Which is better, fresh squeezed orange juice versus commercially bottled juice.

By Elloise-Beth Schmidt


Consumers of bottled or packaged juices should know the distinction between beverages, drinks and natural juices. Items like blends and drinks may not contain much actual fruit juice. Instead they are mostly water with flavoring. Products named with juice or cider must be made of real fruit juice.

Nearly all of the bottled or store bought juices are pasteurized. Pasteurization is a process designed to kill harmful pathogens and bacteria. Pasteurization is a very effective sterilization process and allows us to extend the shelf life of many things. Juices are rapidly heated and cooled in both the standard practice and high heat methods.

The main drawback to pasteurization is that helpful elements are lost as well. General Bacteriology 12th edition by Mr Jorda concludes that half of the vitamin C is lost during pasteurization. It further states that children who drink only pasteurized milk may lack vitamin C and be at risk. Lori Lopinski makes the claim that fifty percent of the vitamin C is milk is destroyed in her article Milk: It Does a Body Good. She also states that a portion of vitamins A, D and E are lost. The vitamin C loss is more significant since it is water soluble while the others are fat soluble.

Vitamin loss during pasteurization is a source of argument. There are claims that very little nutrients are eliminated in contrast to those presented above. One thing that is certain is that manufactures do add vitamin C into commercial products to compensate. One of the ingredients on the label of your juice is likely ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid is another name for vitamin C. If it is there, it has been artificially added. The product must do this in order to claim there is a full amount of vitamin C.

Some juices are not pasteurized. The west coast company Odwalla used to sell unpasteurized juice prior to 1996. In that year, Odwalla caused some E coli related deaths with their juice. They now pasteurize their juices. In addition, Coca Cola now owns them. In addition, the US FDA requires that manufacturers label pasteurized products. This is done to inform the public which juices are deemed safe for consumption.

Vitamin C is damaged by oxygen in the air. Vitamin C is one of many antioxidants. In other words it oxides easily. Oxygen is destructive because it binds easily with other molecules. The term anti-oxidant means that the oxygen will bind with it rather than other substances, preventing their oxidation. Oxygen is a free radical and can potentially damage cells in the body. Antioxidants protect tissues by binding with the free radicals first and forming harmless inert compounds. The oxygen present in the atmosphere will trigger a reaction.




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