Juice or Fruit Drinks?

Why Fruit Juice?

Juice is an easy way to enjoy fruit. Keeping juice on hand is good for your whole family! Here’s what juice provides.

• Vitamin C to help heal cuts and bruises, fight infection, and use iron from food.
• Vitamin A in some juices for healthy eyes and skin.
• Carbohydrates for energy. Sugar from fruit is the carbohydrate in 100% juice.

Juice is mostly water. Like you, your child needs enough fluid to stay healthy

How Much Juice?

Offer your child enough, but not too much:

Ages 1 to 6 years: 1/2 to 3/4 cup of juice a day.

Go Easy…

Because juice is convenient, it’s easy to drink too much of it. Here’s why drinking too much juice can be a problem:

• Juice has calories. Too much may give your child more calories than he or she needs. That may contribute to overweight. Go easy for yourself, too!
• If juice replaces milk or calcium-fortified soy beverages, your child may not get enough bone building calcium.
• Sipping juice a lot promotes cavities. Sometimes diarrhea is a problem too.

Which Would You Buy?

Orange juice, juice drink, or orange soda? Each has a sweet, citrus flavor. Labels can help you choose beverages for your family.

• For nutrition 100% orange juice is the best.
• Juice drinks have some juice and added vitamin C.
• Orange soda is flavored water.

Labels can help you choose

• Nutrition Facts tell how calories and nutrients differ.
• Ingredients tell what it’s made from.

Nibbles for Health Nutrition Newsletter for Parents of Young Children, USDA, Food and Nutrition Service