Friday, February 3, 2012

My juice conundrum

Lately, I have been trying to decide what is the "safest" juice to drink. We don't have much variety in the way of grocery stores here so I am pretty limited to what is available at the local Kroger. I have tried their brand of organic apple juice a few times but it costs almost $4 AND the apples aren't even from the U.S.! I had been getting the 100% juice varieties with no added sugar because we drink very little juice anyway (which I dilute with water as well). Juice really has no nutritional value when compared to actual fruit - it just tastes good :)

I like to follow the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines on juice:
~ Not recommended under 6 months of age
~ 6 months-1 yr can give sparingly but has no nutritional benefits
~ Children ages 1-6 years old should have no more than 4-6oz a day (4oz is half a cup)
~ Children ages 7-18 years should be limited to 8-12oz per day

Over the past few months, there has been a lot in the news about arsenic in apple juice. Did you see the Dr. Oz show that was all about poison being in children's drinks? I had heard about the episode and what they had found. Then I read the report published by Consumer Reports where they had conducted their own study on several different types and brands of juice. They found some pretty concerning results as far as the levels of arsenic in juice - especially grape juice! As if that was concerning enough, I had started noticing the fine print on the bottles of juice. Some had, "Concentrate from fruit produced in Chile" or, my favorite, "Apples from China, Mexico, and/or USA." China? Isn't that the country that makes plastic kids toys with lead? There was another article on the web recently as well, about orange juice concentrate being stored in huge tanks for months and months and losing all of the flavor which requires the addition of flavor packs and on and on...

Bottom line is, none of it sounds very appealing, healthy, or safe! 

So I have been pondering what our family should do:
1} Only drink water, and milk for the kids - boring
2} Start an orchard and press my own juice - takes too long and I'm pretty sure orange trees don't grow in Virginia
3} Find out if China puts arsenic in their juice - don't care to converse with China and wouldn't really believe them if they said no anyway

In other words, I'm still undecided. But I think I will give this juice a try, even though it is a little expensive:


What is your favorite juice to give your family?

4 comments:

  1. Have you tried 'Simply orange' or 'Simply Apple' I saw that episode of Dr. Oz and was freaked out, I was glad when I found Simply Apple~It's just straight up apple juice- NOT from China.

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  2. I'd be interested on your thoughts/opinions on milk and what brand you all drink...

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    1. We drink organic milk and buy the Simple Truth or Private Selection brand. That being said though, I need to do some research on organic vs regular milk because it is now over $6 a gallon! I don't want to be blindly buying something so expensive! The org. milk does have a completely different taste - very creamy and fresh, it is delicious! So I think milk should definitely be an upcoming post topic. Thanks for asking about this!

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