthy to unhealthy,” he added.

The NHS says that water is best but that a small glass of juice counts towards the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Professor Halford advised parents to “bear in mind it is a source of sugar but there are valuable nutrients in there, unlike soda”.

However, Carrie Ruxton, of the British Fruit Juice Association, insisted that the study did not prove a link. “A daily 150ml glass of pure fruit juice, the portion size recommended by Public Health England, helps children to meet dietary targets for fruits and vegetables and is an important source of vitamin C, folate and potassium,” she said.