Smoothies and fruit juices are a new risk to health

Fruit juices and smoothies represent a new risk to our health because of the amount of sugar the apparently healthy drinks contain, warn the US scientists who blew the whistle on corn syrup in soft drinks a decade ago.

"Smoothies and fruit juice are the new danger," said Popkin, a distinguished professor at the department of nutrition at the University of North Carolina, in an interview with the Guardian.

He added: "It's kind of the next step in the evolution of the battle. And it's a really big part of it because in every country they've been replacing soft drinks with fruit juice and smoothies as the new healthy beverage. So you will find that Coke and Pepsi have bought dozens [of fruit juice companies] around the globe."

In an article this year in the journal Pediatric Obesity, Bray and Popkin review the issue 10 years on from their famous paper. "The concern with HFCS in our diet has led to a reduced proportion of HFCS in beverages compared to other sugars," they say, but add "this is a misplaced shift … fructose remains a major component of our global diet.

To date, to the best of our knowledge every added amount of fructose – be it from fruit juice, sugar-sweetened beverages or any other beverage or even from foods with high sugar content – adds equally to our health concerns linked with this food component."

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Further Reading

How To Make a Healthy Smoothie - Get the most out of your smoothie by Dr. L. Lee Coyne