Want to know if your packaged juice is healthy? Tips to read the label

By Avanti Deshpande

Sugar is added to juices not just to enhance the flavour but also due to the fact that it acts as a preservative. However, added sugar can deteriorate the health quotient. Here are tips to identify and avoid added sugar in juices:

EXTRACTION METHOD

Check for the method of extraction that the brand utilises to juice its fruits. While cold pressing is said to be the healthiest method, it wastes a lot of the fibres in the fruit. On the other hand, cold extraction is an advanced method of extracting juices wherein pulp is gently extracted in vacuum conditions.

Also, some cold-pressed juices might be then put through artificial heat and pasteurisation techniques to increase their shelf life, so look for juices that have been put through high pressure processing (HPP), as this process doesn’t involve heat, thus minimising nutrient loss.

If your juice label reads cold extracted, rest assured, the juice is healthy.

SHELF LIFE
Juices that do not contain sugar or sucrose as a preservative, and are extracted using natural processes, do not have a long shelf life. The maximum shelf life that a healthy juice, free from added sugar, would be no more than 40 days.

STORAGE
Cold-extracted juices that have no added sugar in them have to be stored in refrigerators to keep them from going bad. Juices with added sugar, that are available in glass bottles or Tetra Pak boxes, require no refrigeration.

(The author is in-house nutritionist at Second Nature fruit juices)

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