Smoothies & cold pressed on-the-go

Whether you are on your way to work, coming from the gym, going to class, grocery shopping, or just out picking up some lunch, I’m sure you’ve seen the various fruit and vegetable natural smoothies and the famous cold pressed juices. As people become more health-conscious, they are looking for healthy alternatives to add into their diet and the natural fruit and vegetable smoothies and cold pressed juices have become very popular. However, are these advertised natural smoothies or cold-pressed juices actually healthy?

Naked fruit smoothie, Odwalla fruit smoothie, and Bolthouse Farms fruit smoothie drinks are all very similar and pretty popular. However, there seems to be some false labeling of “all natural” products, especially since the first ingredient in each of these drinks is either apple juice or orange juice. In particular PepsiCo, the producers of Naked, were sued in October of 2016 by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) for misleading consumers by marketing its “Naked Juice” beverages as healthier than they actually are. As you can see, the these drinks are packed with sugar, at least 44g and above for a 15oz drink, which isn’t only more than the amount of sugar in a 12oz can of Pepsi, but also the smallest option available. The biggest issue with these drinks is that they claim to have super nutrients when actually they are nutrient-poor products, packed with cheap ingredients and vitamin supplements. Adding vitamins to a juice doesn’t make it healthier or balance out the amount of sugar the drink contains. Although most of the sugar is derived from the fruit ingredients, this doesn’t matter to the body because there is zero fiber. These drinks have at least 200 calories and they don’t provide fullness, so it would seem that it’s better to eat an actual piece of fruit because not only will you get the natural sweet taste, but also the fullness from the fiber.

So what about cold-pressed juices?

Cold pressed juice is unique because the juice is made with a hydraulic press that uses thousands of pounds of pressure to extract the maximum amount of juice from fresh fruits and vegetables. No additional heat, blending, or oxygen is used in the processing, which means no nutrients are lost in heat like traditional pasteurization. One serving bottle of cold pressed juice typically cost between 5-10 dollars, which isn’t on the cheap side at all. Now when it comes to nutritional quality, these juices are low in calories, sugar, carbohydrates, but somewhat high in sodium. The higher sodium level is concerning for one drink because it is recommended that food items contain less than 140mg of sodium to help us stay within the 2,000-2,300mg of sodium per day. The typical American already consumes about 3,000-4,000mg of sodium per day. I would expect an advertised healthy drink to be low in sodium, but unfortunately these drinks don’t meet that expectation.

Some people claim that since cold pressed juices are exposed to minimal heat and air, they hold more vitamins and minerals present in whole fruit. However, there is no scientific research to support such claims. Although these drinks are a much better choice than the fruit and vegetable smoothies, both products contain zero fiber so there is no fullness gained.

Each product has a downfall which is why people should remember that a juice-focused diet doesn’t and cannot provide the nutrients our bodies need. Most fruits and vegetables contain little to no protein and the juicing process removes basically all fiber in whole produce. By consuming multiple bottles of juice per day, calories can add up quickly, without the fullness from whole fruits. Liquid calories are just not enough for our bodies and most will end up eating more.