Cancer Fighters Thrive is a quarterly print and online magazine bringing readers practical, innovative and inspirational information about cancer treatment and survivorship.
Issue link: http://cancerfightersthrive.epubxp.com/i/507057
SUMMER 20 15 | C A NCER FIGH T ER S THRI V E 9 C A NCERFIGHTER S THRI V E .COM J uice is everywhere. If you have passed by the refrigerated juice aisle in your local grocery store, coffee shop or specialty food store, you know: bottles of bright-hued fresh fruit and vegetable juices are flling the shelves as vendors respond to the increasing demand for these nutrient-dense concoctions. And beyond the bottle, juice bars and specialty juice shops are opening across the country, creating custom juices and smoothies while customers wait. As juice offerings expand, it can be helpful to understand the jargon associ- ated with juices you see on the shelves or freshly made and to know the risks that may accompany the nutritional benefts these beverages provide. For those diagnosed with cancer, consider- ing the potential safety issues of fresh juice is especially important. With a clear understanding of how juices are processed and their nutritional value, you can make empowered choices about this trend. WHY JUICE? Juice offers an effcient, tasty route to the many vital nutrients that fruits and vegetables provide. If you are having trouble ftting in your recommended daily servings of produce, drinking fresh juice can add variety and fll the gaps. While some people do drink juice to replace meals as a method of weight loss or to "detox" (cleanse) their bodies, juicing for these purposes is controver- sial, and medical evidence proving the effectiveness of using juice in this way is lacking. 1 Drinking fresh juice can be a healthy addition to a whole-foods diet but should not replace all other food or be relied on as a treatment for medical conditions. BEYOND THE JUICE BOX: FRESH JUICE 101 If your experience with juice has been limited to the frozen food aisle or the vending machine, you are about to meet a whole new breed of juice. Put any concept of from-concentrate or sugar-added artifcially favored drinks out of mind. The fresh juices fueling the juicing trend are generally made from pulverizing or shredding whole fruits and vegetables and then straining or pressing the juice; the process of extracting the juice varies depending on the type of juicer used. Typically, fresh juice is extracted using one of three types of juicers: a centrifugal juicer, a masticating juicer or a twin gear juicer. Centrifugal juicers are the most common; they employ a fast-spinning blade that rotates within a mesh flter. The centrifugal force sepa- rates the pulp from the juice, and the juice pours through the flter and out a spout. Masticating juicers, sometimes referred to as slow or cold press juicers, crush the fruit or vegetable and then press out the juice; masticating juicers generally produce a higher volume of juice, which retains more of the plant matter (pulp) than juice extracted from a centrifugal juicer. Finally, a twin gear juicer works even more slowly than a masticating juicer, grinding the whole fruit between two gears to produce the highest yield of juice from the plant, leaving almost-dry pulp behind. Committed juicing fans have prefer- ences about the juicing process based on production factors that may have an impact on the nutritional content of the juice. Proponents of cold pressing will tell you that the heat produced by centrifugal juicers destroys some of the plants' enzymes and introduces oxygen into the process, depleting the nutritional value. Cold pressing takes much longer, however. For that reason if you are ordering a freshly made juice at a juice bar, it will be made in a cen- trifugal juicer; if you are buying bottled fresh juice, it is likely cold-pressed at an off-site location. Home juicers use both centrifugal force and mastication, though centrifugal juicers tend to be a bit more popular because they are more affordable and easier to clean. SAFETY FIRST It is important to note that fresh juices produced through cold pressing and centrifugal juicing are often not pasteurized. Pasteurization, a process wherein the liquid is either heated to a high temperature or subject to high pressure in a nonthermal method called WELLNESS