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Potential Nutritional and Economic Effects of Replacing Juice With Fruit in the Diets of Children in the United States
JAMA Pediatrics, 05/09/2012
Monsivais P et al. – Substitution of juice with fresh fruit has the potential to reduce energy intake and improve the adequacy of fiber intake in children's diets. This would likely increase costs for schools, childcare providers, and families. These cost effects could be minimized by selecting processed fruits, but fewer nutritional gains would be achieved.
Methods- A total of 7023 children aged 3 to 18years.
- Systematic complete or partial replacement of juice with fruit.
- Difference in energy intakes, nutrient intakes, and diet costs between observed and modeled diets.
- For children who consumed juice, replacement of all juice servings with fresh, whole fruit led to a projected reduction in dietary energy of 233kJ/d (–2.6% difference [95% CI,–5.1% to –0.1%]), an increase in fiber of 4.3g/d (31.1% difference [95% CI, 26.4%-35.9%]), and an increase in diet cost of $0.54/d (13.3% difference [95% CI, 8.8%-17.8%]).
