UK Government Claims Fruit Juice Leads To Child Obesity?
An article has come out in today’s Telegraph.co.uk website which states:
“Fruit juice ban for ads aimed at children in sugar crackdown”
It goes on to say that:
“the vast majority of fruit juices will be banned from advertising aimed at children in a bid to cut down on juvenile obesity, the Government has proposed.
Under new rules, 90 per cent of fruit juices on the market will be deemed too sugary to advertise, with only those highest in fibre and “bits” eligible for promotion.”
Can I ask you…..are you seeing lots of obese children walking down the street guzzling a Tropicana carton?
I’m really curious as to the reality of how many obese children are actually drinking ANY fruit juice, never mind enough to be contributing significantly towards obesity.
I must admit, when I started on this journey I would regularly drink the regular pasteurised juice from the shops. I have stopped doing that now and much prefer making my own juice or just eating the fruit whole.
But drinking all that fruit juice never made me fat. In fact an entire 1 litre carton may have only 450 calories in it. For most people that is way more juice than they will drink in a day.
Yesterday, I was with a friend in Starbucks. They pointed out a cookie. One single large cookie had 400 calories in it….I was really surprised!
Sure…some of those calories are from the sugar in the cookie but just as many, if not more, calories come from the oil, milk, eggs and butter in the cookie.
So what is going on here?
Firstly, two mistakes are being made.
1. Connecting sugar to child obesity….as if it is the leading cause of obesity.
2. Thinking that fruit juice, even processed juice, is the same thing as drinking sugary soft drinks.
Are sugary drinks a factor in child obesity? For sure they play a part. But from my experience you put on fat when you consume fat, not sugar.
It’s much more likely that the body will take that sugar and use it as energy. The reason for this is that simple sugars are the easiest fuel source for our body to use.
Fat, on the other hand is complex to breakdown, and far more likely to be stored unless you are eating less calories in total than your body needs.
Am I losing you?
I hope it makes sense!
On the second point, can we really compare fruit juice to sugary drinks?
Can we compare fruit to processed foods filled with sugar?
Of course these are not the same thing.
But does processed sugar itself even lead to obesity?
Plant based physician, Dr John McDougall has stated:
“The process of synthesizing fat from sugar is known as de novo lipogenesis—the new production of fat. This activity is highly efficient in some animals, such as pigs and cows—these animals can convert low-energy, inexpensive carbohydrates—grass, say, in the case of cows and grains for pigs—into calorie-dense fats.
However, human beings are very inefficient at this process and as a result de novo lipogenesis does not occur under usual living conditions in people. Thus the common belief that sugar turns to fat is scientifically incorrect—and there is no disagreement about this fact among scientists or their scientific research”
That’s pretty conclusive!
I contacted my local MP and MSPs about this. Maybe you should too?
You may think “what’s the point?”. But it is time for us, with our knowledge of health to help to educate not only the people around us but our local parliamentary representatives.
We need to make our voices heard in order to make sure the world is being steered in the right direction.
In many way, Fruitfest is not just a festival but is a statement to the world that eating mostly fruit is our healthiest diet. As the festival grows, that statement will be bigger and louder! Eventually, we will be hard to ignore!
Join us this year: http://www.fruitfest.co.uk/registration
You can always email me or phone me with any questions you have.
For now, don’t believe the fruit phobia!
The foods that are killing people are the ones that are high in fat and high in animal protein. So, why is the government not cracking down on those foods?
Could it be anything to do with the fact that this would affect the businesses of the major landowners in this country and other western countries?
Hmmmmmmmmmmm……I wonder…….
Stay fruity and stay away from fruitphobia!
Ronnie Smith
UK Fruitfest
P.S Phone me anytime with questions about Fruitfest. Also, if you would like one of our team to give a presentation to your group, school, church or work place about the benefits of a fruit based diet, get in touch! We are happy to do this at no charge.
You can phone me here: 07936 875 064
PPS This year is shaping up to be the best ever. Register today! CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
An article has come out in today’s Telegraph.co.uk website which states: “Fruit juice ban for ads aimed at children in sugar crackdown” It goes on to say that: “the vast majority of fruit juices will be banned from advertising aimed at children in a bid to cut down on juvenile obesity, the Government has…