Freshly squeezed orange juice is essentially as good for us as pasteurised orange juice, report scientists this week. The news raises the question of whether consumers, paying a premium for freshorange juice, could be wasting their money.
Researchers from the Department of Plant Foods Science and Technology, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas in Madrid set out to investigate the antioxidant capacity of both freshly squeezed and pasteurised juices.
They studied the juice from three different types of pasteurised commercial orange juices, with shelf lives varying up to one year, and then compared them to freshly squeezed juice.
"The partially pasteurised juices were shown to contain the same levels ofbioactive compounds as the fresh juices," said Dr Cano who led the team.
"Some industry publicists claim that their processing methods make theirjuices healthier but this study demonstrates that all juices have the same nutritional and health-related characteristics."
But this raises a further question. Does the consumer buy freshly squeezed orange juice solely for the antioxidant capacity? Arguably no. When a consumer makes such a purchase other factors come into play, such as taste, the natural element, and the lack of added ingredients. Therein lies the premium.
Full findings of the study, 'Quantitative bioactive compounds assessment and their relativecontribution to the antioxidant capacity of commercial orange juices' by Concepción Sánchez-Moreno, Lucía Plaza, Begoña de Ancos and M Pilar Cano will be published in the April issue of the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.