Drinking apple juice with lots of pulp is better for health than clear juice where the pulp is removed, say experts. Fruit contains polyphenols – antioxidants that help absorb chemicals known to damage cells in the body – and are thought to help lower the risk of some cancers as well as heart disease.
Most consumers prefer clear juice as they think it is purer and therefore healthier. But levels of polyphenols were found to be more in juices with lots of pulp.
Researchers at the Agricultural University of Wroclaw, Poland, studied the levels of polyphenols in different types of apple juice to see how much finds its way into the final product.
They found that juice containing lots of fruit pulp contains four times the amount of these beneficial substances that are stripped off while making them clear.
The study, published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, analysed only apple juice and it is therefore not clear whether the findings would also apply to other types of fruit juices, the researchers said.