It’s not equivalent, not only because of what the Pepsi may lack, but because orange juice lacks caffeine.
I remember a time when my mom used to squeeze and orange every morning for dad for breakfast. Had this neat gizmo where you put half an orange in, pulled down the handle, and it efficiently squeezed the juice for you.
It was only a couple ounces, from one orange.
Dad still drinks his OJ every morning, although now he buys it already squeezed in a big carton. Thing is, dad is still only drinking a couple ounces, pretty much the same amount as you’d get from an orange. People think he’s nuts for only filling the glass 1/3 full, but really, that’s more a true serving than those 16 ounce bottles that are on sale everywhere - that’s what, the juice of 5 oranges? When would you ever sit down and eat five oranges at once? Or on a regular basis?
Just eat the freakin’ orange, people! Or just have a few ounces of juice. But 16 ounces of any fruit juice is not a “serving”, it’s several servings. Plus, you’re missing out on the fiber.
Yes, yes, I understand water is boring - that’s why I supplement my water intake with, say, cranberry juice, which I actually dilute by half, or homemade lemonade where I can control the sugar content (or even use my own non-caloric sweetener), and tea… in other words, I drink a variety of things, in part to keep from overdoing any one thing.
If you’re drinking a 12 ounce glass of OJ, in comparison to a 12 ounce can of Pepsi, no, I don’t think the OJ is any better for you other than the vitamin C. If you’re eating right, though, you don’t need OJ to get sufficient vitamin C because it’s in ALL fresh fruits and vegetables. I realize the OJ makers would like you to believe vitamin C is available ONLY in their magic juice but it just ain’t so.
If you want healthy, drink a glass of water with your vitamin pill.
I wonder if the fiber and other solids, even in a “pulp-free” version of OJ, don’t moderate the sugar uptake. I know that I feel “fuller” and get less of a sugar high and low when drinking an amount of orange juice versus the same amount of Mountain Dew. So in that sense it would be better for you if it doesn’t overtax your sugar moderation system.
Like I said, HFCS is notorious for having an extremely low satiety rating- in other words, you’re not imagining it, it doesn’t fill you up.
It should also be pointed out that proof of the health benefits of vitamin supplements are pretty thin on the ground. They may help keep you from getting scurvy, rickets, etc. in extreme cases (that is where the name comes from the were the “vital minerals” that were found to keep animals alive when other nutrients were withdrawn from their diet), but in terms of long term health benefits eating actually food is a much safer bet.
Of course if the OJ in question is processed from concentrate, presumably its not all that different from vitamin supplements, though I’d still choose that over the vitamins.
I think the point would be that Orange Juice isn’t the cure-all that so many believe it to be. The fact is that we think that fruit juice is good for you because it is from fruit and all fruit is good.
The reality of the situation is that while fruit juice is beneficial to you, a lot of fruit juices don’t really do THAT much good. OJ seems to be good because it’s got Vitamin C. That’s really all it’s got going for it as far as we know now. The point being that it is dangerous to just blindly drink anything because it’s fruit juice.
Let’s not forget the fact that a lot of what is considered “fruit juice” is really nothing but sugar water anyway. A lot of those Ocean Spray thingies come to mind. Also remember that Orange Juice is often sweetened too.
What about the acidity levels of both beverages? How does that play into the situation? Because the caffeine can be eliminated by drinking caffiene-free colas.
Right, for example clear apple juice is almost empty calories, while whole apples are a good source of many things, including fiber/pectin. However whole fruit smoothies are pretty close to whole fruit. OJ with full pulp is better than plain OJ, too, and a glass in the morning is perfectly OK.
Both colas and OJ are pretty acidic.
Here is your key post from the June 2005 thread, IMHO:
QtM: I doubt whether this would affect your ordering, but do you have any comment upon studies suggesting that artificial sweetners are linked to weight gain? Admittedly, I’m prone to believe this as I wish the food companies would lay off the sweetness. As I matter of personal taste, I really don’t go for the aspartamine, sacharine et al.
I think more research is needed in this area before we really have enough hard data to know whether that hypothesis is true or not. Or even under what particular circumstances that phenomenon might be most likely to occur.
Moderation is really the solution to so many problems, really.
But who the hell wants that? Not me! 