Many people prefer clear apple juice to cloudy, mainly because it simply looks better. It turns out, however, that cloudy apple juice is actually better for you.
According to one study done in Poland, cloudy apple juice has more antioxidants than the clear stuff. These chemicals help control free radical molecules that can damage cells and cause disease.
When apple juice is made, to get clear juice you use an enzyme that basically takes out a lot of the juice's natural antioxidants. Cloudy juice doesn't use this enzyme, so it packs a better antioxidant punch.
What makes cloudy apple juice cloudy is the presence of apple solids, not actual chunks of apple, of course, but small particles that are strained out in clear juice. It's the solids that contain the antioxidants.
You can get the same effect of drinking cloudy apple juice by eating apples with the skin. To really get the full benefit of an apple's antioxidants and other healthy components like fiber and minerals, eating real apples, and not just drinking their juice, is the way to go.
Y: What kind of apple juice do you like better, Don, clear or cloudy?
D: Hmm, I guess clear, Yael. It looks better than the cloudy stuff, for one thing.
Y: True, I hear you. But you do know that cloudy apple juice is better for you?
D: Really? How so?
Y: Well, according to a study done in Poland, cloudy apple juice has more antioxidants than the clear stuff.
D: You mean the chemicals that help control free radical molecules that can damage cells and cause disease?
Y: Yep. See, when apple juice is made, to get clear juice you use an enzyme that basically takes out a lot of the juice's natural antioxidants.
D: And I'm guessing that cloudy juice doesn't use this enzyme, so it packs a better antioxidant punch.
Y: Right. What makes cloudy apple juice cloudy is the presence of apple solids--not actual chunks of apple, of course, but small particles that are strained out in clear juice. It's the solids that contain the antioxidants.
D: Okay, so maybe I'll switch to cloudy apple juice from now on.
Y: Or, you could eat more actual apples with the skin. To really get the full benefit of an apple's antioxidants and other healthy components like fiber and minerals, eating real apples, and not just drinking their juice, is the way to go.
