This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 9:20 am and is filed under Health, Juicers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
A report at the American Dietetic Association’s annual conference held in October of 2008 highlights the fact that a good way of obtaining the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vegetables is through the use of vegetable juice. In other words, you can drink your vegetables.
The study was conducted by researchers from the University of California-Davis who recruited 90 volunteers and split them into three groups. Using V8 Brand Vegetable Juice, one group was asked to consume two 8 oz. glasses of the juice per day, the second was asked to drink one such glass and the third was provided with dietary counseling. Similar counseling was given the first two groups.
At the conclusion of the study it was found that everyone in the first group had met their RDA of vegetables, more than half of the second group had done so, and approximately one quarter of the third and final group managed to reach the “5 daily servings of vegetables” that represented the recommended daily allowance.
So why the difference when vegetables are so abundant and easy to obtain? Well, perhaps many people do not find them “abundant and easy to obtain.”
The study author, Carl Keen, has been quoted as saying, “drinking vegetable juice seemed to address some of the key barriers to vegetable consumption such as convenience, portability and taste, so individuals were more likely to meet their daily recommendations.” Participants actually enjoyed making the vegetable juice a part of their daily routine, and found it easy to do so.
In the study, of course, commercially prepared vegetable juice was used, and that use was restricted to one particular brand, V8 Juice. No doubt other brands could have been used with similar results having been obtained. What is apparent is that the drinking of vegetable juice is an excellent way to get us closer to that 5 serving RDA goal, a goal that many are now missing.
This should also be of encouragement to those who juice at home. Fresh, home made juices right from your kitchen juicer will also have an added bonus. They will be free from the salt and other preservatives that are found in the bottles and cans of juices found on store shelves, making them an exceptionally healthy choice.