It seems that juice manufacturers are capitalizing on our culture’s obsession with weight by putting their juices on a “diet!” Just walk down any juice aisle and find many of your favorite juices in low-calorie, sugar-free varieties.
We’re all looking to cut calories – but are these emaciated juices sacrificing nutrition for fewer calories?
Case in Point: V8 V-Fusion Light Peach Mango
Ingredients: Reconstituted Vegetable Juice Blend (Water and Concentrated Juices of Sweet Potatoes, Yellow Tomatoes, Carrots, Yellow Carrots), Reconstituted Fruit Juice Blend (Water and Concentrated Juices of Apples, Peaches, Oranges), Contains Less than 2% of the Following: Mango Puree Concentrate, Natural Flavoring, Ascorbic Acid (Added to Help Retain Color), Citric Acid, Sucralose, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate).
Decoding the Fine Print
Well, it looks like V8 ought to change its name to V4! After our sleuthing staff read the fine print on the back label and then compared this product to V8 V-Fusion’s regular (100% juice) variety, we discovered the lighter version kept only 50% of its juice! Take a look.
- Since the light version contains 50% less juice, you’re getting just half the nutrition!
- Sure, it contains half the calories and less sugar than the regular version, but that’s only because some of the natural sugar from the juice went out the window along with half the nutrition and flavor.
- For taste, they’ve added Splenda, a poorly tested, artificial sweetener made from some of the same ingredients you’d find in bleach–yuck!
- Many beverages using Splenda tend to leave a weird aftertaste. This “light” juice is no exception – it sure left a bad taste in our mouths!
Bottom line: The “light” versions of most juice drinks may sound like healthier alternatives; however, manufacturers usually compensate for the lack of calories (read: sugar/carbs) by replacing much of the juice with water and then adding artificial sweeteners to boost the flavor.
Don’t you feel sort of cheated?
Reality Check
If you’re looking for a convenient way to drink your fruits and veggies, then stick with the V8 V-Fusion 100% Juice variety that gets our BestBrands Stamp of Approval. Drink it and you’ll get a FULL serving of fruits and veggies in one 8 oz glass, plus all the great taste. What you won’t get is anything artificial!
Let’s recap: When shopping for a healthy juice drink look for varieties that offer 100% juice on the front label, not those “lighter” wannabe cocktails packed with artificial sweeteners.
About the author: Kerry McLeod is the chief Brand Doctor for eBrandAid.com. Kerry’s mission in life is to teach food shoppers how to cut through the clutter at the grocery store in order to find the truly healthy brand-name foods.
There’s nothing I’d rather have than two cups of cherry tomatoes to wash down a sandwich, snack, or pills.
I read both the light variety and the regular variety just the other day. Since no one decided to point this out, the 2nd ingredient, yes right after the water, of the regular version was high fructose corn syrup. The light verison has sucralose near the end of the list. The high fructose corn syrup isn’t going to do anything to help trim your waist line.
I totally agree with buying the regular. I just recently tried the V-8 Fusion Light because it was on sale. I got 4 bottles because I’m not getting enough fruits and vegetables in my day and bought the light because I’m trying to lose some of this fat that has so abundantly attached itself to my midsection. I think it loves me because it isn’t very willing to go away. But I digress…..After I get it home, taste it (tastes like juice and water), and read over the bottle I realize I should have bought the regular. I could have saved my money by buying the regular and mixing it half and half with water and come up with approximately the same taste, calories, sugar, and fruit servings for half the price. Now I have to drink twice as much just to get 1 serving of fruit and vegetables and by that time I’ve downed almost the same amount of calories and sugar as the regular anyway. I wish I’d have come across this blog sooner. I’ll be buying only the regular from now on.
Non-diet V8 fusion may be 100% juice, but a lot of that is the grape juice that companies put in as an extra sweetener. White grape juice is basically high-fructose corn syrup that is squeezed from a fruit. So for the fusion light they leave out the grape juice, put in water and Splenda instead.
Seems like you have to choose your “poison.” My husband, a type 2 diabetic with high blood pressure, thought he would do himself a favor and get the low sodium V8. Seems they replaced the sodium with sugar. So, now instead of being a healthy alternative for him, he literally has to decide which would be worse – the sodium or the sugar.
Did I miss something here? Some people don’t like “regular” V8 juice, or can’t have all of the sugar that regular juice has. Light Fusion has fewer calories, 100% Vitamin C and extra Vitamin E and A plus Potassium. Its a great work out drink. I like it.
just have an apple and wash it down with water!
Interesting info. Whether the real thing or the “lightened” version, juices on the whole are sources of concentrated carbs which, except in the cases of some of the very low carb veggie juices, will stimulate excess insulin production which in turn can wreck havoc in regard to appetite and loss of excess stored fat.
I’ve been watering down my juice for years, on the rare occasion I drink it. I agree it’s more thrist queching, and I’m not a fan of overly sweet foods. Not even as a kid. Give me hot or spicey instead!
< < Sucralose (C12H19Cl3O8) is an organochloride and some of these are bad. Why consume it if you don't have too? >>
Because it’s totally safe, tastes great, has no calories and doesn’t promote tooth decay. (Did I miss anything?)
Seriously, this Luddite paranoia over artificial sweeteners (sucralose, aspartame, etc.) is getting a bit tiring. It’s 2008; time to ditch the urban legends and embrace these wonderful molecules.
many juices on market all competiting to be the best.but i always take natural crushed apple,orange and mango juices
I drink juice occasionally because it tastes good. Only 100% fruit juice or V-8. And I do feel a small glass of 100% orange juice (Simply Orange High Pulp = yum) is a better alternative to a soda if I’m wanting a flavored beverage.
Of course, I don’t normally drink that much. I did increase my juice intake when my food intake wasn’t quite high enough (pregnant.)
I guess some people like V-8, but I’m not a fan. The only way I can tolerate it is mixed up with vodka, horseradish root, and a celery stalk in a Bloody Mary. Which probably cancels out most of the nutritional benefits it would have. But if you have a hard time getting all your veggies in, it’s not a bad option.
Great review I do love the real thing as well I’m on a light diet but still love to have my V8
I did think that snippet was a bit too sensationalist, although from the juice perspective I can certainly agree with a lot of the article (I have no problem with splenda, and I can’t really tell the difference taste wise between it and normal sugar).
I think that the advertising might not be entirely unfair however; people that care about what’s going in their mouth and choose ‘light’ versions would probably read the ingredients, and many times ‘Splenda’ is displayed prominently on the package in the trademark yellow and blue, although I can’t see that in the product picture. It’s common enough on other juice cocktails that I have seen.
Im the queen of black and white thinking. I really am… but when it comes to discussing dieting it blows my mind how quickly and strongly people make a judgement. I believe that the v8 juice stuff has its appropriate place in my life. When I am running out the door or on a long car ride I think its a perfectly good choice from the gas station. I wouldnt drink it every day but I dont feel sick afterwards. I can feel that it has some value and doesnt seem to affect my energy level TOO badly (no sugar high). Im a big believer in choosing the best option from what is available. I dont feel cheated that way. “best” means something healthy that tastes good. If you give me a choice of a few carrot sticks, a greesy cheeseburger or a platter with some veggies and maybe a cube or two of cheese I would choose the platter. Ok so my analogies are bad but I think you get the point. Anyways, I do agree with one point brought up in this post. The concept of “diet” versions of things that arent that bad in the first place are just ridiculous. Have you seen the new “diet green tea” forgive my language but WTF. DIET green tea????? Actual green tea is about the healthiest drink around but we have perverted it so much it now needs a “diet” version to cut out some of the sugar/calories. Put some green tea in a bottle if you must (though you lose many of the benefits that way) sweeten it with a bit of natural sweetner (if you must) and call it a day. Still better then the diet soda Im drinking right now (lol).
Aspartame makes me sick but sucralose doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t have that much of it though.
I agree with you on that totally. Had the same revelation. Why would I drink apple juice, orange juice – even 100% juice – when I could have the extra satisfaction, fibre, nutrition, by just eating the fruit. v-8 is really my only exception because I can leave a couple of tins of it in the car. For “solids” in the car I currently have some nuts and dried berries in there. I always plan to grab something on my way out the door and then ALWAYS forget so this – v8, dried fruit, nuts – is all stuff I can actually leave in the car all the time. If I actually remember to bring a banana or something with me as well it’s a bonus! The food in the car thing has eliminated desperation stops for junk food.
My other bias for v-8 is because I find drinking it hot like soup-in-a-mug somehow very satisfying – I like to add a little lime juice and Worchestershire sauce to it too.
I don’t get why people even drink juice for the most part. Probably the same reason they drink soda…it tastes pretty good and people “think” it’s fairly healthy. Most juice is like, 50% corn syrup and about 5-10% actual juice. And real juice concentrates the fructose that fruit naturally contains, so it concentrates the calories as well. People would be much better off just eating actual fruit/vegetables and drinking water.
Sucralose isn’t “made from the same ingredients you’d find in bleach”, it’s made from some of the same MOLECULES you’d find in bleach. Just like cyanide is made from the same molecules you’d find in the air (carbon and nitrogen). Sodium hypochlorite (bleach) is put together quite a bit differently than sucralose. Still, it’s pretty sneaky for juice companies to advertise their juice as “light” and not mention that it’s sweetened with Splenda. Some people have digestive issues with it, so it’s only fair that they know what they’re eating/drinking.
Yup, you’re right ^_^ I use Pria bars for “running out the door” moments.
Still, two cups of cherry tomatoes is a pile of tomatoes, which was a poorly-made point of my message… by eating the fruit instead of the juice, you get a lot more satisfaction just in terms of volume. This dawned on me at one point, and now I don’t drink juice except when I’m jet lagged.
I’m not trying to lecture you, though… I know you know all this. I had just read Dr.J’s blog entry about the American obesity machine, which made me even more grumpy about the juice industry.
That’s what I do too…I usually mix juice 50/50 with sparkling water or plain water and ice and it becomes a “juice spritzer”. That’s how I’ve always consumed my juice and actually I find most straight juice too sweet for my tastes.
Agree with article. Lite can be a real smoke screen.
Just want to point out that Splenda (sucralose) and bleach are not related. Yes they both have chlorines but so do lots of compounds. Chlorine bleach is sodium hypochlorite Na0Cl that is a sodium (Na), an oxygen (O) and a chlorine (Cl). Remove the oxygen and you have sodium chloride (NaCl) which is common table salt. Obviously bleach and salt are not similar in their characteristics. Sucralose (C12H19Cl3O8) is an organochloride and some of these are bad. Why consume it if you don’t have too?
If you want a healthy, refreshing alternative to water, drink unsweetened cold tea. Since I went on a health kick, it’s pretty much the only thing that I drink other than water or coffee.
This is my favorite brand:
http://www.itoen.com/tea/index.cfm
I’m with everyone here when it comes to artificial sweeteners…yuck! I’ll have the real thing anytime, thanks.
I think people are definitely being mislead by fancy juice bottles and labels which try to swing people into thinking the juice is healthier than it is. I know seeing some of those Oasis juice containers makes it look like it is different than “regular” sugar filled juice but it is exactly the same. Just packaged differently.
The average consumer doesn’t stand a chance for many of them.
I agree. Even in the days when I drank juice I would buy the frozen kind and then add almost twice the recommended water to it when mixing it up. I still do that if I buy the kids juice. Juice is just too gacky sweet for me if I drink it full strength. I like it with sparkling water too.
If I have family or friends over the “bar” I put out consists of cranberry juice, orange juice, sparkling water, and sparkling wine. I like watching what people mix up for themselves and find most people will water down their juice.
Yeah, but when I’m running out the door washing and then eating 2 cups of cherry tomatoes in the car is a little bit cumbersome!
I have no qualms with the salt in v8. But they make a low-sodium version for those who do.
Surely the only way for companies to make a “low calorie” juice is to water it down..?
If you want a cost effective low-cal juice drink, just buy a carton of the regular variety, and a bottle of sparkling water. Then mix half juice to half sparkling water. I actually find watered-down juice more thirst quenching!
Ali
You really can’t lighten juice because fruits contain that natural sugar.
I really try to stay away from all “light” and “diet” products, especially the 0 products (Coke Zero, Pepsi 1).
V8 is a good choice in juices… But, V8 has something close to 600 mg of sodium; low sodium V8 cuts this to 140 mg. Two cups of cherry tomatoes has the same number of calories and about 15 mg of sodium…
I usually have juice only when I’m badly jet-lagged. The carbo-and-acid rush of a glass of orange juice does more for me than a liter of coffee.
Plain old v-8 juice only has 50 calories anyway – and it doesn’t have any additional stuff in it. It’s water, tomato paste, and juice from several different vegetables. It’s the only juice I drink, and I only drink it when I’m very short on time and haven’t had enough real vegetables. Sometimes I heat it up in the microwave like soup and put it in my travel mug before I leave the house. It’s the only juice I’ve had for years, other than maybe the odd glass of grapefruit juice at a restaurant. Like most of the “juices” available, when the V-8 fusion came out I read the label and then kept right on going in the grocery store.
I too get really annoyed with all the sweeteners out there. Certainly, choose regular fruit, vegetables and their juices over any sweetener water.
Good investigative work! Juices are probably one of the most deceitful categories of foods. Companies are trying very hard to “enhance” them in some way to make them appear healthful.
I disagree about splenda, though – it’s actually been very well tested and the fact that it has chlorine atoms is of no consequence.
In any case, many people prefer the real thing (as do I) and I’m glad people like you are doing the legwork to inform the public about food deception
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Hi Kerry,
Great post, I completely agree with you! I try to avoid all artificial sweeteners nowadays, it’s much better to have a small glass of the 100% juice as you said, or better still just eat the whole fruit.