The Best Low-Sugar Juices To Keep You Glowing & Healthy

We were rocked in the Grazia Daily offices this week by the news that our favourite juices may be doing more harm than good. That's right, we're talking to you sipping your five-berry-pineapple-kiwi-health juice. After a new study suggested that fruit juices stop being marketed to children as a healthy option, we began guiltily eyeing up our mid-morning fruit-crammed juices. We all know that fruit is good for us (antioxidants, fibre etc) but recently we've been wising up to the dark side of fruit: sugar.

Katharine Jenner, Campaign Director of Action On Sugar, who carried out the survey told us "Food and drinks sweetened with fruit juice are often seen as healthier than those sweetened with sugar, but it is just another type of hidden sugar. Fruit sugars, or fructose, are naturally found in whole fruit and vegetables, which come in a fibrous cell, with vitamins and minerals, and so are healthy, despite their sugar content."

"When fruit is processed to make fruit juice drinks, the sugars are released from their fibrous cells to damage your teeth and give you calories that don’t make you feel full. ‘Natural’ doesn’t mean it’s good for you; we would never consume such high volumes of fruit sugars in nature, you couldn’t peel oranges fast enough! Drinking your calories means you don’t feel full, and that you wouldn’t receive the same nutritional benefits you would see if you ate the whole fruit. A small amount of fruit juice is fine, but think of it more as a treat than an everyday food."

However, juicing fans need not weep - there is an alternative. If you're still after a liquid fast-track to your 5 a day, consider juices that have a higher vegetable content. Veggies are low sugar anyway, but these juices can be sweetened with a singular apple or pear (for the uninitiated) or had with ginger or even straight for the hardcore juicing fans. Cold-pressing juices will allow all the veggie nutrient goodness to stay locked in, without making your blood sugar go haywire like fruit-filled offerings will. Green juices might seem scary, but we promise it's a taste that can be acquired - and carrying a cup full of green goodness does make you feel a little more Miranda Kerr.