Intake of 100% Fruit Juice Is Associated with Improved Diet Quality of Adults: NHANES 2013-2016 Analysis

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 11; no. 10; p. 2513
• Main Authors: Agarwal, Sanjiv, Fulgoni Iii, Victor L, Welland, Diane
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 18.10.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Adult; Adults; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Agriculture; Ascorbic acid; Body Mass Index; Body Weight; Calcium; Chronic illnesses; Consumers; Data collection; Diet; Diet - statistics & numerical data; Diet, Healthy; Dietary fiber; dietary modeling; Energy Intake; Fatty acids; Feeding Behavior; Female; Food; Fruit and Vegetable Juices; Fruit juices; Fruits; Health care; health risk factors; healthy eating index; Humans; Juices; Magnesium; Male; Metabolic disorders; Metabolic syndrome; Middle Aged; Nutrients; Nutrition; Nutrition research; Nutrition Surveys; Potassium; Public health; Quality; Quality assessment; Review boards; Vegetables; Vitamin D; Womens health; Young Adult; health risk factors; dietary modeling; healthy eating index; nutrients
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu11102513

Fruit intake is generally associated with better diet quality and overall health. This report examined the effect of 100% fruit juice (considered a part of total fruit servings) and its replacement with whole fruits equivalents on nutrient intake and diet quality. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2013-2016 data (24-h dietary recall) from adults 19+ years ( = 10,112) were used to assess the diet quality and nutrient intakes and to isocalorically replace with 100% fruit juice intakes whole fruit equivalents in a modeling analysis. About 15.6% adults were 100% fruit juice consumers. Consumers had higher diet quality (10% higher Healthy Eating Index, HEI 2015 score), and higher intakes of energy, calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin C and vitamin D than non-consumers. Consumption of 100% fruit juice was also associated with lower risk of being overweight/obese (-22%) and having metabolic syndrome (-27%). Replacing 100% fruit juice with whole fruits equivalents did not affect nutrient intake except for a modest increase (+6.4%) in dietary fiber. Results show that 100% fruit juice intake was associated with better diet quality and higher nutrient intake. Replacement of 100% fruit juice intake with whole fruits equivalents had no significant effect on nutrients except for dietary fiber.