Sugar By Any Name

Every time I saw the commercial I wanted to throw a shoe or something at the TV. I kept telling myself that I was going to have to do a quick review of the product to see if it was as bad as it sounded. It is.

I tried, I really tried to hold out faith in the food industry. Maybe, I thought, maybe they will respond to the obesity epidemic and make low cost health food available to the people that need it the most. I was wrong. And not only do the make bad food cheap, they make bad food fancy and expensive. It is like they want to make sure whichever financial situation the parent is in, they will be pulled to the processed and or unhealthy food. [a perfect "affluent" example is chunk white albacore tuna and a less affluent is Sunny D or another cheap fruit juice meant to take the place of soda and thus be better for your kid]

This is about about fruit juice. You have read here and in several other places that children need their fruits and vegetables. You should also be hearing that they need them on a plate. (this is true for adults as well) You may recall this blog post
http://yourhealtheducator.blogspot.com/2009/08/perils-of-fructose.html
inspired from a training I attended. The scientist was expressing concern about fructose. He is not the only scientist or obesity specialist that I have heard refer to this. The problem is not sugar in fruits and vegetables but those sugars being taken out of context, so to speak. When sugar comes in an apple, along with the skin - water and fiber included, it is treated differently by the body then if it comes in juice. Also, in juice it is a concentrated sugar. It takes several apples to make a glass of juice. You can end up with 160 calories of juice in a small glass when an apple only has 80 calories.

So who do you suppose the company Adam & Eve are targeting with their Fruitables line? They have several different flavors including several Sesame Street options. Kids will probably ask for them. The advertisements remind us that children need fruits and vegetables. In another bullet, the ad notes that many beverages are full of sugar.

Let us look at the Bert and Ernie's Berry. It is 100% juice. This one comes in an 8 ounce serving but some of the others I looked at say that the serving size is 4 ounces, and that is indeed better. But this particular one has 120 calories and 25 mg of sodium and 25g of sugar. There is a little symbol next to the sugar content to let you know that this is naturally occurring from the fruit juice. The drink has no fiber. It has no protein. It has sugar and salt. In fruits you do get protein and fiber and less calories.

Fruitables are NOT a health food. And remember, just because something occurs naturally does not mean it is safe. Doesn't radon gas occur naturally in our environment?