Juice concentrates are technically fruit juice, only that most of the water has been extracted. This results in a thick, syrupy liquid that’s packed with the essential nutrients such as vitamins and minerals you can find from fruits and vegetables.
Below are some of the potential benefits and downsides of juice concentrates.
✓ Packed with Essential Nutrients
Juice concentrates are healthiest if made purely from fruits and/or vegetables, without preservatives like added sugar or salt. For instance, a glass of calamansi juice prepared from concentrate can provide as much as 280% of the Daily Value of vitamin C.
✓ Can Help Improve Health
Because juice concentrates are packed with beneficial nutrients such as carotenoids, flavonoids, and anthocyanins, to name a few, they are associated with various health benefits such as better heart health and prevent risks of obesity.
✓ May Promote Better Skin
The rich vitamin C content and antioxidants in juice concentrates may also help promote skin health and slow down the effects of skin ageing. For instance, carrots and tomatoes are rich in beta carotene which may help reduce skin inflammation.
✓ Affordable and Has Longer Shelf Life
Extracting the water from juices reduces bacterial growth, hence concentrates don’t spoil as fast as juices. This process also cuts packaging, production, and transportation costs hence, making them more affordable.
These go to show that juice concentrates offer an affordable, longer-lasting but equally healthy alternative to fresh juices. But, with all these benefits, there may be potential downsides to juice concentrates.
Potential Downsides
They lack the fibre that whole fruits provide
They may be loaded with added sugars and other unhealthy preservatives
Vegetable juice concentrates may be high in sodium
As such, your best bet in juice concentrate is to buy the ones that are made from 100% juice. Look for a fruit juice and concentrate supplier that doesn’t add sugar or other harmful preservatives on their drinks.
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