WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - People often believe that juice is a healthy food item and replace their meals with juice. Several people follow a fruit or vegetable juice-based diet to reduce weight and enrich overall health. However, a recent study found that juice consumption might harm the gut as well as oral health in just three days.
'Most people think of juicing as a healthy cleanse, but this study offers a reality check,' said senior author Dr. Melinda Ring, director of the Osher Center for Integrative Health at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine physician.
'Consuming large amounts of juice with little fiber may lead to microbiome imbalances that could have negative consequences, such as inflammation and reduced gut health.'
While juice has antioxidants and offers detoxifying effects, without fiber it alters gut bacteria, which is crucial for metabolism and immunity. The lack of insoluble fiber can lead to the multiplication of gut bacteria, causing an imbalance in gut health and the immune system.
To explore the impact of juice on health, researchers recruited 14 participants aged 18 to 35 years. Before the commencement of the study, the participants followed a three-day diet, including organic fruits, vegetables, gluten-free food, and eggs, while avoiding alcohol and processed food items.
Later, the participants were randomly assigned to one of the three dietary schedules - only juice diet, juice plus regular food diet, and plant-based whole food diet. The dietary schedule was followed for three days.
The findings showed that an increase in bacterial composition causing inflammation was seen in people on a juice-only diet. However, the same was not observed in the other two groups.
'The nutritional composition of juice diets-specifically their sugar and carbohydrate levels-plays a key role in shaping microbial dynamics in both the gut and oral cavity and should be carefully considered,' concluded first author Maria Luisa Savo Sardaro, a research associate in the Amato Lab at the department of anthropology at Northwestern University and a professor of food microbiology at San Raffaele University in Rome.
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