HEALTH IMPLICATIONS OF CANNED JUICE INTAKE

Different brands of canned juice are a common feature at parties. VIP tables must be filled with assorted brands to demonstrate the financial capability of the host. Serving juice at parties has become a sort of status symbol. Not too important guests may be served sachet water, but being denied fruit juice at parties brings a lot of good. Don’t you think so?
WHAT EXACTLY ARE THE INHERENT DANGERS OF CANNED JUICE INTAKE? 
 Potassium is substantially lost when foods are canned or frozen. Not only that, the natural balance between sodium and potassium is actually reversed. According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Nutritive Value of American Foods Common Units, no 456, a cup of raw peas contains 458 milligrams of potassium and just 3 milligrams of sodium. It says that when those same peas are canned and salt added during processing, it raises the sodium level to 588mg (a nearly 200- fold increase), while potassium is roughly halved down to 239mg.
WHAT IS THE HEALTH IMPLICATION OF THIS?
Given the blood pressure-lowering effects of potassium, low levels of this mineral in the canned juice may precipitate hypertension and kidney failure. The body functions normally with low level of sodium in foods ingested, but canning raises the level of sodium in canned fruit juice. This exposes consumers to hypertension, diabetes and cancer.

The message on the label of canned fruit juice contains chemical preservatives. Only undiscerning persons will believe that canned juice has no additive or chemical preservative. Even in elementary chemistry, students know that when fruits are juiced and exposed to air for just 10 minutes, all the nutrients would be leached into the air, leaving degraded juice. By the second day, such juice must have started fermenting, with its chemistry and quality totally different from what it was naturally.

What are the risks associated with preservatives in canned or commercially processed foods? EDTA, a chemical preservative commonly used in canned foods, is a heavy-duty iron blocker. So are phosphates used as additives in soft drinks, ice cream, candy, beer and baked foods. Deficiency of iron robs people of stamina as well as weakens the body’s resistance to infections, impairs ability to learn and may promote development of fibroids, stomach cancer and hair loss.

Canning also depletes natural nutrients in fruits. For instance, the simple act of juicing an orange reduces the vitamin C content because this nutrient is very sensitive to oxygen. As a matter of fact, orange juice from cardboard carton has up to 30% less vitamin C than the level in fresh-squeezed juice. Worse still, up to 40% of vitamin C left in the canned fruit juice is biologically inactive – of no use whatsoever. What does this portend for those who indulge in excessive consumption of canned juice at home and parties? They have low level of essential nutrients and this nutritional shortcoming can lower resistance to diseases and cause fatigue, headaches, insomnia, depression and cancer.

POSSIBLE REMEDY

Fresh fruits and vegetables are the best sources of nutrients essential for healthy living. You will do yourself a lot of good by buying a juicer to make fresh fruit/vegetable  juice and take them in their natural forms daily.