Putting Juice Back on the Aisle

During these uncertain times, shopper interest in making healthy choices at the grocery store is heightened as is their focus on shelf-stable products. One hundred percent juice is a nutrient-dense drink and a popular pantry or refrigerator staple with a long shelf life. Research shows drinking 100% juice is a cost-effective way to meet fruit and vegetable goals, while also delivering significant nutrients and improving diet quality. Nonetheless, many misperceptions exist about 100% fruit juice's role in eating habits, and its impact on overall health including body composition and weight. What does the science really say? During this podcast, Diane Welland, MS, RD, and Director of Nutrition Communication for Juice Products Association will address common consumer myths and why it’s time to recommend shoppers but juice back on the table.

Presenter Bio:  Diane Welland, is a registered dietitian and Director of Nutrition Communications for Kellen Company, a global association management and communications firm. In this position, she manages nutrition science programs for several food associations/clients. This includes evaluating and monitoring nutrition research, tracking current food and nutrition trends and directing research projects.  In addition to working directly with the scientific community, she advises clients on food policy and regulatory issues and acts as a spokesperson at various trade, government and dietetic/health professional meetings. A large part of her job is translating nutrition research into layman’s terms and communicating nutrition information directly to health professionals, the media and the general public.  Before joining Kellen she was Executive Director for the National Caterers Association, Public Relations Director for the International Caterers Association, an author, the Food and Nutrition Editor for US Foodservice publications, a public relations consultant and an award-winning recipe developer.  Her work has been published in a number of consumer and trade publications, newspapers, websites and blogs, including Cooking Light, Clean Eating, the Washington Post and Today’s Dietitian.  She specializes in stories on food and food trends, nutrition, health and fitness and is the author of four diet and health books in the Complete Idiot’s Guide series. 

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

[inaudible]

Phil: 0:08

Welcome to Lost in the Supermarket. Today our discussion is focused on a very important topic, increasing our immunity, putting juice back on the table. It reflects one of the most important topics amid Covid-19 shopper. Interested in making healthy choices at the grocery store is heightened as is their focus on shelf stable products. 100% juice is a nutrient dense drink and a popular pantry or refrigerator staple with a long shelf life. Research also shows that drinking 100% juice is a cost effective way to meet fruit and vegetable goals while also delivering significant nutrients and improving diet quality. Many misperceptions exist about a hundred percent fruit juices role in eating habits today and its impact on overall health including body composition and weight. What does the science really say? Okay, well my guest today is Diane Welland MS, RD, and Director of Nutrition Communication for Juice Product Association who joins us to get to the truth and address these common consumer myths. It's time to recommend that shoppers could use back on the table. Diane, welcome ti Lost in the Supermarket.

Diane: 1:21

Thank you Phil.

Phil: 1:22

So I guess my first question is all about retail dietitians. How are they working with shoppers on healthy eating habits and how do you recommend that they actually position juice?

Diane: 1:35

Okay, I have two points I want to make for this. So first, there's no question that eating fruit is essential to overall health, but it's also something that we often don't get enough of. Even now when people are eating more fruits and vegetables than previously, fruit consumption traditionally has remained pretty low. More than 75% of Americans are not getting enough fruit and a hundred percent juice is another form of fruit. And it's, it's a way that people can increase their fruit intake and perhaps even meet those goals. And it's really important to think of juice as a natural compliment. Prove vegetables. Now, research shows that typical consumption patterns for fruit are actually a combination of whole fruit and a hundred percent juice. People like those options, they like choices. And so they generally typically consume two parts of whole and one part juice. And that's exactly what people are eating. And the dietary guidelines recommends that people eat more fruit than juice. And that's exactly what this research shows. People are eating more fruit than juice, but it also shows that by eating this way, with a combination of fruit and juice, you're more likely to meet your group goals than if you just ate only one form by itself.

Phil: 2:57

So Diane, let me interrupt you for a cause. I'm surprised to hear that 70% of people are not getting enough fruit. And, and when I look at certainly the array of of fruit in a grocery store, a typical grocery store, there's a lot of choices. Fruit for the most part is sweet. Yeah, it tastes good. You know, it's colorful. Why do you think that that people aren't getting enough fruit or fruit juice in their diets?

Diane: 3:24

You know, Phil, I think there's a lot of reasons why fruit consumption is low. First and foremost did I think it's our attitude about fruit. So think about how we view our meals. We really look at the protein portion and the starches around them. It's more really more of a meat and potatoes kind of outlook. And I really think that we need to now look at incorporating fruit into all of our meal occasions and think about adding fruit to every meal occasion. We know, you know, fruit is very popular as a dessert. We're familiar with it as a snack and it's really popular for breakfast as well. But what about lunch and dinner? I think it's important to start thinking about incorporating fruits, fruit into those meal occasions as well. So think about lunch, I think about dinner. What about a salad? You could add fruit to his salad, so it can be fresh, it can be frozen, it could be canned fruit, it can be dried fruit, and you could also add a a hundred percent juice in the salad dressings as well. You can also add a food salsa. Think about that for dinner. So there's many different ways we can incorporate fruit into these meal occasions. I think if we just start thinking that way now for people who live in the city, fruit consumption may be a little bit harder because of availability. And then there are people who have are budget conscious, so they may have cost concerns. But I think if you broaden your outlook and I think about all the different forms that are available, you can always find a fruit that fits into your lifestyle, fits into your budget and that you can incorporate into any meal occasion and anything. If we start doing that, you can actually help move the needle.

Phil: 5:10

So what should retail dietitians be doing to, to increase that? You know, obviously we've seen the programs to put up signs and so on. Is it, you know, more sampling? What can they do to help the effort?

Diane: 5:27

So you gotta bring fruits and vegetables to the front of the table. I think that it's important to think about eating a fruit vegetable or a specialty fruit. Pretty much every meal. And when it comes to juice, you want to make sure that customers don't think that they have to give up their favorite fruits or vegetables and certainly not replace them with the juice. You want to supplement, you want to use juice as a supplement, so you want to increase their intake. In all those different forms. And if you start thinking about adding okay, a form of fruit or a form of juice in every meal, then you actually would be more likely to meet those recommendations.

Phil: 6:10

Um, I've heard from a lot of people, especially, you know, new parents that what they are concerned about is the juice contributes empty calories.

Diane: 6:21

Okay.

Phil: 6:21

And what should an RD be telling people when they, you know, get that question.

Diane: 6:25

The first question you should ask is, is what is juice? And make sure that your customers know 100% juice is and what the difference is between a hundred percent. Use your strengths, teach them how to read labels. So once you, I kind of got through that to be able to recognize the different types of drinks and to recognize a hundred percent juices, then you've got to ask yourself of what's in my juice. So a hundred percent juice is a nutrient dense beverage. You're right, absolutely it has the same vitamins and minerals and bioactives using bioactives is the plant compounds that are found in the fruit is squeezed from and it contains no added sugar. And that's why the dietary guidelines say that one cup of 100% juice is equivalent to one couple fruit. So they have similar nutrient profiles. That's also, Hmm. Really important to remember. The juice contains vitamins and minerals, as they said, similar vitamins and see full light, diamond, potassium, a vitamin. Those are, they know broad strokes in general in juices. Then you've got small amounts of other nutrients that are dependent on the type of juice. Magnesium, vitamin B, six vitamin K. There's fortified juices which include vitamin D and calcium. Okay, let's not forget about like those bioactives. So what I say about bioactives is bioactives are those plant compounds that give juice. It's unique color, flavor, taste and smell. They're what makes juice juice and what makes juice similar to the fruit that it comes from. And they go by names like those, you know, polyphenols, flavanoids, carotinoids, yeah, those sign-ins. And I know that sometimes consumers may be afraid of those big names, but they're really very positive. They're positive for human health. Now, 100% percent juices, as I mentioned, are very high in bioactives and bioactives have very positive effects. Many of them are antioxidants, which along with vitamin C and vitamin D, which I've mentioned, fortified juices, support, immune function. And that's something that people are really concerned about right now. And in some cases juice actually has more bioactives than the fruit itself. Why would that be? Well, so for example, in the case of grape juice, during the processing, the seeds and the skin, the grape are used, you know, are squeezed and nutrients come out of those seeds and skin. And we typically don't eat the seeds and skin in the juice. So in that case it actually has more bioactives than the fruit itself. That's one way. Uh, another way is that actually when you're juicing something, you're actually breaking down the cell walls. And that means that sometimes these bioactives, typically they would be blocked by the cell walls and they wouldn't be able to get through. They are more bioavailable to the body.

Phil: 9:29

Is that one of the reasons that, for example, juice bars that are, that are all over the country basically take the entire fruit and you know, and, and are mixing it in to make, whether it's juices or smoothies to be able to make it richer in nutrients.

Diane: 9:46

Yes, they would be richer in nutrients because it has all those parts you would naturally get rid of, but they're in there as well. So that's definitely has some positive attributes.

Phil: 9:58

When I look at a lot of the more popular diets that are out there, they're really pointing a finger at sugar saying we should eliminate sugar from our diet. Even those that they're naturally occurring from fruit, for example. that's a key contributor to weight gain. What's the truth about that?

Diane: 10:17

So there's a reason we really like sugar. It's in our genes and it, and it goes way back to our roots and way back to caveman times. I mean, things that were sweet were generally things that did not hurt us, weren't poisonous and so sweet things, you know? Yeah, we're a good thing. And at that time as well. Sugar and sweet things also meant that they were higher in calories and we needed those calories. Especially back in the day when there was feast or famine. I didn't know when the next meal was, so sugar is not a bad thing. Dang sugar. Even today we'll also help increase maybe eating some of those foods that you don't necessarily may not like or people may not care for. So in fact, I know that some dietitians and some scientists as well talk about using a little bit of sugar to put on vegetables. If you know, for example, if you don't particularly care for the vegetable or if your kids aren't eating them. So it's a way to kind of sweeten things. Not a lot, just a little bit, but a way start. Okay. Start eating foods that you may not normally like. So there are some very positive aspects about sugar and I really don't think it should be something that you could, you should just eliminate. It's really something that that is a really positive thing. If you think about it the way that it's know it was meant to be.

Phil: 11:43

So everything in moderation. What about, what about research? Is there any new research, um, that talks about the combination of adding a hundred percent into our healthy diet?

Diane: 11:57

There's actually quite a bit of research and I want to mention uh, some research on children and then I want to talk about some adults because most of the research on juice, it's been on children and it's there, there has been a lot of research related to obesity and the majority of the science on obesity in children overwhelmingly shows that there's no association between drinking a hundred percent use and trends in weight. Okay. And I know some parents are really concerned about that. Shoppers are concerned about that as well. But yeah, really if you drank the juice, inappropriate amounts, if you have a healthy diet, it does not affect weight status and children. Several studies, many research reviews. There's been a teams of dieticians and nutrition science experts that have looked at it, this issue and the evidence does not support the association between a hundred percent juice consumption and weight status and children. What is interesting though that is many of those studies they look at diet quality and they found that the kids who drink juice actually have better quality than the kids who don't drink juice if higher HEI scores, which is healthy eating scores, so they, and if you look closely, they've hiring takes a vitamin C, magnesium and potassium. Now that's not surprising because those were the nutrients that I've mentioned better. Hi and she uses a good source but they have lower intakes of total fat, saturated fat sodium and added sugar so they have less added sugar in their diet, but there is no difference in total fiber intake. In fact, in some cases they haven't found a higher fiber intake and I think the most important point of that is that the children ate significantly more whole fruits than non-consumers. That kind of brings me back to that, what I was talking about earlier with juice as a supplement and a compliment to whole fruit. So we don't really know why the kids eat more fruit than the non, you know, the kids who drink juice eat more fruit than the non-consumers. But I could take a guess. I mean we, we think maybe it's because they like the taste, they're familiar, they're familiar with the juice and you're familiar with drinking juice and so they have that familiar taste of the fruit so that maybe when they have a choice they tend to prefer the fruit over less healthy. We don't,

Phil: 14:20

or their parents, you know, their, their parents are, you know, being good nutritional monitors and saying, drink your juice.

Diane: 14:27

Right. And it could be that, you know, this is the kind of food that they have at home. They have more whole fruit at home. It tends to juice and fruit tend to go together a little bit more better than maybe some of the less healthy items. So yeah.

Phil: 14:42

So Diane, last question, what would you like? Um, retailers and retail dieticians to know about 100% juice.

Diane: 14:52

I want them to know, it's certainly as you mentioned, shelf stable has a long shelf life. It's easy, it's convenient, it's available all year long and it's available now and I think they can think of it more as a safety net because if they are unable to get to the store, they don't want to go to the store. Maybe they're trying to stretch up the time. When they do go to the store, they can rest assured and I want that, that they have juice, that they can still go serve juice to their family and I want one of them to know that they can feel good, their shopper should feel good about buying and serving Jewish dinner family. They should feel confident that they're helping them increase their fruit intake and that that juice has a lot of the same nutrients as the fruit that it comes from, and that it will certainly, it's very versatile and it's very cost effective and they should be secure knowing that that's something that they can do to help their family get through this time. Well, Diane, thanks so much for joining us today on Washington supermarket. Great. Thank you Phil.