# Are bottled smoothies as healthy as they claim? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 14, 2016, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789 "2016-08-14T14:27:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/1 "2016-08-14T14:27:55Z")
I occasionally buy smoothies from Supermarkets. You know the type: 100% fruit, with labels covered in claims about healthy lifestyles. The one I have here is a 750ml “super smoothie” which I will drink a portion of at some point over three days. Here’re the ingredients: 3.5 pressed apples, 1 mashed banana, 1 crushed kiwi, 18 white grapes, half a crushed mango, a squeeze of cucumber, milled flax seeds, dash of lime juice, a dash of pumpkin and spirulina extract, some milled wheatgrass (0.02%), and vitamins and minerals (vit E, C and selenium). All great so far - looks massively healthy. But of course the producer wants to keep a lengthy shelf life. So the whole drink is “gently” pasteurised. I don’t know in this case what gently can possibly mean. They heat it to a high temperature. Does this process spoil much of the health benefit? Are these drinks actually that healthy? How much less healthy are they compared to doing it at home with fresh ingredients? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/2 "2016-08-14T14:33:57Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > So the whole drink is “gently” pasteurised. I don’t know in this case what gently can possibly mean. They heat it to a high temperature. Not all pasteurization is done at the same temperature, there’s a [whole range of temperatures](http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pasteurization-methods-temperatures-d_1642.html) - but if done at a lower temperature, it needs to be done for a longer time. And hotter/longer pasteurization is needed for “shelf-stable” products sold unrefrigerated. Anyway, 100% fruit doesn’t necessarily mean healthy. Grape juice is 100% fruit, but it’s got almost everything removed from it except sugar. It’s no more healthy than sugar water. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/3 "2016-08-14T14:48:48Z")
If you want maximum health EAT the 3.5 apples, 1 banana, 1 kiwi, 18 white grapes (I always get a kick out of this sort of precise number - who gets to count out the grapes at the factory?), half mango, and bit of cucumber as fruit and vegetables. Check the calories - you might be surprised how many are in a serving. Also, this has less fiber than the actual fruit and vegetables. That said, it’s arguably healthier than sucking down HFCS sodas all day. Pasteurization is necessary to prevent spoilage. No, it doesn’t destroy the nutrition. It very slightly reduces some vitamin content, but not enough to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/4 "2016-08-14T14:54:29Z")
Well the _Innocent Invigorate Super Smoothie_ contains only the fruit mentioned but that works out at 80 odd gms of sugar. About the same as 4 or 5 apples or maybe 9 _Penguin Milk Chocolate Wafer Bars_ or 22 _McVities HobNobs_. Probably would be better to eat the whole fruit but if you don’t treat it like a glass of water and eat along with drinking it, it won’t kill you. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/5 "2016-08-14T15:07:06Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > Here’re the ingredients: 3.5 pressed apples, 1 mashed banana, 1 crushed kiwi, 18 white grapes, half a crushed mango, a squeeze of cucumber, milled flax seeds, dash of lime juice, a dash of pumpkin and spirulina extract, some milled wheatgrass (0.02%), and vitamins and minerals (vit E, C and selenium). > [@Broomstick](#): > > If you want maximum health EAT the 3.5 apples, 1 banana, 1 kiwi, 18 white grapes (I always get a kick out of this sort of precise number - who gets to count out the grapes at the factory?), half mango, and bit of cucumber as fruit and vegetables. > > Check the calories - you might be surprised how many are in a serving. Also, this has less fiber than the actual fruit and vegetables. If the ingredients are those whole fruits (pureed—not just the juice) wouldn’t you get the same amount of fiber (and, yes, sugar and calories) from drinking the smoothie as you would from eating the fruit? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/6 "2016-08-14T17:44:25Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > If the ingredients are those whole fruits (pureed—not just the juice) wouldn’t you get the same amount of fiber (and, yes, sugar and calories) from drinking the smoothie as you would from eating the fruit? Obviously yes, but some argue that there’s something else to consider. Robert Lustig points out that when the fiber is pulverized, the sugar in the fruit gets into your digestive system and hits your liver differently, and that it makes an important difference. Here’s [an article where this point is addressed](http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2016/03/are-smoothies-devil). ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/7 "2016-08-14T18:14:40Z")
Thanks for the interesting link guizot - if that analysis is to be believed than a wise way to drink any smoothie would be to sip it slowly! ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/8 "2016-08-15T05:05:13Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > If the ingredients are those whole fruits (pureed—not just the juice) wouldn’t you get the same amount of fiber (and, yes, sugar and calories) from drinking the smoothie as you would from eating the fruit? But you offset that a little bit by the exercise of chewing & swallowing the actual fruit. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/9 "2016-08-15T05:38:24Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > If the ingredients are those whole fruits (pureed—not just the juice) wouldn’t you get the same amount of fiber (and, yes, sugar and calories) from drinking the smoothie as you would from eating the fruit? How do you know they use _all_ of the fruits? They may be removing a lot of pulp (fiber) to make the smoothie more palatable. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/10 "2016-08-15T08:10:50Z")
Americans are so fat basically because of uncontrolled sugar intake - and Smoothies are disgusting in that regard: > **[Fruit juices and smoothies contain 'horrifying' sugar levels](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/10746588/Fruit-juices-and-smoothies-contain-horrifying-sugar-levels.html)** > > Telegraph analysis shows that many fruit juices and smoothies contain more sugar than the World Health Organisation recommends an average person should consume in a day ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/11 "2016-08-15T08:55:15Z")
To come back to this, it’s insane to me some of those drinks contain more than a total daily allowance of sugar - at that point you exceed your storage level and your liver converts any more sugar into fat. The real point is that _regardless of your total calorie intake for one day_, if your daily sugar intake surpasses its limit, any more sugar (which is in almost everything) will convert into pure fat: > **[How Sugar Makes You Fat - Greenfield Fitness Systems](https://greenfieldfitnesssystems.com/article-archive/how-sugar-makes-you-fat/)** > > Look at how many grams of sugar are in what you’re eating (on the nutritional label). Now divide that number by 4. That’s how many teaspoons of pure sugar you’re consuming. Kinda scary, huh? Sugar makes you fat and fatfree food isn’t really... To repeat: this has noting to do with your calorie intake. If you exceed your daily sugar allowance your liver will create fat regardless of what else you do. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/12 "2016-08-15T10:59:06Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Americans are so fat basically because of uncontrolled sugar intake - and Smoothies are disgusting in that regard: > > [Fruit juices and smoothies contain 'horrifying' sugar levels](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/10746588/Fruit-juices-and-smoothies-contain-horrifying-sugar-levels.html) Smoothies, soft drinks, “enhanced” water… Back in my 20’s, when I was a poor college student, I stopped drinking colas and switched to tea. Granted I do slightly sweeten my tea, but it’s MUCH less than commercially sweetened teas and I have complete control over it. These days, I pretty just drink just tea or just plain water. Oddly enough, I don’t seem to have a weight problem. Eat your calories, don’t drink them. That’s why I said to check the calories. A beverage made from _unsweetened_ juices is one thing (although some juices contain high levels of sugar naturally) but most people have been so conditioned to sweet drinks they don’t particularly like the unsweetened versions. Of course, an occasional fancy beverage is fine. Not every day, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/13 "2016-08-15T11:53:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Here’re the ingredients: 3.5 pressed apples, 1 mashed banana, 1 crushed kiwi, 18 white grapes, half a crushed mango… OK, all of those ingredients will have basically the same density as water, so their mass in grams will be about equal to their volume in mL. Using the smallest numbers for each, an apple is about 70 g, or 245 for 3.5 of them. The banana (peeled) is about 110 g. The kiwi is about 75 g. The grapes are about 5 g each, or 90 g total. The mango is about 500 g, or 250 g for half of one. I’m ignoring the other ingredients, as they seem to be in very small amounts. All told, those fruits would total about 770 g, or (within rounding error) about the actual volume of the drink. So assuming that there aren’t any other significant ingredients (most likely water and/or sugar), it looks like they really are using the whole fruits, or very close to it. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/14 "2016-08-15T14:22:09Z")
OP asks about how “healthy” the drink is, but that term doesn’t mean much. You could compare it to some other drink or food, but that will still depend on your nutritional needs that day. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/15 "2016-09-19T21:46:49Z")
A favorite trick of manufacturers is to use “condensed apple juice” (which is basically sugar) instead of one of the usual sources of sugar (cane or beets). They do this because the average consumer thinks that “condensed apple juice” sounds healthy as opposed to sugar; but sugar is sugar regardless. I wonder if “pressed apples” is just a variation of the same trick. Notice that it’s the first ingredient listed, so there’s more of it than any one other ingredient. So you may be buying expensive flavored sugar water. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/16 "2016-09-20T13:52:35Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Americans are so fat basically because of uncontrolled sugar intake - and Smoothies are disgusting in that regard: > > [Fruit juices and smoothies contain 'horrifying' sugar levels](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/10746588/Fruit-juices-and-smoothies-contain-horrifying-sugar-levels.html) I don’t see your claim being made in that article. Alan Aragon refutes that claim very well in a debate he had with Alarmist Robert Lustig. It was 6 years ago, and it still might be online. Below is info on it from Alan. Cribs: We eat to much in general. Sugar intake isn’t the sole blame. > **[The bitter truth about fructose alarmism. | Alan Aragon's Blog](https://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/)** > **[A retrospective of the fructose alarmism debate. | Alan Aragon's Blog](https://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/)** ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/17 "2016-09-20T14:06:16Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > To come back to this, it’s insane to me some of those drinks contain more than a total daily allowance of sugar - at that point you exceed your storage level and your liver converts any more sugar into fat. > > The real point is that _regardless of your total calorie intake for one day_, if your daily sugar intake surpasses its limit, any more sugar (which is in almost everything) will convert into pure fat: > > [How Sugar Makes You Fat - Greenfield Fitness Systems](https://greenfieldfitnesssystems.com/article-archive/how-sugar-makes-you-fat/) > > To repeat: this has noting to do with your calorie intake. > > If you exceed your daily sugar allowance your liver will create fat regardless of what else you do. This is nonsense. Calorie intake has everything to do with fat conversion. And de novo lipogenesis is not very efficient in humans. [http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/74/6/707.full](http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/74/6/707.full) [http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/74/6/737.full](http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/74/6/737.full) ---
**Author:** ![iceiso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@iceiso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iceiso)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/18 "2016-09-20T16:39:28Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > You know the type: 100% fruit, with labels covered in claims about healthy lifestyles. Not directly in response to the OP, but my guiding philosophy is that foods that utilize labels to advertise how healthy they are, are usually not that healthy. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/19 "2016-09-20T16:42:54Z")
> [@iceiso](#): > > Not directly in response to the OP, but my guiding philosophy is that foods that utilize labels to advertise how healthy they are, are usually not that healthy. ^ See post 14. Generally speaking, individual foods are neither healthy nor unhealthy - overall diets are. Just about any food choice can fit into a healthy diet or an unhealthy one. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789/20 "2016-09-20T20:59:53Z")
I was just reading that the issue with sugar is while glucose gets stored as glycogen, fructose gets stored as fat and so while we think of “fruit sugar” as healthy it is actually the worst kind. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bottled-smoothies-as-healthy-as-they-claim/762789.md?page=2)