The Tropical Fruit Forum

Citrus => Citrus General Discussion => Topic started by: Millet on May 11, 2019, 11:23:00 PM

Title: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: Millet on May 11, 2019, 11:23:00 PM
Orange juice, in particular, does not appear to affect blood sugar, possibly because of the soluble fiber and pectin, as well as the phytochemical hesperidin.
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: mmanners on May 15, 2019, 04:41:18 AM
Millet, have you tried it?  As a type-II diabetic, I cannot dring orange juice.  I know of nothing that will spike my blood glucose faster or higher than OJ.  And our Bio department uses OJ, rather than Glucola, when they track glucose tolerance with students, since it does the same thing and tastes so much better.
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: Laaz on May 15, 2019, 07:38:14 AM
I was told the same thing, do not drink OJ it's pure sugar.
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: Millet on May 15, 2019, 12:19:14 PM
Here is the article in full.  It appeared in the Washington Post.   
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/the-sugar-in-fruit-doesnt-make-it-bad-for-you-despite-some-trendy-diet-claims/2019/04/15/5ad3ef84-5b12-11e9-a00e-050dc7b82693_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.421075be7e39 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/the-sugar-in-fruit-doesnt-make-it-bad-for-you-despite-some-trendy-diet-claims/2019/04/15/5ad3ef84-5b12-11e9-a00e-050dc7b82693_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.421075be7e39)
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: mmanners on May 15, 2019, 02:15:01 PM
I've read several research reports since this morning.  What they seem to claim is that orange juice (today) doesn't affect fasting blood sugar (tomorrow morning). I can believe that.  They also say it doesn not affect a1c levels.  I can also believe that, assuming one is careful with other aspects of the diet.  Still, I don't like the fact that my blood glucose will shoot above 200 if I drink a glass of orange juice.  I suppose I should try it, and then keep record of how quickly it comes back down.  If I do so, I'll report here.
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: HIfarm on May 15, 2019, 03:39:59 PM
Whether justified or not, it seems like medical professionals & nutritionists have started a war on fruit. Several years back, I started to add a glass of OJ to breakfast every morning.  My doc at the time decided I was pre-diabetic & ordered me cut out OJ altogether.  She then went further & told me to cut out fruit as snacks, only to have fruit as part of meals.  My wife has mentioned that some dietary charts now have completely omitted fruit from the diagrams (now just "vegetables" as opposed to "fruits & vegetables" as it used to be).

Ages ago when in college, I had a prof who used to enjoy surfing in a wetsuit in the icy waters of northern New England for at least 3 of the 4 seasons.  He swore by bringing a bag of oranges with him & having one periodically to be able to keep going.  He claimed the sugar & electrolytes made a huge difference in his endurance.

John
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: mmanners on May 15, 2019, 07:08:01 PM
Ok I did the experiment this afternoon.  Twelve ounces of freshly harvested and freshly squeezed 'Rhode Red' Valencia juice, with two baseline readings prior, then following my numbers for about 2.5 hours, when the glucose numbers had come back down.  It was less of a spike than I would have expected (I had not had orange juice in perhaps 10 years!), although there was a clear spike.

Whole fruits seem to have very little effect, in that the fiber and cellular structure slows down absorption much more than does expressed juice.  Still, I'm pleased with these numbers.


(https://i.postimg.cc/qtDsjVVh/Blood-Glucose.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/qtDsjVVh)
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: tve on May 15, 2019, 08:08:52 PM
Ok I did the experiment this afternoon.
Interesting! Do you have time & energy to repeat the experiment but eat the whole fruits instead of making juice?
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: mangaba on May 15, 2019, 08:12:09 PM
Drinking a glass of  fresh orange juice will not create a spike in your blood glucose level in a period of two hours, but will surely increase the baseline blood sugar levels. The level also depends on the amount of frutose, fibre and pectin in the juice.
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: SoCal2warm on May 15, 2019, 08:36:07 PM
Fruit is healthy, but too much fruit, especially fruit juice since there's no fiber to slow down the absorption of sugar, is not.
Also fructose is notorious for not being as healthy for you metabolically as glucose (lots of fructose will make you tired and drained of energy, and much more likely to turn directly into stored fat).

Health is all about proper balance of the different food groups.

A small glass of orange juice every day is great and will add to your life. (Assuming you don't already have too much sugar from other things)
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: mmanners on May 16, 2019, 12:39:57 PM
Mangaba,  what are you saying?  A glass of orange juice does produce a spike in blood glucose, in this case in less than 30 minutes, and in my case lasting a bit over two hours.

At least in Florida-grown oranges (and I assume elsewhere), the mix of sugars tends to be close to 50% sucrose, 23-25% glucose, and 25-27% fructose.  That does not vary significantly based on maturity of the fruit; but of course the sugars-to-acids ratio does increase over time.  It also does not seem to vary significantly among cultivars of C. sinensis.

Certainly, fiber and pectin will have an effect.  In the little experiment I did, it was unfiltered, freshly-squeezed juice, so it would have contained the full, natural levels of both, to the extent they were expressed in the juicing process.
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: JoeReal on May 16, 2019, 12:49:08 PM
Fruit is healthy, but too much fruit, especially fruit juice since there's no fiber to slow down the absorption of sugar, is not.
Also fructose is notorious for not being as healthy for you metabolically as glucose (lots of fructose will make you tired and drained of energy, and much more likely to turn directly into stored fat).

Health is all about proper balance of the different food groups.

A small glass of orange juice every day is great and will add to your life. (Assuming you don't already have too much sugar from other things)

Here's an article about sugars in the fruits. I don't drink fruit juices and would rather eat, bite and chew the fruits. I'm never a fan of juicing fruits and veggies for these very reasons:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/the-sugar-in-fruit-doesnt-make-it-bad-for-you-despite-some-trendy-diet-claims/2019/04/15/5ad3ef84-5b12-11e9-a00e-050dc7b82693_story.html?fbclid=IwAR3JdGHqpwdxql-6ksKTOJ8aB85GYJa6lZuuTQ_ehad0GPNnDwfbnAX8Xy8&utm_term=.04e7695615f2 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/the-sugar-in-fruit-doesnt-make-it-bad-for-you-despite-some-trendy-diet-claims/2019/04/15/5ad3ef84-5b12-11e9-a00e-050dc7b82693_story.html?fbclid=IwAR3JdGHqpwdxql-6ksKTOJ8aB85GYJa6lZuuTQ_ehad0GPNnDwfbnAX8Xy8&utm_term=.04e7695615f2)

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/is-fruit-good-or-bad-for-your-health (https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/is-fruit-good-or-bad-for-your-health)
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: mangaba on May 16, 2019, 07:16:51 PM
Mmanners:
            I did err in my expression "Drinking a glass of orange juice will not create a spike in your blood sugar level in a period of two hours"
 What I meant to say was that  the spike will be there but it will be far of less less amplitude, compared to a same volume and percentage of glucose intake.
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: lebmung on May 17, 2019, 01:50:31 PM
Just published
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7041549/Fruit-juice-increases-risk-early-death-soda-study-finds.html (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7041549/Fruit-juice-increases-risk-early-death-soda-study-finds.html)
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: Ilya11 on May 17, 2019, 05:52:14 PM
As with all such statistical studies cause/effect link can not be definitely concluded.
People at risk  because of other unknown factors could consume more soda/juice. Both  risk of death and elevated sugar consumption being two independent consequences of these factors.
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: Millet on May 17, 2019, 06:07:22 PM
Interesting article.  However, that site could possible have set the record for cramming in as much advertising as possible.
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: lebmung on May 17, 2019, 06:58:47 PM
Interesting article.  However, that site could possible have set the record for cramming in as much advertising as possible.
It's a newspaper, actually a kind of tabloid.
Title: Re: Oranges And Its Sugar Content
Post by: JoeReal on May 21, 2019, 10:41:04 AM
The best source of highly credible studies would be from the Biomedical Journals compiled by the National Institute of Health.  Always treat all results with caution, as most of these are scientific research and it would take many years, testing and replication before it becomes established science.

Bookmark this one:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed)