Disclaimer: None of the information in this article constitutes medical advice, and is just the opinion of the writer(s). We recommend that patients follow their doctor’s guidance in regard to juice cleanses.
Squeezed juice cleanse is a nutritional program that the brand suggests can cause weight loss, boost energy and provide a “deep tissue cleanse and nourishment allowing for healthier hair and skin.”
But are juice cleanses actually healthy, or is this another wellness trend without clinical backing? What ingredients does Squeezed use in their cleanses? Do juice cleanses cause weight loss? And how do real users rate and describe the effects of Squeezed Juice Cleanse?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Squeezed to give our take on whether or not it's healthy, and whether or not it's likely to cause weight loss.
We'll feature a segment on the popular show The Doctors discussing juice cleanses, and share some unsponsored customer reviews of Squeezed.
We'll also compare the health benefits of whole fruits and vegetables to juices.
Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in all six drinks in the Squeezed Cleanse are shown above.
The good news is that this cleanse is formulated with entirely whole food ingredients, and is free of unhealthy additives.
Squeezed juices contain a wide variety of fruits and vegetables that the average American consumer may not be exposed to regularly.
Jicama, for example, is a root vegetable native to Mexico that’s been found in medical research to have potential benefits to weight and blood sugar.
Beet is included in several of the juices, and this vegetable was shown to reduce blood pressure and to reduce mortality rate for certain diseases in a medical review published in the Biomolecules journal.
Different plant compounds have unique phytonutrients and health benefits. Consuming a wide variety of fruits and vegetables can help optimize gut health beyond eating the same fruits and vegetables daily.
Overall, we consider the ingredients in Squeezed juice cleanses to be nutritious and healthy, and we recommend this cleanse over most commercial cleanses from an ingredient perspective.
But will Squeezed cause weight loss? We'll answer that question in the next section of this article.
Can Squeezed Cause Weight Loss?
As shown above, the Squeezed website suggests that their program can cause weight loss.
While any dietary intervention that reduces calorie intake below baseline can cause short-term weight loss, we don’t consider juice diets to be an effective long-term weight loss strategy because they reduce calories significantly below baseline and tend to cause a “rebound” effect where weight is regained.
An extensive medical review published in 2017 reviewed results from clinical trials on four popular weight loss strategies, one of them being juice diets.
The study authors found that juicing diets can be effective short-term because they restrict calories so significantly, but that they “tend to lead to weight gain once a normal diet is resumed.”
Our takeaway is that any diet, including fasting, that restricts calories below maintenance level will cause weight loss short-term. This is not unique to “juice cleansing.”
However, we don't believe this is sustainable long-term nor does Squeezed publish any medical evidence suggesting or proving their program is an effective long-term weight loss strategy.
But is juicing less healthy than eating whole fruits and vegetables? We'll discuss after we feature some real user reviews of the brand in the next section.
Real Users Review Squeezed
At the time of updating this article, Squeezed has a customer review rating of 1/5 stars on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website, which is the lowest possible rating.
Some customer reviews mention becoming “violently ill” after consuming the juices. We cannot verify the accuracy or authenticity of any of these reviews, but we consider it to be a red flag that the business hasn’t responded publicly to any of these reviews.
Typically, when a customer leaves a review claiming harm from a product on the BBB site, the business will respond to try to resolve the situation, or at least better understand the customer’s circumstance. The fact that Squeezed chooses not to do so worries us.
A YouTube creator named Nelia Bedilia reviewed Squeezed in a video with over 50,000 views:
Juicing vs. Whole Fruits & Veg
While we consider any juice derived entirely from fruits or vegetables to be healthy, we would consider eating whole fruits or vegetables to be a healthier option than juicing.
Whole produce contains dietary fiber which blunts the blood sugar response to fruit intake and provides ancillary benefits to gut health.
As we documented in our recent review of Naked Juice, there is medical evidence that eating whole fruits has anti-obesity effects while drinking fruit juice does not.
There is also medical proof that whole fruit consumption can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, while this effect may not occur with fruit juice consumption.
Eating whole fruits and veggies is generally a more cost-effective option as well. Squeezed cleanses cost $29.99 for one day at the time of writing this article. A consumer could easily purchase 5-10 servings of whole fruit for less than that price.
Is “Cleansing” Unscientific?
“Cleansing” is a term that is poorly defined in health circles, and we consider it to be generally unscientific.
The liver and kidneys detoxify and cleanse the blood efficiently, and we haven’t come across any medical evidence that drinking juices purifies the blood or body in any way beyond what the body already naturally does.
We will credit Squeezed for avoiding any health claims about “detoxification” on their site, but we would prefer if the brand just sold their juices without branding their products as “cleanses” because this suggests a health claim that is ill-defined.
The term “cleansing” in this brand’s marketing suggests that these juices should be consumed as a replacement for food. For consumers interested in Squeezed juices, we would recommend simply adding them to the diet for their nutrition but not as meal replacements unless otherwise recommended by a doctor.
A TedTalk with over 3.5 million views features a doctor explaining why cleanses aren't effective for "detoxing" the body:
Doctors Review Juice Cleanses
One of the most popular YouTube videos on the topic of juice cleanses comes from a channel called “The Doctors” and has garnered over 170,000 views at the time of writing this article. The medical experts on the show discuss whether juice cleanses are effective and safe:
Our Clean Green Powder Picks
Complement Daily Greens is our top overall green powder pick.
This greens powder is extremely nutrient-dense without any added vitamins, providing 50% of the iron Daily Value (DV), 46% of the chromium DV and 35% of the vitamin A DV in one serving.
Pique Japanese Sencha Green Tea is our top superfood green powder pick.
Green tea was documented in a medical review to support "anti-hypertensive effect, body weight control, antibacterial and antivirasic activity, solar ultraviolet protection, bone mineral density increase."
Both of the products recommended in this section are entirely free of ingredients we consider to be unhealthy.
Pros and Cons of Squeezed
Here are the pros and cons of Squeezed juice cleanse in our opinion:
Pros:
- Whole food ingredients
- No unhealthy additives
- Nutrient-rich
- Better ingredients than most cleanses
Cons:
- Unlikely to cause long-term weight loss
- Expensive
- Packaged in plastic
- Negative online customer reviews
- Brand fails to respond to BBB complaints
- Cleansing may not detox the body
