Calories in juice still count

Though nutritious, some varieties contain more sugar than soda does. Kids should drink water for their thirst, some dietitians say.

Americans have long been hearing the lecture about reducing the amount of soda in their diet. It's good advice: Sugary soda has no nutritional value and adds nothing to a diet but empty calories and sugar - a 12-ounce can of soda contains a quarter of a cup of sugar.

For many people, the result has been a move to fruit juice, especially for their kids.

Although kids under 12 account for only 18% of the total population of the U.S., they consume 28% of all juice and juice drinks, according to statistics cited earlier this year by the American Academy of Pediatrics' nutrition committee. A recent study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Assn. found that almost 50% of preschoolers drink 12 ounces or more of fruit juice daily.

Further, juice consumption by children between the ages of 1 and 5 increased by 40% from 1988 to 1998, according to a study in 2002 by researchers at Michigan State University and published in the journal Family Economics and Nutrition Review.

Older kids too are partaking. Schools across the country, including Los Angeles Unified, are pulling soft drinks from their vending machines and replacing them with water and juices. When it comes to taste, juice usually tops water.

Nutritionally, fruit juice is a sound choice. Most juices contain nutrients such as vitamin C, potassium and folate, and some are fortified with calcium and vitamin D.

Fruit juice has a dark side, though. Ounce for ounce, many juices - even those that are 100% pure fruit juice with no added sugar - have more calories and sugar than soda. Twelve ounces of Pepsi has 150 calories; the same amount of orange juice has 165 calories.

"I have one pediatrician friend who calls fruit juice 'candy water,' " says Mary J. Hayes, a pediatric dentist in Chicago and spokeswoman for the American Dental Assn.

"People use a lot of fruit juice because they think it's healthy - and it is," says pediatrician Melvin Heyman, professor of pediatrics at UC San Francisco and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics nutrition committee. "But too much isn't healthy."

Calories add up fast when a child drinks juice. A 3-year-old who drinks half a cup of apple juice with breakfast, lunch, dinner and each of two snacks - about 20 ounces total - adds 300 calories to his diet, out of a total recommended intake of about 1,300 calories.

Adults should keep calories in mind when they drink juice too. Those 22-ounce bottles of juice you see in your neighborhood convenience store can pack 300 calories. Smoothies - even those made with 100% fruit and fruit juices - can contain 300, 400 or even 500 calories. That can be fine if you're having a smoothie as a meal, but probably not if it's a between-meal snack or post-workout refreshment. A 150-pound person would need to jog for nearly an hour to burn off a good-size smoothie.