In the year of 1868 apple juice was first created, but not as the apple juice you know it as. It was actually apple cider. About almost 100 years later orange juice was invented. Apple juice versus orange juice has been a controversial topic for years. Which juice is better, watered down apples in a bottle or a pulpy drink in a bottle? Staff Writers Jae Ardoin and Jenson Mahr offers their opinions in this edition of “Head 2 Head.”
Apple juice, the sweeter choice
Apple juice is a type of fruit juice that is made by the pressing of an apple. There are only two varieties of apple juice that include clear apple juice and cloudy apple juice. To produce clear apple juice they remove all the pectin and starch. Cloudy apple juice is cloudy because the pulp is distributed.
Apple juice contains a mixture of many sugars including fructose, glucose, and sucrose. Oligosaccharides and polysaccharides with vitamin C, minerals, and other sorts of compounds give apple juice that sensational smell.
This sensational apple juice contains polyphenols and flavonoids that can support heart health, relieve symptoms of asthma, aid weight loss, and reduce the risks of any type of cancer. Being the richest source of phenolic compounds, the juice of apples when consumed regularly helps fight against common infections.
For me, in the morning the first thing I drink is a fresh glass of apple juice. Especially after sleeping for more than nine hours, your body wants to absorb all the nutrients. That way you will have tons of energy for the rest of the day.
Some may say, “Apple juice can’t be healthier because of the amount of sugar it has.” I disagree with this statement because apple juice actually has more natural sugar rather than corn syrup or modified sugar that you need in order to live.
In the past, I have attempted to drink orange juice with my breakfast and the combination of tastes was not right for me. If you ever had the choice to pick between apple juice and orange juice, apple juice is the obvious answer for you. Even if they made the taste of the oranges sweeter, I still would choose apple juice over orange juice.
Given the health benefits and the overall taste, apple juice is clearly better than orange juice.
Orange juice, the healthier choice
Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange tree fruit, produced by reaming or squeezing oranges. OJ comes in many different varieties of oranges, like blood orange, valencia orange, navel orange, clementine, and tangerines, my favorite. Out of all of the citrus juices, OJ is the most common.
Significant antioxidants and chemopreventive constituents presented in OJ include ascorbic acid, carotenoids, terpenoids, glycosides, and folic acid. All of these big words that I just named that you have probably never heard of help your body form blood vessels, cartilage, muscle, and collagen in bones, can protect you from disease, and enhance your immune system.
OJ can help you a lot when you are sick. OJ has vitamin C in it, and vitamin C boosts your immune system. I know this because personally when I feel stuffy I drink orange juice and it improves my stuffiness almost right away.
Although people might say, “OJ has too much pulp,” just get pulp-free OJ. Almost every store offers it.
In the years 2020 and 2021 on the US average an estimated 497,000 metric tons of OJ was consumed domestically in the United States. So for OJ being mainly a breakfast juice, it is consumed a lot, with the numbers continually rising every year.
And for you apple juice drinkers, all I have to say to that is that what you are drinking tastes like water. Apple juice is really a kid’s drink. When you get a kid’s meal from any place you always have the choice of getting apple juice. I would be shocked to see a grown man walking down the street drinking out of a juice box.
Orange juice clearly wins this argument. It tastes better, has major health benefits, and has tons of consumers from all ages.