By
Jim S Lovasz
Traditionally orange juice has been touted as the favored choice of a good source of vitamin C. I am not about to argue the point. I am also sure that those of you who are careful about what you eat, seek to drink OJ that is unadulterated.
Hence, the big producers of "not from concentrate" brands have the Lion's share of the market. There is no need to point out who they are. The "not from concentrate" crowd of major corporations have pretty well cornered the OJ market by offering "100% Pure Squeezed Orange Juice."
If you are one of the multitudes who think that is what they are drinking, I have some disturbing news for you!
Facts About Orange Juice
These "100% Pure Squeezed Orange Juice" products, made famous by advertising with misleading pictures such as a straw stuck into an orange are not what they are made out to be. In order to provide this juice to a massive part of the population year round invariably requires a long storage time as well as shelf-life.
The incredible power of advertising is seen in the fact that most of us know that it is just not biologically possible to store pure, fresh juice for long periods. Yet, few of us challenge the claims that these are pure juices. How on earth do these corporations manage to do this without any additives, let alone preservatives?
They accomplish this by aerating the juice in aseptic storage vessels capable of holding millions of gallons. By aerating I mean they remove the oxygen to preserve the OJ. Along with the oxygen goes the flavour. If you drink the OJ now it would taste like sugar water. But, they can store this liquid for up to a year!
How do they get the taste back in?
Have you ever wondered why the same famous brand tastes the same in every part of the world or how certain brands always have their own distinctive flavor if the stuff really is natural? Here is how.
Flavor packs developed by the same companies that add fragrance to perfumes, like Calvin and Dior are used to give each OJ its distinctive taste. That is impossible you say? It says it is 100% pure. In a devious manner of speaking it does flirt with truth.
The said flavor packs are formulated from products synthesized from oranges. Although the orange essence and oils used, are refined from oranges, they resemble nothing made by Mother Nature. They also contain large amount of ethyl butyrate.
I don't know about you, but I would look for something a little less suspicious for a source of vitamin C. My main focus is good sources of vitamin C. For those of you who find the facts about orange juice hard to believe or just want more information I'll refer you to the lady who put the squeeze on the industry.
In her book Squeezed: What You Don't Know About Orange Juice, Alissa Hamilton pulled the rug out from underneath the producers. Although she appeared on ABC News and a host of talk shows her message seems to have largely missed the mark. Therefore I thought it worth re-visiting.
Sources of Vitamin C
To begin with vitamin C supplements aka ascorbic acid have been, unsurprisingly, shown to be less effective in treating scurvy than natural sources. I tend to be leery of supplements because it is, in my view, dangerous to picture nutrients as separate entities.
Vitamins work symbiotically with one another as well as with enzymes, minerals and other nutrients in natural foods, such as a host of acids. Therefore, natural sources are always preferable. With the coporatization of the food industry and depletion of soil through unsustainable commercial agricultural techniques they are, unfortunately, not always easily available.
Before the convenience of modern food storage our ancestors often resorted to sprouting dried legumes or fermenting milk or vegetables when fresh vegetables were not available. These processes increase vitamin C, in the case of fermentation, dramatically.
For example to avoid the plague of scurvy experienced by their European counterparts, ancient Chinese sailors took barrels of dried mung beans on their voyages. In a similar manner Captain Cook kept his crew from scurvy with sauerkraut fermented from cabbage on his 27 month circumvention of the globe.
The following is a list of good sources of vitamin C:
Orange juice 1 cup (caveats apply): 93 mg
Papaya 5 oz: 85 mg
Pineapple 1 cup: 67 mg
Acerola powder 3.7 gm: 60 mg
Kombucha 4 oz: 60 mg
Lemon 1: 54 mg
Sauerkraut 1 cup: 20.9 mg
I use to take vitamin C supplements as I was always concerned about getting sufficient since it is so crucial. It has been used in large doses to cure cancer and is known to be a strong defence. Now that my principle beverage is kombucha not only for the health benefits, which are numerous, but because it is super cheap and very tasty I have no worries.
Traditionally orange juice has been touted as the favored choice of a good source of vitamin C. I am not about to argue the point. I am also sure that those of you who are careful about what you eat, seek to drink OJ that is unadulterated.
Hence, the big producers of "not from concentrate" brands have the Lion's share of the market. There is no need to point out who they are. The "not from concentrate" crowd of major corporations have pretty well cornered the OJ market by offering "100% Pure Squeezed Orange Juice."
If you are one of the multitudes who think that is what they are drinking, I have some disturbing news for you!
Facts About Orange Juice
These "100% Pure Squeezed Orange Juice" products, made famous by advertising with misleading pictures such as a straw stuck into an orange are not what they are made out to be. In order to provide this juice to a massive part of the population year round invariably requires a long storage time as well as shelf-life.
The incredible power of advertising is seen in the fact that most of us know that it is just not biologically possible to store pure, fresh juice for long periods. Yet, few of us challenge the claims that these are pure juices. How on earth do these corporations manage to do this without any additives, let alone preservatives?
They accomplish this by aerating the juice in aseptic storage vessels capable of holding millions of gallons. By aerating I mean they remove the oxygen to preserve the OJ. Along with the oxygen goes the flavour. If you drink the OJ now it would taste like sugar water. But, they can store this liquid for up to a year!
How do they get the taste back in?
Have you ever wondered why the same famous brand tastes the same in every part of the world or how certain brands always have their own distinctive flavor if the stuff really is natural? Here is how.
Flavor packs developed by the same companies that add fragrance to perfumes, like Calvin and Dior are used to give each OJ its distinctive taste. That is impossible you say? It says it is 100% pure. In a devious manner of speaking it does flirt with truth.
The said flavor packs are formulated from products synthesized from oranges. Although the orange essence and oils used, are refined from oranges, they resemble nothing made by Mother Nature. They also contain large amount of ethyl butyrate.
I don't know about you, but I would look for something a little less suspicious for a source of vitamin C. My main focus is good sources of vitamin C. For those of you who find the facts about orange juice hard to believe or just want more information I'll refer you to the lady who put the squeeze on the industry.
In her book Squeezed: What You Don't Know About Orange Juice, Alissa Hamilton pulled the rug out from underneath the producers. Although she appeared on ABC News and a host of talk shows her message seems to have largely missed the mark. Therefore I thought it worth re-visiting.
Sources of Vitamin C
To begin with vitamin C supplements aka ascorbic acid have been, unsurprisingly, shown to be less effective in treating scurvy than natural sources. I tend to be leery of supplements because it is, in my view, dangerous to picture nutrients as separate entities.
Vitamins work symbiotically with one another as well as with enzymes, minerals and other nutrients in natural foods, such as a host of acids. Therefore, natural sources are always preferable. With the coporatization of the food industry and depletion of soil through unsustainable commercial agricultural techniques they are, unfortunately, not always easily available.
Before the convenience of modern food storage our ancestors often resorted to sprouting dried legumes or fermenting milk or vegetables when fresh vegetables were not available. These processes increase vitamin C, in the case of fermentation, dramatically.
For example to avoid the plague of scurvy experienced by their European counterparts, ancient Chinese sailors took barrels of dried mung beans on their voyages. In a similar manner Captain Cook kept his crew from scurvy with sauerkraut fermented from cabbage on his 27 month circumvention of the globe.
The following is a list of good sources of vitamin C:
Orange juice 1 cup (caveats apply): 93 mg
Papaya 5 oz: 85 mg
Pineapple 1 cup: 67 mg
Acerola powder 3.7 gm: 60 mg
Kombucha 4 oz: 60 mg
Lemon 1: 54 mg
Sauerkraut 1 cup: 20.9 mg
I use to take vitamin C supplements as I was always concerned about getting sufficient since it is so crucial. It has been used in large doses to cure cancer and is known to be a strong defence. Now that my principle beverage is kombucha not only for the health benefits, which are numerous, but because it is super cheap and very tasty I have no worries.