Austria: Vegetable juices contain too much salt or sugar
The German Nutritional Society recommends eating two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables daily. If it has to be done quickly, it's fine to replace one of these recommended portions with juice. But you should not do that every day. It is by no means advisable to replace the whole vegetable consumption with juices.
The current Austrian survey shows that vegetable juices can sometimes contain considerable amounts of natural sugar or added salt. While red beet and carrot juice contain comparatively high levels of sugar, there are tomato, sauerkraut and mixed vegetable juices that are mainly salty.
What was compared?
The consumer protection officials of the AK Oberösterreich have looked closely at the ingredients of a total of 51 different vegetable juices (sauerkraut, tomato, carrot, beet and mixed vegetable juices), packed in tetra packs or glass bottles from supermarkets, organic stores and drugstores.
Enormous price differences
The price ranges for the juices are extensive. One liter of sauerkraut, tomato, red beet or carrot juice costs between 1.90 and 6.98 euros. Mixed vegetable juices are available from 1.90 to 5.98 euros per liter. These are both the cheapest and the most expensive products to juice in organic quality.
Sugar: often just two glasses of juice are enough
The World Health Organization recommends that intake of free sugars, as found in juices or juice concentrates, should be reduced to less than 10 percent of energy requirements. This is true for all ages, so an average adult should not consume more than 50 grams of sugar per day.
While fruit juices are known for their high sugar content, the majority of consumers are less aware of this with vegetable juices. But a glass of red beet or carrot juice can cover just under half of the recommended sugar intake with up to 9.7 or 8.8 grams of sugar per 100 ml.
Thus, regarding sugar content, vegetable juices are partly on par with fruit juices such as orange juice, which contains about 10 grams of sugar per 100 ml.
Tomato and sauerkraut juice with a lot of salt
The German Nutritional Society recommends consuming no more than 6 grams of salt daily. But to all sauerkraut juices and -with the exception of ‘Ja! Natürlich’- all vegetable juices, salt is added. For example, a glass of sauerkraut juice can already cover more than half, a glass of tomato juice just under a third and a glass of vegetable juice about a quarter of the daily recommended salt intake. A look at the nutritional data is worthwhile!
Vegetable juices: Preferably prepare them yourself
Ready-bought vegetable juices are not a complete substitute for the daily portions of vegetables, as valuable substances such as fiber or temperature-sensitive vitamins and minerals are lost through the heating effects of pasteurization in various production steps.
Source: AK Oberösterreich