A new study contends that apple juice may overtax the digestive systems of children younger than 2. Seems it has too much of some fruit sugars and too little of others.
"Apple juice contains a lot of fructose but not enough glucose to balance it," said physician Fima Lifsh*tz, author of the study and chairman of the pediatrics department at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. "The juice also contains sorbitol, a sugar alcohol that can't be absorbed by kids or adults."
For younger children, an excess of sorbitol and the fructose-glucose imbalance can cause chronic diarrhea. The Maimonides study, published in the March issue of Pediatrics magazine, compared the use of apple juice and white grape juice by 18 healthy infants (average age 6 months) and 10 healthy toddlers (18 months). It showed that the 1-to-1 ratio of fructose and glucose in white grape juice -- and the lack of sorbitol -- was easier on the children's digestion.
The research was funded in part by Welch's, which makes white grape juice products. But Lifsh*tz defended his work, explaining that he discovered the easier digestive properties of white grape juice while working on another project in his specialty of carbohydrate malabsorption among kids. He made the first contact with Welch's -- and said "it wasn't easy to convince them to fund the study."
Not that Lifsh*tz is looking to sell any juice. He said American kids are drinking too much of it. He said no child younger than 6 months should be drinking juice, kids 6 to 18 months should have no more than 4 ounces per day and kids 18 to 24 months should keep to an 8-ounce daily limit.
"If you give babies and toddlers a lot of juice, they don't learn to eat other nutritious foods," Lifsh*tz said. "We have conducted research showing some parents are giving their kids 20 to 40 ounces of juice a day. (Short-term) this can cause all kinds of bloating, gas and other digestive problems."
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Lifsh*tz said juice can prevent normal growth. One Maimonides study examined eight 14- to 27-month-old children who were lagging behind the development of other toddlers. Each was drinking 12 to 30 ounces per day, representing anywhere from 25 to 60 percent of daily consumption of calories.
When the eight children were weaned off the juice (drinking milk for nourishment and water to quench the thirst), they began gaining weight at normal rates.
