Hacker News Reader

Comment by blakesterz | Hacker News Reader

Interesting results... so sugary drinks AND 100% fruit juices are associated with an increase in cancer risks. I guess I'm not surprised at all about the sugary drinks, but fruit juices... maybe.

Artificially sweetened beverages showed no increase.

I guess now we watch for headlines like "Soda Causes Cancer" which is not what this really says.

View on HN

Fruit juice and soda are effectively the same to your body. They’re both high-fructose liquids which spike blood sugar and lead to insulin resistance. The only meaningful difference is that a fruit juice probably also includes some vitamins that the soda doesn’t.

Sources: anything published by Dr. Robert Lustig @ UCSF

Most fruit juices have a GI of ~50, which is moderate (about the same as a sweet potato). They don't really spike blood-sugar. Fructose is low-GI. They also contain other phytonutrients and flavenoids which may aid health in appropriate doses (e.g. hesperetin and naringenin in citrus juices).

And GI is linked to morbidity endpoints how?

Fructose interferes with satiety, mediated by leptin, ghrelin, etc.

This is well-documented in the literature. High-fructose, low-fiber diets make people overeat.

Aside from naturally occurring micronutrients, fruit juice isn't that different from soda. I'm not a chemist, but I think it's largely just different ratios of sucrose/fructose/glucose.

Does the fiber in the fruit negate the cancer risks? If not, would it be logical to say fruit is now linked to cancer?

Solid fruits are not linked to cancer, although the pesticides in them can be carcinogenic.

Pure speculation, but: I imagine the processed nature of the fiberless fruit juice (with all the other ingredients/preservatives/crap they add into it) adds to the cancer risk. I'd also guess that were one to juice the fruit themselves, that would be better than the processed kind, but you're still drinking liquid sugar and bypassing the benefits of ingesting fruit in the first place.

There's often no fiber in "fruit juice". It's just sugar-water derived from fruits instead of sugar cane.

In addition to the fiber, I wonder if it's also a quantity issue. It takes about 4 oranges to make 1 cup of orange juice.

Fructose is not great for the human body.

Fructose in actual solid fruits in moderation is fine.

I ate two pounds of strawberries this week. I wonder how much fructose that is, comparatively.

Yes, but if you freeze the fruit, or do anything to remove or damage the fiber, like baking it, then it's just candy.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com