38/365- Hello, My Name Is Haley, and I'm an Orange Juice Addict by PhotographyPhilosophy, on Flickr
Sometimes it’s the little things that get my back up. (It’s a Southern phrase meaning to raise one’s ire.) Take this article in the New York Times Health Section:
Kidney stones strike more than a million Americans every year, sometimes causing enough pain to bring them literally to their knees.
Along with medication to discourage the formation of kidney stones, sufferers are often encouraged to make dietary changes, among them drinking more citrus juices. Citrate in the fruit reduces the formation of calcium oxalate stones (the most common type) and lowers urine acidity, much like the kidney stone medication potassium citrate.
But not all juices have the same effect. Lemonade or diluted lemon juice is the usual recommendation for people with calcium stones. But a study financed by the National Institutes of Health in 2006 compared lemonade with orange juice in patients with calcium stones and found that three cups of orange juice a day — along with other standard dietary changes for kidney stone patients — did a better job of raising citrate levels and decreasing urine acidity than lemonade or distilled water.
Then there are cranberry and apple juices, which, according to studies. are good for some stones and bad for others. They raise the recurrence risk of calcium stones, but help prevent a far less common subset of kidney stones called brushite. Grapefruit juice, in contrast, raises the risk across the board. One large study in The Annals of Internal Medicine found that a daily cup of grapefruit juice raised the risk of stone formation as much as 44 percent.
Wow, sounds like an ad for the Florida Orange Grower’s Association, doesn’t it? But let’s break it down a little before we start drinking up.
Three cups of orange juice is 24 ounces. That’s a lot of anything to drink, other than water or milk.
Three cups of orange juice contains
- 330 calories
- 75 grams of carbohydrate
- 63 grams of sugar
- no fiber
- no protein
So, get a kidney stone and rush to add more than 300 calories to your daily intake? 63 grams of sugar may not mean much to some people, and it’s juice, so it’s healthy, right? 63 grams of sugar is about 18 sugar cubes. Does that help bring the picture into focus? The USDA recommends a person who consumes 2000 calories a day consume no more than 32 grams of sugars per day. Even before consuming a single other food item, three cups of orange juice a day almost doubles the already generous USDA recommendation.
But a glass of OJ on my table is so…American! Is it, really? Most orange juice sold in the United States comes from Brazil. But if it’s not from concentrate, it’s just juice like I’d get from juicing an orange! No, it really isn’t. Even “not from concentrate” orange juice is heated, stripped of flavor, stored for up to a year, and then reflavored before it is put in cartons or plastic jugs and sold. All of this happens without any indication of processing on the label, thanks to corporate string-pulling. For these and other facts that will send you screaming from the OJ case at the store, you need to pick up a copy of Squeezed by Alissa Hamilton.
Let’s talk for just a minute about kidney stones. Yes, they are very, very painful. But, since prevention is better than cure, can we keep an eye on our diet to avoid them? There are several kinds of stones, and the causes can be elusive, but the main causes of kidney stones are dehydration and mineral imbalance in the body. Dehydration is an easy fix: drink water. Not a water drinker? There are tricks you can try. Back before I started this particular foodstyle, I would “pay forward” for a treat with an 8 ounce glass of water. Water first, then treat. But, I’m a water-lover and rarely a day goes by I don’t drink a gallon quite happily.
Vitamin K2 deficiency is a good place to start looking when kidney stones begin forming. If you’re not familiar with Vitamin K2, it is found in grassfed meat and pastured dairy and is created in the intestine when you consume fermented foods. The modern American diet is nearly bereft of these beneficial foods, but heavy on antibiotics which prevent the gut from making its own K2. Soy is a major culprit, because its oxalates bind with calcium and can create stones. Sub-optimal vitamin A intake might be a cause of stone formation. All these dietary deficiencies are so easy to correct.
Of course, your doctor can tell you specifically the kind of stone you have, if you are suffering from them. Your research from there can help you avoid future stone formation. But, as healthy, real food eaters, let’s not run to the processed carton of flavored sugar water orange juice cooler first for treatment or prevention.
This post is part of Prevention, Not Prescriptions.
The Dark Side of Fat Loss
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March 5, 2010 at 8:01 am
Pam
We used to live in FL and had a good family friend who had worked for a famous OJ company who prides itself in being ‘all natural and no sugar added’. They would pick and process the oranges before they were fully ripe and developed their own natural sweetness. He said that many, many times when the supervisor would test the juice he would tell them that it was not sweet enough and to fix it. “But, don’t add sugar to it. But, fix it – if you get my drift.” That was the way he got his point across to the workers there that they needed to add as much sugar as it needed to get it to the proper sweetness – but, under the guise of ‘this never happened’. Our friend said that they regularly added obscene amounts of sugar quietly – while continueing to advertise as ‘no sugar added’. I’m sorry, I just have a hard time trusting what any of the food manufacturers tell us.
March 6, 2010 at 11:06 am
Anna Salvesen
Great post. Commercial OJ is a perfect example of the disconnect the public has with what constitutes “processed” food. Most people consider “not from concentrate” OJ to be relatively unprocessed, but as you’ve rightly pointed out, commercial OJ a far cry from the OJ that is squeezed at home right before consuming. Think about how all those oranges must be squeezed, too. Not one half orange at a time like we do at home (we are fortunate to have a Valencia orange tree in our garden), but rather squeezed by the ton, peels and all. If those oranges aren’t organic, the peels will release pesticide contaminates into the juice, too.
Those of us who squeeze OJ at home also know that it takes a *lot* of oranges to make a glass of juice the size that most people now drink – 12, 16, even 20 oz. “Juice” glasses usually hold just a few ounces, and for good reason.
Your points about the kidney stones are very good. I’m aware of a number of people who suffered from kidney stones not long after the onset of a lower carb way of eating. Peter at Hyperlipid blog has a very thought-provoking post about kidney stones and diet, and the many reader comments shed an interesting light on this subject, too (http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2009/10/there-have-been-comments-from-two.html). Peter makes the suggestion that a lot of people eating high carb industrial diets carry around large subclinical (asymptomatic) stones in their kidneys due to magnesium deficiency and high levels of insulin, which then begin to shrink if they begin eating a lower carb level that reduces the amount of insulin, too, thus causing painful symptoms because the stones become small enough to try to pass into the ureter. Go back to the high carb (OJ swilling) diet and the stones enlarge again and stay put, ceasing to cause pain.
March 7, 2010 at 8:29 am
localnourishment
The amount of oranges it takes to make a glass of juice was a big shock for my kids. They thought one orange would make a glass of juice. When we juiced one orange and sat down to “drink” it, then talked about all the good nutrition that was being thrown away in the pulp, it was quite educational. That’s a really interesting hypothesis Peter made! Definitely worth some study!
March 9, 2010 at 3:22 pm
Karen Mathis
Hello-
On behalf of the Florida Department of Citrus, I am writing in response to the recent article “Kidney Stones, Juice, Sugar…and Brain.” Please allow me to share further information.
The Florida Department of Citrus, an executive agency of Florida government charged with the marketing, research and regulation of Florida citrus, supports moderate intake of 100 percent orange juice in amounts that fit into individuals’ diets taking into account their total calorie intake and activity level. Just one 8-ounce glass counts as almost 25 percent of your USDA-recommended daily fruit and vegetable servings, based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
One hundred percent orange juice delivers key vitamins and minerals that support good health. In fact, a study published in the Journal of Food Science reported that 100 percent orange juice was more nutrient-dense than many commonly consumed 100 percent fruit juices, such as apple, grape, pineapple and prune. Unlike juice “drinks”, “beverages” and “ades”, which often contain less than 10% real fruit juice and have added sugars, 100 percent orange juice is free of added sugars and contains only the natural sugars found in whole fruit.
Please note that the nutrition data information included in your article refers to an “Orange juice drink,” not 100 percent orange juice. You can find typical nutrition values for 100 percent orange juice at http://www.floridajuice.com/oj_nutrition_facts.php.
Approximately 80 percent of America’s orange juice is made from Florida-grown oranges. By utilizing state-of-the-art technology, Florida is able to provide a consistent supply of high quality, nutritious orange juice year round. When oranges are processed, natural components such as orange aroma, orange oil from the peel, and pulp may be separated from the orange juice. After the juice is pasteurized, these natural orange components may be added back to the orange juice for optimal flavor.
Please visit http://www.OrangeJuiceFacts.com for more information about orange juice.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Karen Mathis
Florida Department of Citrus
March 9, 2010 at 5:31 pm
localnourishment
Thank you for the gracious tone of your comments, I do appreciate it! You are absolutely right, my numbers were taken from the wrong beverage and have been corrected. However, I stand by my post for the following reasons:
First, I would not consider 24 ounces of fruit juice a “moderate intake” for the reasons I outlined in my post. I do agree wholeheartedly that orange juice is more nutrient dense than beverages, drinks and “ades” which are little more than sugar water and can contain harmful colorants and flavorings. But “better” doesn’t necessarily mean “good.” Again, whole fruit is even more nutrient-dense than juice, and includes all the fiber and other nutrients that was created along with the sweet juice.
As for the percentage of Florida fruit in our juice, I am quoting from Squeezed, a book extensively researched by its author. The state-of-the-art technology to which you refer is the process I describe in the post. It is this process that allows “a consistent supply of high quality, nutritious orange juice year round.”
And once again, let me stress: I have no problem enjoying the occasional juice from an orange I myself have purchased and juiced. But the quantity I enjoy is more like 4 to six ounces. This post is intended to question the recommendation of three cups of juice, every day, for a prolonged period of time.
Again, thank you for your comments and correction.
May 3, 2010 at 3:19 pm
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July 2, 2010 at 12:05 am
Mango
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July 2, 2010 at 9:21 am
localnourishment
The great thing about spam is that bots really have no clue what they are commenting on! *evil grin*
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February 8, 2011 at 4:24 pm
Kidney Stones Treatment
Doesn’t orange juice contain calcium? Why would you drink it if you’re trying to avoid calcium kidney stones?
February 8, 2011 at 4:31 pm
localnourishment
Real orange juice (from squeezed oranges) contains very little naturally-occurring calcium. In an attempt to “fortify” their product with a nutrient to give it a healthy glow, orange juice makers add calcium to some varieties.