Smoothies or Juices?

Smoothies or juices, what’s better? Our nutritionist Emily explains the difference!

When you blitz fruit and veg to make a juice or smoothie, you break up the cell structure of the food which means the sugar within the cell is released. This is what is referred to as ‘free sugars’ and is the type of sugar that as a population we need to be reducing the amount of in our diets. Because the sugar has been released, our body doesn’t need to break the food down, so it is absorbed quite quickly and causes a spike in our blood sugar levels. Regularly consuming free sugars can also increase our risk of tooth decay, which is why it is advised we limit fruit juice and smoothies to 150ml a day. When juicing, the fibre is also lost; Fibre is important for our gut health and as a population we aren’t getting enough, which is why I would always advocate eating the whole fruit or vegetable instead. However if you did want your fruit/veg in a drink I would suggest having a smoothie as it will contain more fibre than juicing. Additionally, to reduce the sugar content I would recommend the smoothie contains at least 50% vegetables, like our H&H smoothies do, and perhaps a liquid like coconut water or milk.