One for the food police: A trivial question about orange juice

[SausageDogBusyStreet]

Smart price Asda orange juice lists the ingredients as 100% orange from concentrate.

Is expensive orange juice better for you? Surely you can't improve on 100% orange?

I can see that the 'made from concentrate' bit might not be so good, but haveto admit that I have no real idea why that might be a bad thing.

Care to educate me

Nothing really, freshly squeezed will be fresher, possibly more vitamins, but as long as it is made up to same dilutions sugar content will be the same. I don't see any reason why smart price will be any better than branded juice made from concentrate.

Of course orange juice isn't particularly good for you anyway, full of sugar and very acidic so bad for teeth. Far better off drinking water, sugar free squash, or diluting the juice. Or just eating an actual orange!

Agree with Mummyhappypils, orange juice is full of sugar, even the pure stuff, best avioded really, eat oranges instead.

They usually use cheaper oranges bought on the international commodity markets which often means they're not as ripe or sweet as oranges grown specifically for the eating-whole market. And that's why carton pasteurised juice even at 100% juice is almost always sharper than freshly squeezed. I can only drink it diluted 50-50 with water as it's too acidic for me, taste and digestive wise.

Oranges are rated for their acid/sugar ratio and priced accordingly. Concentrate is shipped in tankers around the world before being reconstituted at the packing/bottling plant. A blend that contains a lot more of the nastier tasting oranges and which is from concentrate will be much cheaper than the one that contains sweeter tasting oranges that have been freshly squeezed on site.

Isn't juice made from concentrate better for the planet though? I always thought the reduced transport volume of concentrated oranges rather than actual oranges was the reason to buy the concentrated juice. Tbh though when my dh does the weekend early morning 'paper' shop he buys fancy juice and I don't buy it during the week so so much for my planet saving ideals.

I'm not sure why you would consume more sugar from freshly squeezed juice, than from eating fresh oranges?

You would be consuming the equivalent of several oranges. Not many people would sit down and eat several oranges is one sitting, so technically you would be eating more sugar. Plus all the fibre has been removed so the sugar is digested more quickly, causing your blood sugar to peak quickly, and more insulin to be released. So the effect of the sugar is worse, iyswim. So yes, fresh oranges do have lots of sugar, but the fibre means it is absorbed more slowly.

Exactly owl, though you need a fair few oranges to make juice so probably so get more sugar (and everything else). But some people need to learn the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic sugar and stop being so scared of sugar.

Thank you mummy and square, I get it now!