HealthScout News by Colette Bouchez:

If you stock your refrigerator with fruit juices, you may be setting your kids up for a battle with obesity.

That's the suggestion of a new study finding that overweight children consume 65 percent more of the calorie-laden juices than thinner kids.

"Parents think that because fruit juices are natural that they are a healthy drink, so they don't put a limit on how much their children consume," says study author Dr. Sarita Dhuper, director of pediatric cardiology and the pediatric obesity clinic at the Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center.

In truth, however, Dhuper says fruit drinks are a major source of calories on their own. Moreover, she says, their high sugar content may increase a child's appetite for even greater amounts of food, thus further contributing to weight gain.

Juicing fruit removes all the fiber from fruit, which means that the carbohydrates (sugars) in fruit juice get converted into blood glucose very quickly. The body releases insulin to bring the blood glucose down. What ever is not used by the body for energy at the time gets stored as fat. This happens quickly and kids end up becoming hungry soon after drinking fruit juice.

What's a better solution? Have kids eat fresh fruit and drink water instead of drinking fruit juices. The fiber in the fruit slows down the rate at which carbohydrates (sugars) get converted into blood glucose. Three positive benefits: 1) kids don't get hungry quickly as they do with juice; 2) they get all the vitamins that they need from the fruit and 3) the water keeps kids hydrated.

Here's a rule of thumb: The less processed a food is, the better it is for you.

Eat Right. Live Better.

-Tim
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