Orange juice remains the most popular fruit beverage in the U.S.

[Millet]

The problem is many Americans just don’t drink it anymore.
 
Annual consumption for a juice that became a U.S. breakfast staple after World War II is now the lowest in at least 18 years. While smaller orange crops in Florida and Brazil have sent futures surging in the past month, sales of the top two brands, PepsiCo Inc.’s Tropicana and Coca Cola Co.’s Minute Maid, have plunged in the past decade.
 
Demand has suffered as beverage choices increased, from diet sodas to sports drinks, and high sugar content has become a turnoff for calorie-conscious consumers, data from market researcher Euromonitor Plc shows. Sales of bottled water topped all juices for the first time in 2007. The waning appeal of orange juice has limited the impact of a 55 percent production decline since 2004 in Florida, the biggest U.S. citrus grower.

Millet

[Millet]

Total orange juice consumption is the lowest that it’s been in the last 18 years, and research shows that bottled water is now a bigger seller than all fruit juices put together.
 
Not that we should cry too hard for the orange juice industry: remember that the country’s two biggest brands, Tropicana and Minute Maid, are owned by Coke and Pepsi respectively. As we move on and find other things to drink, those are the companies that sell those other things to us. - Millet

[Millet]

Although orange juice is indeed high in sugar, scientists found that certain nutrients in orange juice might be easier for the body to absorb than when a person consumes them from the fresh fruit. Researchers note that fresh oranges are packed with nutrients such as carotenoids and flavonoids that, among other benefits, can potentially help lower a person's risk for certain cancers and cardiovascular disease. But many people prefer to drink a glass of orange juice rather than eat the fruit.The researchers found that the production of pasteurized orange juice slightly lowered the levels of carotenoids and vitamin C, at the same time, it significantly improved the carotenoid and vitamin C bioaccessibility-or how much the body can absorb and use. And contrary to conventional wisdom, although juicing oranges dramatically cut flavonoid levels, the remaining ones were much more bioaccessible than those in orange segments.
Millet

[Millet]

Our interest was piqued when we spotted a study suggesting that, when it comes to oranges, juice might actually unlock more carotenoids and flavonoids – both beneficial phytonutrients — than an equivalent amount of fresh fruit.

To figure that out, German and Saudi researchers started with a big batch of fresh navel oranges. They analyzed the fruit in three forms: peeled segments, mashed-up puree, and as juice, both fresh-squeezed and pasteurized. It was found that levels of vitamin C and carotenoids were basically the same in the juice and the unprocessed fruit, while levels of flavonoids were significantly lower.

But then the scientists threw their orange test foods into in a test tube model designed to mimic human digestion, and that's when things got interesting. Much more of the carotenoids and flavonoids were released from the orange juice than from the fruit slices or mush. The differences were striking: Carotenoid release went up from nearly 11 percent in the fruit to 28 percent in the fresh juice, and up to 39.5 percent in the pasteurized juice. Meanwhile, flavonoids were boosted nearly five-fold in juice compared to fruit.
Mille

[gunnar429]

Call me a skeptic, but this sounds like the work of Orange Juice producers, trying to limit the flight of consumers toward other beverages. 

I can't reason how eating the fruit with fiber intact, would be less healthy than the juice, especially the juice that isn't freshly squeezed.

[Millet]

Despite declines Florida Orange Juice is still number one. It’s no secret that the consumption of orange juice has consistently declined in recent years. However, many may be unaware that these declines track comparably with declines in production of Florida Oranges, due to HLB (also known as “citrus greening”). Despite these declines, orange juice remains the nation’s most popular 100 percent fruit juice – and by a wide margin. Consistent with the decline in production and the increasing costs citrus growers have absorbed, the price of the most popular form of orange juice, Not-From-Concentrate, has increased steadily since the onset of citrus greening.
Millet

[Millet]

 Florida orange juice is losing the space race. The space on refrigerated shelves in U.S. supermarkets, that is, which has declined by almost 5 percent in the last decade, Rick Pensa, owner of Insight, Information & Consulting. "There is a high demand for shelf space in the refrigerated dairy department (where most OJ products are sold)," Pensa said. "Lost shelf space is a difficult trend to reverse." The loss of shelf space does lead to declining sales, Pensa added. "When you lose space, you can lose (sales) volume, the question is: How much volume?" On that score, OJ products have managed to hold onto shelf space in spite of a more than 40 percent decline in OJ sales over the last 13 seasons.
Millet