Juice nutrition, also referred to as "juicing," is an alternative diet purported to have a variety of benefits to your health. Enhanced immunity and prevention of disease are the two main features that proponents of juice nutrition publicize. Juice nutrition is considered a form of detoxification during which you consume only fruit and vegetable juices over a period of time. However, there is no evidence that detoxification fasts of any kind serve any purpose other than weight loss through caloric restriction.
History
Humans have been using the juices of plants and whole fruit for centuries as a functional food. The current popularity of juice nutrition stems from the invention of the first juicer by Norman Walker, Ph.D. Walker was a vocal advocate of alternative therapies and the benefits of sustenance through juice. His first inventions were large, cumbersome creations that became refined later. The juice nutrition craze gained more popularity in the 1970s with the advent of wheat grass. The alleged benefits of wheat grass paved the way for the refinement of juicers for home use.
Function
People who advocate juice nutrition do so based on the premise that we accumulate toxins over time and that subsisting on a juice-focused diet will help to eliminate those toxins. Some claim that juicing strengthens the immune system and that a juice fast can recalibrate taste buds overwhelmed by processed foods. Finally, juices and other liquids promote weight loss when they are consumed instead of solid food.
Fruit and Vegetable
To obtain the juice, you cut food into small pieces and place them in juicers that extract the juice. You can combine different juices, such as those from green, leafy vegetables and roots, or drink them separately. In some health food stores, you can find juice combinations that are often named for the healing properties of its most active ingredient. For example, a ginger, kale and carrot juice concoction is sometimes called a "hangover remedy" because of the known anti-nausea effect of ginger on the stomach.
Anti-Cancer Claims
One of the claims made by Walker and his followers is that juicing can help cure certain forms of cancer. However, according to the American Cancer Society, juicing is not supported as an effective cancer treatment because there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that juice enzymes have any special properties. In fact, it warns that juicing can cause diarrhea, which can be harmful to patients already depleted by the disease, and encourages them to eat a healthy diet instead.
Insight
Eating whole foods enables us to reap the benefits of all that food has to offer. This includes the enzymes and vitamins that are unique to that food. When juice is extracted from whole fruit and vegetables, the fiber and many of the vitamins in that food are lost. Furthermore, treating the juice with any kind of heat can cause remaining vitamins to degrade even further. Short liquid fasts are not generally harmful when done in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle and diet. Extended juice fasts can cause short-term weight loss due to muscle break down.
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