For people trying to adhere to the newly released 2010 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for
Americans, some of the recommendations might sound simpler than
they are -- namely, eating all those fruits and vegetables.
Granted, it’s not terribly difficult to grab an apple before
heading to work, but most vegetables, especially those that are
really beneficial, take some time to clean and prepare. And for
over-worked, over-stressed Americans, those extra minutes might
seem like too much trouble.
However, new studies have shown drinking eight ounces of 100
percent vegetable juice (like V8) can be an easy way for people to increase
their vegetable intake. It may also help them manage their
weight.
Going veggie
Increasing consumption of vegetables and getting to a healthy
body weight are two areas of concern outlined in the new dietary
guidelines.
In a randomized, controlled study of 90 healthy adults between the
ages of 40 and 65, researchers at the University of
California-Davis found the participants who drank one, 8-ounce
glass of vegetable juice each day, as part of a calorie-appropriate
Dietary Approaches
to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, got nearly twice as many
vegetable servings a day than those who did not drink any vegetable
juice.
Researchers attribute the results to the ease, convenience and
enjoyment of vegetable juice as a way to get more vegetables.
Study co-author Carl Keen, PhD, Professor of Nutrition and Internal
Medicine at the University of California-Davis said simply
educating people on the importance of vegetables isn’t
enough; they need to be shown how to incorporate them into their
daily routine.
"What we found was that something as simple as drinking your
vegetables can be an effective tool in achieving behavior change,"
said Keen.
Healthy weight
The new U.S. Dietary Guidelines report also reinforces the need for Americans to achieve and sustain a healthy weight. According to current data, 64 percent of women and 72 percent of men are overweight or obese.
Eating more vegetables can be a helpful strategy to manage
weight because they are "low-energy-dense," meaning they have more
nutrition for fewer calories.
Again, vegetable juice can play a key role.
A study from Baylor
College of Medicine that included 81 adults between the ages of
35 and 65 shows that overweight individuals with metabolic syndrome
(cluster of risk factors for heart disease and diabetes that
includes excess body fat in the midsection, high blood pressure,
high blood sugar and elevated blood cholesterol) who drank one to
two servings of V8 100percent vegetable juice as part of a
calorie-appropriate DASH diet lost more weight compared to
non-juice drinkers.
Over the 12-week study period, the juice drinkers lost an average
of four pounds compared to the non-juice drinkers who lost one
pound.
In addition to weight loss, the vegetable juice drinkers had
significant increases of vegetable intake, vitamin C and potassium
over the course of the study compared to the non-juice
drinkers.
"Making vegetable consumption easy is critical because it has so
many benefits, from disease prevention to weight management," said
John Foreyt, PhD, Director of the Behavioral Medicine Research
Center at Baylor College of Medicine.
"We have a lot more work to do in finding ways for people to
improve their health, but providing them with something simple like
vegetable juice is a step in the right direction."
