No time for veggies? Squeeze them

Washington: Drinking vegetable juice daily could compensate the shortfall in dietary intake of vegetables, according to a new study.
With seven out of 10 adults falling short of daily vegetable intake as recommneded by US dietary guidelines, researchers studied whether drinking their juice could act as its substitute.

"What we found was that drinking vegetable juice seemed to address some of the key barriers to vegetable consumption such as convenience, portability and taste, so individuals were more likely to meet their daily recommendations," said Carl Keen, study author and professor of nutrition & internal medicine, University of California, Davis (UC-D).

"Furthermore, vegetable juice drinkers reported that they actually enjoyed drinking their vegetables, which is critical to adopting dietary practices for the long-term." In fact, after six weeks of the study, vegetable drinkers reported they felt "more satisfied" with the ease of getting vegetables into their diet, and that the vegetable juice provided an important additional source of vitamins and minerals. The study looked at three groups of healthy men and women.

They received dietary counseling on ways to get more vegetables, but only two of the groups were instructed to consume at least one serving of vegetable juice.

Of those two groups, one drank one eight ounces of juice daily and the other drank two eight-ounces doses daily as part of a balanced eating plan, according to a release of UC-D.

The study found that those who received dietary counselling and consumed veg juice were far more likely to meet daily veg recommendations, about two and a half cups (five servings), than those who received counselling alone.

These findings were presented this week at the American Dietetic Association's annual conference.