Cranberry juice and grape juice are both lovely on ice in the middle of a warm summer day. However, these two fruit juice varieties differ nutritionally in sugar content and vitamin content. Fruit juice can be high in calories and sugar, even if unsweetened. Whenever buying fruit juice, look for 100-percent fruit juice to squeeze as much nutrition as possible out of each juicy calorie.
Calories
For comparison purposes, the nutrition information is based on the standard 8-oz. serving size and unsweetened forms of each juice type. Grape juice has more calories than cranberry juice, with 152 calories per 1-cup serving. One 8-oz. serving of unsweetened cranberry juice has 116 calories. Because cranberry juice is naturally tart, manufacturers often mix it with other fruit juices like apple and grape into a cocktail. One 8-oz. serving of cranberry juice cocktail has 137 calories.
Carbohydrates and Sugar
Surprisingly, unsweetened cranberry juice has 30 g sugar per 8-oz. serving, which is equivalent to more than 7 tsp. sugar. In spite of this amount of sugar, unsweetened cranberry juice tastes very sour. Cranberry juice cocktail also has 30 g sugar per 8-oz. serving. By comparison, one 8-oz. serving of unsweetened grape juice from concentrate has 36 g sugar.
Vitamins
Cranberry juice has more nutritional currency than grape juice. Cranberry juice has 25 mg vitamin C per one cup serving and 68 micrograms beta-carotene. Grape juice is of lesser nutritional value with less than 1 mg of vitamin C per serving and just 13 micrograms beta-carotene.
Phytonutrients
Phytonutrients are vitamins not considered essential for human health but with possible health benefits. Found in tomatoes and other red fruits, lutein is a phytonutrient possibly important for eye health that acts as an antioxidant. Grape juice also has 81 micrograms lutein per 8-oz serving. Cranberry juice is an important source of lutein, with 142 micrograms of lutein per serving.
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