What is healthier - a smoothie or juice: a nutritionist's opinion
'22.04.2018'
Source: The Challenger
How often do you drink juice? And smoothie? Want to know which one is more useful? Together with a nutritionist, we understand the difference between the process of squeezing juice and mash, and find out the properties of freshly squeezed juice and smoothies.
Smoothies
What Happens During the Purification of Food
It's simple: metal knives chop ingredients to a smooth structure, tells The Challenger. Both during the pressing of the juice, and in the process of purization, oxidation occurs — a chemical process during which compounds in the composition of fruits and vegetables come into contact with oxygen. This leads to a breakdown of the compounds. The simplest and most vivid example of oxidation: bite off or cut an apple and leave it on the table, it will darken in just a few minutes - due to the oxidation of polyphenols (and not due to iron, as many people used to think) . To shorten the period of oxidation, drink a smoothie immediately after cooking.
But in contrast to the extraction of juices, purization retains fiber and all other useful substances that were contained in whole foods. In fact, a person eats the same banana or pear, broccoli or celery, almonds or coconut pulp, only in liquid or super-ground form.
Natalia Fadeeva, nutritionist, endocrinologist, doctor of medical sciences
- The process of purization is aimed at improving and facilitating the absorption of the product. That is why mashed potatoes are often used in baby food, while the children's digestive tract is not very mature.
Smoothie Benefits
Smoothies are the same fruits, vegetables and greens, only in a ground form. Not only vitamins, trace elements, minerals, but also fiber are stored in them. And is it important.
Scientists from South Korea decided to investigate the antioxidant activity of smoothies and freshly squeezed juices. Thanks to the analysis, it turned out that the activity was higher in the smoothie. And they contain more phenolic compounds than juices. Phenolic compounds are important in that they protect plant products from bacterial and fungal infections and ultraviolet radiation. And for human health, they are especially necessary - phenolic compounds protect against the development of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and inhibit aging.
And even a smoothie is a convenient way to eat more fruits, vegetables, and greens than usual. It is unlikely that many people eat a bunch of parsley in one meal, and you will not notice it in smoothies. In addition, after cooking, there is no waste - simply rinse the blender, and it is ready to work again.
Juice
What happens during juice extraction
Although the juicers are designed so that a person does not see exactly how the juice is squeezed out (some processes are completely invisible to the eye), it is precisely known what happens inside the device. And this is what happens: a vegetable or fruit is divided into two parts - cake and juice. It seems to be obvious things, but that's not all.
Spin juice is also accompanied by oxidation. Vitamin C suffers most of all.
Natalia Fadeeva, nutritionist, endocrinologist, doctor of medical sciences
- The most sensitive vitamin, the amount of which can significantly and quickly decrease depending on the amount of time elapsed after squeezing, is vitamin C. In ten minutes it may be less by 10 — 30% than in the whole product. There may be a slight loss of vitamin B1.
Spin Ways and Difference
There are two types of juicers (not counting the citrus juicer): centrifugal and auger.
In the centrifugal juicer, vegetables and fruits are crushed using a metal grater - at high speeds, it presses the contents to the screen filter. So the juice and the cake is separated. Then the juice flows through the hole in the glass, and the cake either remains in the device, or also goes down into a separate container (it depends on the specific model).
The principle of operation of the screw juice extractor is that it presses and crushes the ingredients to extract the juice, and does so at low speeds. This method takes more time, but allows you to save more nutrients (in a small amount even fiber can get into the juice) and slows down the oxidation.
The benefits of juice
Although the fiber is removed during the spin cycle, the vitamins and trace elements remain almost in full. Due to the lack of fiber, they are quickly absorbed by the body. Generally, if a person needs to instantly cheer up, juice is a good option to solve this problem: sugar (fructose, glucose, sucrose) will quickly digest and increase the level of glucose in the blood - this will saturate the “hungry” brain.
Natalia Fadeeva, nutritionist, endocrinologist, doctor of medical sciences
- The advantages of fresh juice is that this product retains many of the beneficial properties of vegetables, fruits and greens. The juice, as a rule, passes all the contents of the juicy part of the fruit. In the juices with pulp partially gets a small amount of plant fiber.
Most often, juices are recommended in the postoperative period, for some liver diseases, infections, surgical manipulations in the oral cavity, problems with teeth and prosthetics in older people.
Harm juice
The main drawback of juices: they do not contain (or contain in insignificant quantity) insoluble fiber. This type of fiber improves intestinal motility and long saturates the body. Lack of fiber contributes to a higher concentration of sugar in the juice than in whole fruit. Because of this, according to a study by Australian scientists, fresh juices can increase blood pressure.
As we said, juice is a good way to get energy quickly. But at the same time, this is a bad way to satisfy hunger - in only 1,5-2 hours a person will want to eat. In one study, people were divided into several groups: shortly before the main meal, one group ate an apple, the second - apple sauce, and the third drank apple juice. The results were as follows: the second group ate less food than the third. The last thing that touched the food was the people who ate the apple.
So what is more useful: juice or smoothies? The verdict is made by our expert.
Natalia Fadeeva, nutritionist, endocrinologist, doctor of medical sciences
- Smoothies are more useful. They contain dietary fiber, many vitamins and minerals that come not only from the pulp, but also from the connective tissue and the skin of the fruit. In addition, when preparing a smoothie, it is possible to experiment with the composition (beat not only vegetables and fruits, but also nuts and cereals), and it can also replace a full meal.
