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Are juices such a good idea?

Juicing fruit and vegetables is said to detoxify, aid weight loss and prevent diseases. But how much good does it really do?

NO SPECIAL ADVANTAGE Only if you can't eat it, drink it

Juice bars are nothing new. Many celebrities have sung the praises of juicing fruit and vegetables. Naturopath newspaper and magazine columnists are recommending juice blends to cure anything from psoriasis to PMT. Juicing is big business and drinking fresh juice is an undoubtedly healthy way to get more fresh fruit and vegetables into your system. However, to get maximum nutrients, "Juice must be unpasteurised, made only with fresh and raw ingredients, no concentrates or added sweeteners." This is something that bottled products and some juice bars don't always achieve.

But sometimes the image surrounding juices that they are necessary to cleanse our colons which are clogged with rotting food and therefore cannot absorb nutrients properly, that they help detox the body and aid weight loss is scientifically shaky. According to Adam Harris, consultant gastroenterologist at Kent and Sussex hospital, U.K.,"If your colon is blocked or your digestion not functioning or absorbing nutrients properly, you will be very ill. Some disease processes such as a tumour, diverticular disease, inflammatory bowel disease and severe constipation can narrow the diameter of the colon. In the absence of disease, the only thing found in the lumen (lining) is faeces, which is entirely normal. If it wasn't, we would all be sitting on the loo all the time."

©Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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