Why It’s Time to Boycott Juice
I have some sad news. You might have heard Dr. Oz’s report that he had tested samples of apple juice and found them contaminated with arsenic. He received a lot of backlash for his claims, but it caused some of the mainstream media (and the FDA) to launch an investigation.
Turns out, he was right. One of the worst offenders is, brace yourself, Whole Foods Organic Apple Juice. <sigh>. My son loves apple juice, and I started buying organic because of how highly sprayed apples are.
You can watch the news segment that ABC News showed on Saturday and read the full results from the Consumer Reports study here.
A few highlights:
* Not only did they find inorganic arsenic levels that were above FDA guidelines for drinking water in 10% of the samples, they also found LEAD above FDA guidelines in 25%. Arsenic is found naturally in apple seeds but the study found that it was not the organic arsenic that was found. (Why is there inorganic arsenic in anything at all?)
* Mounting scientific evidence suggests that chronic exposure to arsenic and lead even at levels below water standards can result in serious health problems.
* The response of the juice company they interviewed was appalling! They essentially said they were going to wait for government regulations before they responded. Aren’t you glad they’re looking out for our best interests?
* Apple juice is used as a base in LOTS of juices, so simply avoiding apple juice isn’t sufficient.
Orange Juice
Bad news abounds in the orange juice world as well. Have you ever wondered how the orange juice from your favorite brand all tastes the same, no matter when or where you buy it? How rare is it for two oranges to taste the same?
The secret – flavor packs that are added to your oj! These ingredients are not disclosed on the label of the packages. Juice sits in big vats for a long time after extracting from the oranges. So long, in fact, that the taste has virtually disappeared. No problem, said the company! We’ll just add flavor packs! Nice and natural.
What to do
The safest, healthiest option is to buy oranges and organic apples, and juice them yourselves. The flavor is awesome and the nutritional benefits are fully preserved!
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9 Comments
John Hughes
According to Consumer Reports’ study of apple juices, the absolutely worst offender was the Wal-Mart Great Value brand, which was found to contain more arsenic than is allowed in drinking water. The juice also contained lead.
Great Value is not a healthy value.
marina
another reason to not buy anything prepackaged….we don’t drink juice because of history of lots of cavities in my kids, just pure plain water, kombucha and I am also planning to make water kefir in the new year, flavored with fresh/dried fruit.
Sarah
I love water kefir! Will you share what you do to flavor it, once you get it worked out?
Pam @ Ramblings of a Happy Homemaker
That is really disappointing. Especially that Whole Food’s apple juice was among the worst offenders. It’s really getting where just about can’t buy anything, even if it is organic.
Sarah
It’s so hard! We’re starting to look more and more into how we can be as self-sustaining as possible.
Karen
Was there any answer how inorganic arsenic could be found in supposedly organic Whole Foods juice. This is so disturbing to me. Also the news about oj. Artificial orange flavoring is a neurotoxin that I’ve gone to great lengths to avoid completely unaware that it is in juice. SIgh…
Sarah
There wasn’t. 🙁 I wondered the same thing!
Stephanie
I am trying to get my kids “off” juice. They never drank all that much anyway…a small cup of apple juice in the morning was it. But you are so right…time to go cold turkey. They don’t the sugar, or the arsenic!
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