Vegetable Juice - Nutrition

Nutrition

In general, vegetable juices are recommended as supplements to whole vegetables, rather than as a replacement. However, the actual nutritional value of juices versus whole vegetables is still contested.

USDA guidelines for Americans states that 3/4 cup of 100% vegetable juice is equivalent to one serving of vegetables. This is upheld by a recent study, which found that juices provide the same health benefits as whole vegetables in terms of reducing risks of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Another study has found that drinking vegetable juice reduces risks of Alzheimer's Disease by 76%.

However, the British Nutrition Foundation holds that although vegetable juice counts as a serving, it can only count as one serving, regardless of the amount of juice drunk. It is unclear whether this is referring to commercial juices only, or includes home-made juices. Additionally, A 2007 Japanese study showed that although Japanese commercial juices had nutritional benefits, they were insufficient as a primary mode of vegetable consumption.

Many popular vegetable juices, particularly ones with high tomato content, are high in sodium, and therefore consumption of them for health must be carefully considered. Some vegetables such as beets also contain large amounts of sugar, so care must be taken when adding these to juices.

Although the actual nutritional benefits of vegetable juice are contested, a recent UC Davis study found that drinking vegetable juice daily significantly increased drinkers' chances of meeting the daily recommended number of vegetable servings. Having an easy source of vegetables encouraged drinkers to incorporate more vegetables into their diets.