fruit juice

Milk is gross. It makes me sick. And honestly, I don't know why people drink it. We don't need it. Milk is for baby cows, not humans.

Now, even though I don't like milk, it's got to be better than sugary fruits drinks, right? Make no mistake, fruits drinks are not the same as fruit juice. Juice is fresh squeezed. Drink comes in a jug marked "grape".

New research by The University of California, Davis claims that fructose--found in fresh fruit, fruit juice, and jams--may cause people to accumulate belly fat.

After 10 weeks of being fed a "normal diet" the 33 study participants--overweight and obese adults--were split into two groups. For the next 10 weeks one group received 25% of their calories from fructose and the other group was fed the same amount from glucose.

We're not talking about alcoholism this time, though alcohol is apparently one of the culprits. According to researchers at the University of North Carolina, the number of calories American adults get through their beverages has nearly doubled over the past 37 years.

How many additional calories does this add up to? And what are the health implications?

Nutrition advice can be frustrating. It's often confusing and sometimes flat out contradictory. Fruit juice consumption is a perfect example.

New research concludes that consumption of fruit juice in children has no association whatsoever with risk of being overweight.

Hang on. Just two months ago, Australian research concluded the complete opposite.

So which is it?

Research from Australia has concluded that children who drink 2 cups of fruit juice or fruit drinks per day were more likely to be overweight or obese than those who did not.

It seems that the more fruit juice consumed, the more chance of being overweight: "Children who drank more than three glasses of soft drink - three quarters of a litre or 750ml - or four glasses of fruit juice/drinks on the day in question were more than twice as likely to be overweight or obese compared with children who did not drink these drinks," (http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21413273-2862,00.html">source)