Nutritional Value

We’ve all heard about the health benefits of drinking cranberry juice, but do those benefits outweigh the amount of sugar added to cranberry juice in order to make it palatable to most consumers, since unsweetened cranberries are quite tart indeed. The President and CEO of Ocean Spray attests that the nutritional value of cranberry juice far outweighs the added sugar. Who hasn’t downed a big glass of cranberry juice to ward off a urinary tract infection? Cranberries are one of nature’s natural antibiotics, but recently questions have arisen about their health benefits because of the current administration’s goal of removing all sugared drinks from school vending machines. Nutrient packed fruit juices that also contain added sugars should not be considered the same as sweetened beverages that lack any nutrients whatsoever. A lot of foods that pack a nutritional punch are going to get a bad rap if we start placing all foods with added sugars or sodium under the same blanket. Like my grandmother used to say, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water”. In other words, getting rid of something good while trying getting rid of something bad can, and usually does, lead to great regret.