The United Kingdom is no different than America as we both have a childhood obesity crisis and are strategizing on how best to tackle it. The UK had a national childhood obesity week from July 5 - 11. They focused on policies and strategies with key leaders in this field.
I was looking at their food guidelines that are a little different than our My Food Pyramid guidelines that we use here in America. One thing I noticed was that although 100% fruit juice counted as one serving of the fruit group, you could only count it once.
This means that if your child drank 3 glasses of 100% fruit juice, according to the UK's recommendations, that would only count as one serving of the fruit group. The extra glasses don't count. However, according to our Food Pyramid, technically, that could count as 3 servings of fruit.
I think this is a very important difference and I think the UK got it right! Why, because fruit juice, even though it is 100%, is still high in sugar. If you think I am wrong, just compare the label of a soda can and 100% grape juice or apple juice. You might be very surprised how much sugar is in natural fruit juices.
This is a great reminder for all us that kids need to eat their fruit. At most, one 6 ounce glass of 100% fruit juice should be given to a child. Fruit is loaded with vitamins and when you eat it, you get some fiber too!
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