For many people, it's difficult to eat several servings of fruits and vegetables every day, but drinking a glass of fruit and vegetable juice is very easy. So, can fruit and vegetable juice replace whole fruits and vegetables? Is there a loss of nutrients when you juice them?
Juicing fruits and vegetables actually results in the loss of these nutrients
1. Vitamin C
The scientific name for Vitamin C is ascorbic acid, an organic compound essential for maintaining our body's life activities. It helps boost the body's immunity, strengthen cell tissues, and prevent scurvy. People who often have bleeding gums should eat more fresh vegetables and fruits.
The direct consequence of juicing is the loss of vitamins and antioxidant components like flavonoids and anthocyanins from fruits and vegetables, even if you drink the juice immediately after making it. When fruits and vegetables are whole, ascorbic acid oxidase and Vitamin C are in separate locations, as if they live in different rooms. Once juiced, the high-speed blades completely destroy the cells in the produce, causing ascorbic acid oxidase and Vitamin C to mix. They then undergo an oxidation reaction, and the Vitamin C is destroyed.
If you eat fruit directly, you usually chew it slightly and swallow it, causing minimal damage to the cells. The chance of Vitamin C and ascorbic acid oxidase coming into contact is relatively small, which basically preserves the original Vitamin C content in the pulp.
2. Dietary Fiber
After juicing, insoluble elements such as calcium and dietary fiber are left in the pulp. Therefore, drinking fruit and vegetable juice reduces the intake of dietary fiber, which is abundant in fruits and vegetables. This dietary fiber has health benefits such as preventing and reducing diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. At the same time, insoluble fiber can prevent diseases of the gastrointestinal system, has the effect of stimulating intestinal peristalsis, and promotes bowel movements. Due to the loss of many essential dietary fibers, drinking vegetables and fruits in juice form not only does not aid digestion but can also cause constipation.
How to juice to minimize nutrient loss?
Although eating fruits and vegetables directly is certainly more nutritionally complete than drinking juice, different people have different needs, such as the elderly and children with dental issues. Therefore, when it's not possible to eat fruits and vegetables directly, juice is actually a better option. So, how can you juice to preserve the maximum amount of nutrients?
Before juicing, briefly blanch the fruits and vegetables in boiling water to "kill" the surface enzymes and also to slightly soften the tissue. Then, juice them. This not only reduces the loss of vitamins and increases the juice yield but also keeps the juice color vibrant and prevents it from browning. This is especially important for vegetables that are not acidic, such as carrots, green vegetables, celery, and sweet corn, which must be blanched before juicing. Additionally, you can add more acidic fruits like lemon to the juice to compensate for the destroyed Vitamin C.