Disclaimer: None of the information in this article constitutes medical advice, and is just the opinion of the writer(s) and published for informational purposes only. We recommend that patients follow their doctor’s guidance in regard to fruit juice consumption.
Naked Juice is one of the most popular juice brands, and is often considered a healthier alternative to drinks like water and soda given that it’s made with real fruits.
But how much sugar does Naked Juice actually have, and is this a concern? And are there any additive ingredients that may be unhealthy?
In this article we’ll review the ingredients in Naked Juice and answer these questions, as well as share our thoughts on whether Naked Juice is healthier than other popular consumer products.
Ingredient Review
Naked Juice comes in a variety of flavors. The good news is that all of their smoothies have predominantly whole foods ingredients. We know from extensive medical research that consumption of fruits and vegetables is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality.
Most Naked Juice drinks provide several servings of fruits and vegetables. As an example, “Green Machine” contains ingredients like apple juice, pineapple juice, kiwi puree and parsley.
Because of the high fruit and vegetable content, Naked Juice is quite rich in nutrients such as potassium and Vitamin C.
Naked Juice does contain some additive ingredients we recommend avoiding from a health perspective. The first is natural flavor which is included in many of their drinks. As documented in a medical review published in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal, there are some toxicity concerns regarding natural flavoring agents.
We recommend avoiding this ingredient entirely, unless the manufacturer details what specific flavoring agents are used.
Naked Juice also contains added vitamins and minerals in some of their drinks. Their “Ranbow Machine” drink contains added Vitamin B12, Vitamin B3 and calcium, among others. We strongly disagree with the practice of food manufacturers adding seemingly-random blends of vitamins and minerals, nor do we understand the practice.
We have not seen any medical research suggesting a health benefit of random vitamin and mineral supplementation, and taking added vitamins and minerals may be unsafe for consumers who already have normal levels of those vitamins and minerals. A wellness brand recently had to recall milkshakes due to toxicity caused by their vitamin and mineral additives.
We recommend that consumers avoid health products with added vitamins and minerals. It seems illogical to take random blends of these ingredients without a documented deficiency.
Not all Naked Juices contain questionable additives. Their “O-J” drink has one single ingredient: orange juice.
While most of the ingredients in Naked Juice are fruits and vegetables, we don’t recommend any of their drinks except for “O-J” due to the additives, and even their “O-J” drink we would only recommend in certain circumstances as detailed below.
Is The Sugar Content Unhealthy?
Naked Juices contain a relatively high amount of sugar. Their “Orange Mango” drink contains 51 grams (g) of sugar per bottle, and their Tropical Guava drink contains 50 g sugar, as a few examples.
We want to note that this is not added sugar, which we consider unhealthy in all cases. This is natural sugar from the fruits in the drinks, which makes the healthiness a bit more complex.
In healthy consumers, we don’t consider the sugar content of these drinks to be an issue. A medical review published in the Nutrients journal analyzed data on fruit juice consumption and found that the benefits outweighed the risks. In particular, there appears to be some reduced risk of stroke and reduced risk of nutritional deficiencies with fruit juice consumption.
However, for individuals with metabolic syndrome (obesity, type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure), we believe the high sugar dose from these drinks may make them a bad choice. At the very least, we’d recommend that people with chronic conditions speak with their doctor prior to regularly consuming drinks with this much sugar.
Are Whole Fruits Healthier?
Our opinion is that whole fruit consumption is healthier than fruit juice consumption. Whole fruits provide dietary fiber, which can reduce the blood sugar and insulin spike, and is healthy for the digestive system.
A medical study from 2019 analyzed data on over 10,000 patients and found that whole fruit consumption was associated with reduced incidence of obesity, while fruit juice consumption was not.
Another meta-study published in the Journal of Diabetes Investigation found that whole fruit consumption, but not fruit juice consumption, reduced the risk of developing type-2 diabetes.
Another interesting comparative study found that the nutrient levels in whole fruits were significantly higher than the nutrient levels in fruit juice. The antioxidant levels in some fruits were up to 54% higher than juice made from the same fruit, and sugar levels in the whole fruits were around 35% lower.
Our opinion is that whole fruit consumption is healthier than fruit juice consumption, but both appear to be healthier than avoiding fruits entirely.
Our Fruit Juice Brand Recommendation
We recommend Ocean Spray 100% Juice for fruit juice. As suggested by the category name, the juices sold in this product line contain 100% juice, and some of their products contain no questionable additives like natural flavor.
Here are the Ocean Spray 100% Juice products we’d recommend, that contain only fruit juice and no additives:
- 100% Grapefruit Juice
- Pure Cranberry
- Pure White Grapefruit
- Pure Tart Cherry
The juices listed also have significantly lower average sugar content per serving than Naked Juice.
