Why making the switch from regular soft drinks to fruit juice could be better for health

A Dutch study has found that substituting pure fruit juice for sugar-sweetened soft drinks reduces the risk of cardiometabolic diseases. What’s more, there’s no difference in risk when substituting pure fruit juice for fruit, suggesting fruit juice is complementary to whole fruit.

The study in the journal Public Health Nutrition used dietary records from 35,000 participants aged between 20 and 70 years to calculate how much 100% fruit juice was being consumed in relation to whole fruit and sugar-sweetened beverages. They then modelled the links with type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease and stroke after an average follow-up of almost 15 years.

Substituting pure fruit juice for sugar-sweetened beverages was linked with a lower risk of all of the cardiometabolic disease outcomes analysed. For example, a switch from added sugar drinks to pure fruit juice cut the risk of type 2 diabetes by 26% lower, and the risk of heart disease by 15%. However, there were no benefits or risks when fruit juice was consumed instead of fruit.

The authors concluded, “Based on this study, we found that pure fruit juice is not comparable to SSB [sugar-sweetened beverages] in relation to cardiometabolic risk, despite their similar sugar content.” For those with a sweet tooth, consuming fruit juice in line with dietary recommendations could be part of the solution for lowering cardiometabolic risk.

Reference

Scheffers et al. Substitution of pure fruit juice for fruit and sugar-sweetened beverages and cardiometabolic risk in European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-NL: A prospective cohort study. Public Health Nutrition. (2021). doi:10.1017/S1368980021000914