Fruit juice is so high in sugar it should not count as part of a healthy five-a-day diet, the British Government’s obesity tsar has warned. The public should even start watering it down to wean themselves off it, said Oxford professor Dr Susan Jebb.
Some brands of orange juice contain as much sugar as cola and should be taxed because of their potential effect on the nation’s health, she claimed.
Experts say shoppers are now getting confusing messages about food, with a huge range of products saying they count towards a five-a-day diet. Tinned fruit, children’s drinks and even spaghetti hoops are all claiming health benefits – even though they are said to contain potentially unhealthy levels of sugar and salt.
Juice drinks have been singled out as a particular concern – lacking fibre and other nutrients as well as being high in calories. Even pure fruit juice is said to contain a large amount of naturally-occurring sugar – but people end up drinking too much of it because they do not see it as unhealthy.
Dr Jebb, a professor of diet and population health at Oxford University, said: ‘I would support taking it [fruit juice] out of the five-a-day guidance.
A small carton of orange juice contains about two and a half teaspoons of sugar, while a large glass has five. A whole orange has just two teaspoons, but also contains far more fibre – about 3 grams compared to none in juice.
Fruit also makes people feel fuller, helping to cut down on the need for other snacks. Dr Jebb’s comments come after health experts last week urged firms to cut the amount of sugar added to food over concerns it is becoming the ‘new tobacco’.
In 2011, researchers from Leeds University and the University of Bangor also called for fruit juice to be discounted from a healthy diet.
They said it gives the public a ‘sweet tooth’ and discourages them from eating fruit pieces that are far better for health.
The ‘five a day’ campaign was launched by the Department of Health in 2003, with the aim of encouraging Britons to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables every day. Its guidance says smoothies and juices, plus tins of fruit and veg, can count as up to two portions.
Oxford researchers have claimed that following the guidelines could prevent 15,000 deaths a year from cancer, strokes and heart disease.
But surveys have found that as little as a fifth of adults and one in ten children meet the target.
A poll of 2,000 adults by the World Cancer Research Fund last year found that an average of 22 per cent of adults in England meet the five a day target. Figures ranged from 17 per cent in the North to 26 per cent in the South.
Source:mailonline
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