Better Health & Living: Article: 5 Great Reasons to Juice Up

Issue: April 2007

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5 Great Reasons to Juice Up

Pour Yourself Some Sweet, Easy, Protection

by Sarí Harrar

Published in food+nutrition •METRO •METRO Story •news_you_can_use | 0 Comments, Talk about this article »

Sipping 6 to 8 ounces of juice, a day, brings you one serving closer to reaching your fruit-and-veggie quotient—which is good news now that experts say that getting seven, nine, or even 12 servings a day is best for optimal health. Science has also recently uncovered specific health benefits in your juice glass.

Protect your prostate. Drinking 8 ounces of pomegranate juice, every day, slowed the rise of cancer markers called prostate-specific antigens (PSAs) to one-quarter the usual rate in a three-year University of California, Los Angeles, study of 50 men who had undergone surgery or radiation for prostate cancer. When prostate cancer is present, PSA levels normally double every 15 months—for juice drinkers, it took 54 months. Pomegranate isoflavones seem to help trigger the death of cancerous cells. (Of course, juice isn’t a substitute for medical treatment, but it can’t hurt.)

juice

Safeguard arteries. Just 6 ounces of pomegranate juice, daily, cut the risk of clogged arteries in a study of 50 people with diabetes. Researchers at Israel’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology say the artery walls of juice drinkers deflected “bad” LDL cholesterol, preventing this nasty fat from infiltrating and creating heart-threatening plaque. At the same time, the juice didn’t raise blood sugar. About 80 percent of people with diabetes die from cardiovascular disease.

Shield your brain. Drinking three glasses of fruit or vegetable juice, per week, cut Alzheimer’s risk by a whopping 76 percent in a decade-long study of 1,836 Seattle residents. In people with a genetic predisposition for late-onset Alzheimer’—the most common for—juice seemed even more protective. Polyphenols, found in the skins and peels of produce, seem to protect brain cells, say Vanderbilt University researchers.

Stop repeat kidney stone problems. A daily cup of orange juice boosts levels of citrate in the body and reduces the crystallization of uric acid and calcium oxalate—the main ingredient in kidney stones—according to a University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center study of 13 people. Doctors often prescribe a medication called potassium citrate to prevent kidney stones from striking again, but the drug can cause gastrointestinal distress. Orange juice is an effective substitute, the researchers say. Lemonade, which they also tested, didn’t help.