Many fruit juices contain citric acid. This is true of natural fruit juices, which contain citric acid because it occurs in the fruit from which they came. It's also true of juice drinks that contain non-juice ingredients, and of fruit-flavored beverages. These include citric acid as a preservative and to increase tartness.
Citric Acid
Citric acid is an important biomolecule that your cells -- and those of most living organisms -- couldn't function without. Unlike vitamins, however, which you have to consume in order to maintain health, you don't need to eat citric acid; your cells make their own. In fact, you can't use the citric acid you consume in juices, fruits and other foods in the same way that you use the citric acid your own cells make.
Why Citric Acid
Depending upon the type of juice or juice-flavored beverage you're drinking, there are different reasons it may contain citric acid. Fresh juices that haven't been altered from their natural state contain citric acid if the original fruit did. Examples of such juices include citrus, pineapple, grape and many others. Juices that have been processed and fruit-flavored drinks tend to contain citric acid as an added ingredient because it's a preservative and because it contributes a natural tangy flavor.
Use of Citric Acid
The citric acid you consume when you drink juice neither helps you nor hurts you. In part, this is because you absorb so little of it into your cells. You can absorb citric acid from the gut into the bloodstream easily, explains Dr. A. Pajor in a 1999 article in the journal "Seminars in Nephrology," but most of this you eliminate from the body via the urine. The cells take up a very small amount and can make it into fat.
Citric Acid Quantities
Different juices have different amounts of citric acid, notes Long Island University. Fresh juices typically have more per serving than their from-concentrate counterparts. For instance, fresh orange juice has 4 grams per serving, while orange juice from concentrate contains 3.2. Made from concentrate, grapefruit juice has 5.5 grams per serving. Juice-flavored beverages that have citric acid only as an added ingredient -- they contain no juice -- typically have less than a gram or two per serving.
References
- "Seminars in Nephrology': Citrate transport by the kidney and intestine; A. Pajor; 1999
- Long Island University: Juice
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