Is Fruit Juice Healthy for Kids?

For years fruit juice has been considered a healthy drink of choice by parents. It does not have all the unnatural ingredients of fruit-flavored drinks, and soda-pop. It also has been recommended as a good source of calcium, vitamin C, and other nutrients by family doctors. In a day and age when children rarely get the recommended daily values for fruits and vegetables, juice can seem like a good strategy to help your children at least get a few servings of something nutritious.

But as it turns out, fruit juice may not be all that helpful.

Not long ago the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a warning about fruit juice and its misuse in pediatrics. The AAP's major concern was that doctors were only considering the benefits and not the potential problems with it. The reports says that parents should be aware that juice is not without its problems, and parents should be aware.

So, what is the big, unhealthy deal about juice? Well, for one, kids are drinking way too much of it-which should not surprise any parent, because kids love it! The AAP report says that while children under age 12 only account for 18% of the total population, they consume 28% of all fruit juices in the U.S. (On average, that is about 9 gallons per person are consumed every year.)

• From a nutritional standpoint, fruit juices, especially fruit juice concentrate, has all of the sugar of soda, but without the nutritional value of whole fruit. The AAP states that commercial fruit juice offers no nutritional value or benefits over whole fruit.


• Over-consumption of fruit juice may be a factor in dental problems and digestive problems like diarrhea and gassiness-and should not be a food source in a child with diarrhea or dehydration due to illness. In other words, telling kids with fever and flu to drink cups of juice to acquire Vitamin C and stay hydrated may not be the best option.


• In some families without access to proper nutritional resources, increasing fruit juice has meant an increase in malnutrition, as children prefer to drink it over consuming real food.


• While the data is controversial, some studies have found a connection between drinking juice and obesity in children. (More likely than not it has to do with overwhelming consumption of sugars eaten in the Standard American Diet, which includes refined grains and sugary drinks in general.)

So, what is a parent of juice-loving kids supposed to do with that fact that juice is not healthy when consumed only in moderation?

Here are a few important tips:

• Instead of drinking fruit juices as a source of vitamin C and calcium, parents should choose whole fruits for their children.


• If it has already become a regular source of hydration, parents can easily reduce the amount of juice consumed by adding water to the child's cup.


• If parents want to increase vitamin C in children with cold and flu-like symptoms, water with a high quality chewable vitamin C supplement may be more helpful than increasing the child's consumption of sugary juice.


• Consider becoming a family that juices. With just a small investment your family can bring home an efficient juicer that you use to create your own healthy, natural cocktails-out of both whole vegetables and fruits. Juicing is a great way to get more of your daily recommended values of these important foods, in the convenience of a beverage that can be just as sweet as a juice box, but offer more nutritional content.


• Finally, Whatever you do, stay away from "fruit juice drinks" or "fruit juice cocktail" which contains very little real juice, and mostly contains sugars and fillers.

Is fruit juice healthy for kids? In moderation it may not be harmful, but as the concern of the American Academy of Pediatrics has shown, fruit juice is not healthy in the the quantities that many American children drink it. While fruit juice can potentially count as a serving for fruit in your child's diet, he or she would do better nutritionally to simply eat a whole fruit. So, here's to putting down the orange juice, and picking up an orange!