Should I eat whole fruit or juice it ?

All of us know that fruits are good for health. Yes .But what about juices , which we all like so much & believe they are good for health as they are "fresh".

Studies have found that drinking 3 portions of fruit juice a week was associated with an 8% increase in diabetes risk.

Conversely, eating blueberries, grapes, apples and pears was associated with reduced risk. The researchers found that replacing fruit juices with three helpings of certain whole fruits a week would lower the risk by 7% per cent.Some whole fruits reduced the risk more than others. For grapefruits and bananas, there was a 5% decrease, whereas blueberries reduced the risk by 26 %. That is those who eat more whole fruits  have less chance of developing diabetes.

Why does this happen ?

When one eats whole fruit , there is delay in the release of sugar because of presence of fiber. So the blood glucose rises slowly .So there is no need for the body to produce more insulin to store the raised glucose level. 

When one drinks juice ( even pure fruit juice without added sugar ) , there is rapid absorption & there is higher & quicker spike in the sugar levels because there is no fiber in it to delay the sugar absorption. So the body has to produce more insulin & quickly  to bring down the sugar level . This problem is even worse in diabetics who do not have adequate insulin or have insulin resistance .You can see this clearly in below graph.

 

Apart from this there is loss of minerals, vitamins & other phytonutrient loss during the juicing process.

So it is best to eat the whole fruit rather than juice it .Of course one can occasionally( eg 1 serving per week )  take fresh fruit juice without added sugar . But diabetics must avoid fruit juices completely .They can however eat diabetic friendly fruits like guava, papaya, jamun , berries  etc .They should avoid too sweet fruits  like chickoo, over ripe bananas , over ripe mangoes, pineapple, lychee & watermelon  . If they want to eat very sweet fruits they must pair it with few nuts to slow the release of sugar & they need to cut down carbohydrate intake that day .

Some situations like eg when a person is unwell & is not able to eat whoke  fruits ,then juices are a good option but without added sugar & keeping as much of  fruit pulp  as possible .

Remember that the commonly available juices which are labelled " natural " , "real" etc commonly add extra  fruit sugar to make them taste well . They are also harmful due to the high sugar levels  . Also avoid all  processed fruits eg canned fruits. They contain lot of added sugar, other preservatives & the fruits lose their nutrient value during storage process.

Bottom line : The best way is to enjoy fruits are in their  natural state , in their season & in their regions