Can Drinking Fruit Juice Elevate Triglycerides?

Whole fruits help lower blood pressure and keep you healthy, but questions about the benefits -- or risks -- of fruit juice abound. As long as it's 100 percent pure fruit juice, you'll get about the same vitamins and minerals as eating the whole fruit. However, fruit juice does not retain fiber, and one cup can exceed 100 calories. The calories and natural sugar you'll get from fruit juice can increase your levels of triglycerides.

Sugar in Fruit Juice

When juice is pressed from fruit, it retains most of the nutrients except fiber. Fruit juice contains natural sugar, which may include any combination of the simple sugars, fructose, sucrose or glucose. This type of natural sugar is considered healthy because it comes with a variety of vitamins and minerals, including antioxidants. The important ingredient to watch for is extra sugar that may be added as a sweetener. Any type of added sugar, whether honey, table sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, contributes calories without nutritional benefits. If the label states the product is 100 percent fruit juice, then it should not contain added sugar.

What is Triglycerides

Triglycerides are a type of fat found in foods, and they’re also the form of fat stored in your body. High levels of triglycerides in your bloodstream increase your risk of heart disease by lowering good cholesterol and increasing the rate at which bad cholesterol clogs arteries, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Some genetic conditions and illnesses, such as diabetes and kidney disease, can cause high triglycerides. Drinking too much alcohol and being overweight are two other factors that have an impact. Eating too much sugar, or consuming too many calories from any source, also make your triglyceride levels increase.

High levels of triglycerides in your bloodstream increase your risk of heart disease

The Connection between Fruit Juice and Triglycerides

If you don't need them for energy, your body converts calories into triglycerides and stores them as fat, which means that any type of sugar -- natural or added -- increases your triglyceride levels if you consume too many calories. Additionally, sugar has a bigger effect than proteins and fats because it’s quickly digested. As the amount of sugar in your blood spikes, insulin goes to work, removing it from the bloodstream. One way insulin does its job is by stimulating the liver to turn sugar into fat. Fiber in whole fruit moderates the rate at which sugar enters your bloodstream. Fruit juice doesn’t have the fiber advantage, so its sugar increases your risk of having high triglycerides' levels.

Our body converts extra calories into triglycerides and stores them as fat

Recommendations

As part of a triglyceride-lowering diet, the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests consuming at least two, but no more than four, servings of fruit daily. However, eating whole fruit is preferred. If you drink 100 percent fruit juice without added sugar, 1/2 cup equals one serving. Whether you’re trying to lower triglycerides or not, you should drink no more than one serving of fruit juice daily, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. If you’re pre-diabetic, avoid fruit juice and stick with calorie-free beverages, recommends Stanford University.

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Too Much Juice is Not Good for Kids

A 4-ounce serving of 100 percent fruit juice counts as one serving of fruit, as it provides your child almost the same amount of vitamins and minerals as an apple. However, approximately 35 percent of children between the ages of 1 and 6 consume 2 cups of juice or more per day, which is well above what is recommended for this age group, according to a June 2012 article published in "Diabetes Forecast." While 100 percent fruit juice is healthy in moderation, other types of juice drinks are not.

Types of Juice

A study published in 2012 in "Public Health Nutrition" found that children who drank 100 percent fruit juice had higher intakes of a number of essential nutrients, including potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, folate and vitamins A and C. However, other types of juice, including juice drinks, juice cocktails, juices made from powdered mixes and other fruit-flavored beverages contain large amounts of sugar and calories without providing any nutritional value, except perhaps vitamin C added during processing. These juice-like beverages sometimes contain more sugar than sodas.

Reasons to Limit Juice

Juice is high in calories and sugar, so consuming large amounts may increase your child's risk for obesity and cavities. Cavities are more likely if you let your child continuously sip juice throughout the day or go to bed with a bottle of juice, as this increases the amount of time that juice is in contact with the teeth. Juice can also fill your child up so she is less likely to consume more nutritious foods and beverages.

Recommended Consumption

Children under the age of 6 months should not drink juice. Those between 6 months and 6 years of age should only drink 100 percent fruit juice and limit their juice consumption to between 4 and 6 ounces per day; children between 7 and 12 years of age should consume no more than 8 to 12 ounces per day.

Considerations

Consuming whole fruit is better than consuming juice, even 100 percent fruit juice, as it provides more fiber and less sugar per serving. Milk and water are more nutritious beverages, but 100 percent fruit juice does provide some nutrients so it is fine to serve in the recommended amounts. Children who stick within the recommended intakes for 100 percent fruit juice are not at a higher risk for becoming overweight, according to a study published in June 2008 in the "Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine." If you are worried that consuming juice is keeping your child from eating enough nutritious foods, don't serve juice within 30 minutes of meals or snacks.

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5 Random Ways to Prevent Hair Loss

Losing sleep over your receding hairline or thinning mane? You're not the only one. By the age of 35, two-thirds of American men will experience some degree of considerable hair loss, according to the American Hair Loss Association. Even worse: By 50, approximately 85 percent of men have significantly thinning hair. While genetics play a big role, you can still have some control over the situation. Here, a few things you can do that don't involve lasers or surgery.

Steer Clear of Cigarettes and Sun

It's no shocker that these two things are bad for you, but the list of damages they can do seems to be growing—a lot faster than your hair, anyway. A study presented at the 2011 annual meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgery looked at 66 male identical twins. While the researchers found that genetics were the strongest predictor of a receding hairline, smoking and heavy sun exposure were also major contributors.

Address your Dandruff Situation

That same ASPS presentation also found that a history of dandruff was also a contributing factor for hair loss. As we've reported before, there is sadly no cure for that embarrassing snowfall, but doctors often suggest using a high-powered shampoo like Nizoral 1%, which kills yeast directly.

Eat better

Fun (and hopefully obvious) fact: Hair needs nutrients to grow and be healthy. If you're constantly stuffing your piehole with, say, sugar, fried food, and refined grains, then you're not giving your hair much chance to get ahead. In fact, researchers have found that men with high blood pressure and insulin resistance are more likely to be bald. The good news: There are some essential anti-balding vitamins and nutrients. Here's everything you need to know about them.

Caffeinate

According to a recent study published in the International Journal of Dermatology, caffeine can help perk up hair growth. Turns out, caffeine stimulates the hair shaft and helps it grow by blocking the effects of DHT, a chemical known to damage follicles. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as drinking a few more cups of coffee: The study examined a topical application. It could take up to 60 cups of coffee a day to get the results that the study saw, but there are plenty of caffeinated shampoos on the market. And it's really worth a shot: A previous study found similar results and said that caffeine boosted the length of hairs by as much as 40 percent.

Stress less

"Stress can cause short-term hair loss such as alopecia areata, which causes discreet spots of hair loss," says Jeffrey Benabio, M.D., F.A.A.D., director of healthcare transformation at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego. When overly stressed, the body's immune system can attack the hair follicles—but hair may return soon after the stress becomes under control, according to the Mayo Clinic.

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