Cloudy apple juice four times healthier than clear

Drink healthy apple juice

Cloudy apple juice is four times healthier than the clear variety, reports Sarah Scoffield in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI.

Jan Oszmianski, leading a team at the Agricultural University of Wroclaw, Poland, compared clear and cloudy varieties of apple juice, and found that cloudy juice contains four times the concentration of polyphenols. Polyophenols are also found in dark chocolate, red wine and are widely reported to have anti-caner activity. The research published this month in the SCI's Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture (DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.2707).

Lucy Ede, Head of Products at the juice company Innocent, said they already use cloudy apple juice in their products. "Cloudy juices taste better and have amazing body, which is important for us," she said. "But the fact that cloudy juices have more health benefits is extra exciting and definitely encourages us to use them."

Clear juice far outsells cloudy juice because of the perception by consumers that is purer. But it is the process of clarification that removes the beneficial compounds locked away in the apple pulp. Retailers also tend to favour clear juice because it has a longer shelf life than cloudy juice.

Also of interest in C&I issue 1 2007:

• Super Sausages

Adding orange fibre to the mix allows scientist to make tasty sausages with 60% less fat. The orange fibre not only improves flavour but could also provide health benefits of fruit, which helps fight several conditions such as, colon cancer and heart disease. (JSFA DOI: 10.1002/jsfa)

• Extra Special Espresso

The exact conditions required to make the perfect espresso are revealed this week in Chemistry & Industry. Researchers, from the University of Navarro used both electronic 'noses' and human tasters to determine the exact ratio of coffee to water required to avoid the unpleasant tastes of burnt rubber, motor-oil, sulphur and ash associated with over-brewed coffee. The amount required depends on the coffee used