Drinking natural fruit juices daily may contribute to weight gain

Fruits and vegetables are healthy foods that we should include in our daily diet. In fact, experts recommend eating at least five servings per day, since frequent consumption is associated with a lower risk of disease or premature death. However, take often Fruit juiceEven if they’re natural, they’re not the best option, and now a new study has found that drinking a glass or more of 100% fruit juice every day is associated with a small weight gain in children and adults.

The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Toronto and the University of Toronto School of Public Health. T.Ch. Chan Institute at Harvard University, which analyzed 42 studies: 25 among adults with a total of 268,095 participants and 17 among children (45,851). Their results were published in YAMA network

and show an association between drinking a serving of fruit juice every day and increasing body mass index (BMI) in children. But he also found weight gain in adults.

The authors note that the problem lies in the amount of fruit that is eaten at one time in the form of juice. “For example, how often do we eat three oranges? However, a glass of orange juice is roughly equivalent to three oranges, which can be eaten in one or two minutes, and we can go back and drink another one and that will provide plenty calories and will cause an increase in blood glucose levels,” explained Dr. Walter WillettProfessor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. T.Ch. Chan and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, in an email that can be seen CNN Health.

Association between fruit juice consumption and increased BMI in children

The authors decided to investigate the relationship between consumption of 100% fruit juices and body weight in children and adults. “Concerns have been raised that frequent consumption of 100% fruit juice may contribute to weight gain,” they note in the paper. “Current evidence on fruit juices and weight gain has produced conflicting results in both observational studies and clinical trials,” they add.

They tracked scientific evidence available in databases such as Medline, Embase and Cochrane for studies published up to May 18, 2023, and then conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of a total of 42 studies to assess the effects of fruit juice consumption. in children and adults who took part in them. They assessed change in BMI (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) in children and change in body weight in adults.

“Our results support recommendations to limit fruit juice consumption to prevent excessive calorie intake and weight gain.”

In their analysis, they found a “positive and significant” association between drinking 100% fruit juice and increasing BMI in children. Each additional serving of 100% fruit juice per day was associated with a 0.03 (95% CI, 0.01–0.05) increase in BMI. In adults, they also observed a positive correlation between juice consumption and weight gain, but in this case the results were more variable. Studies that did not control for energy (calorie) intake showed an increase in body weight of 0.21 kg (95% CI, 0.15–0.27 kg).

They found that under certain circumstances, people who consumed fruit juices daily could gain an average of up to five kilograms per year, although no such increase was found in other cases. The study authors noted that many of the studies conducted so far to identify the public health effects of fruit juices were biased by “serious conflicts of interest” on the part of the food industry. .

And they conclude: “Our results support recommendations to limit fruit juice consumption to prevent excessive calorie intake and weight gain.” Although they also admit that it is advisable to conduct additional tests based on 100% fruit juice consumption and body weight.