# Talk to Me About Basic Smoothies

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-about-basic-smoothies/831006>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 12, 2019, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-about-basic-smoothies/831006 "2019-03-12T15:41:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

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**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:** [March 17, 2019, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-about-basic-smoothies/831006/61 "2019-03-17T04:29:36Z")

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> [@Dr.Strangelove](#):
>
> Your link contains this in the third paragraph (bolding mine):  
> “Detox” is a great word, because anyone that uses it can be immediately ignored as a woo-peddler.
> 
> On the other hand, [we have this](https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/23/science/q-a-finer-fiber.html):  
> Your linked article does at least cite its source–Robert Lustig in his book _Fat Chance_. The central thesis (that sugar is _particularly_ bad) is controversial enough, but this particular statement (that blending destroys insoluble fiber) doesn’t seem to have any scientific support at all.
> 
> There does seem to be an enormous amount of confusion between juicing and blending. Juicing is the extraction of flavored sugar water from the fruit. Blending just chops the fruit into little pieces (actually huge pieces on a molecular scale). The two processes shouldn’t be conflated at all.

Yes, it’s true that it hasn’t been thoroughly determined how blending insoluble fiber affects digestion, and Lustig is exaggerating–what he claims is more thoroughly shown with grains. The purpose of that article was just to give an overview of some of the issues with regard to glycemic load and response—the fact that the author herself did some bogus detox is irrelevant, because the issues themselves have been addressed by legitimate studies e.g, the Lancet study, Bolten, Flood-Obbagy & Rolls). There has been enough serious research showing that whole fruit vs. blending can affect glycemic load and satiety that it shouldn’t be simply brushed off as “woo,” (and Stark’s blanket statement doesn’t really address this particular issue).

And really, I would say that it may be not even be necessarily “bad for you,” as **Quartz** said, that you digest sugars differently with blended food—just that there is evidence to show that blending can change how it’s digested. I think the most recent research seems to indicate that different fruits are affected differently, and that blending vegetables might even be better.

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**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:** [March 17, 2019, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-about-basic-smoothies/831006/62 "2019-03-17T08:33:22Z")

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But how serious an issue is all that to someone “smoothing” one or two cups of fruit maybe three times a week for someone who has neither a weight issue nor blood sugar problems nor other digestive problem?

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