Drink Your Vegetable Juice

How long has it been since you had a glass of vegetable juice?

Many of us don’t get the recommended daily servings of vegetables in our diets. Two new studies, presented at the International Symposium on Human Health Effects of Fruits and Vegetables, show that the convenience and enjoyment of vegetable juice are crucial to their success in helping people get their daily recommended servings of vegetables.

A 12-week study by the University of California-Davis revealed that the people in the study who drank at least two cups of vegetable juice met daily vegetable recommendations. However, only 7% of the non-juice drinkers met vegetable recommendations. The participants with borderline high blood pressure who drank up to two servings of V8 juice significantly lowered their blood pressure. The study analyzed 90 healthy adults ages 40 to 65.

Another 12-week study conducted at the Baylor College of Medicine showed that drinking vegetable juice helped overweight people with metabolic syndrome lose more weight than non-juice drinkers. Those who suffer from metabolic syndrome have a cluster of risk factors for heart disease and diabetes: excess body fat in the midsection, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and elevated blood cholesterol.

In the Baylor study, participants who drank one to two servings of Low Sodium V8 100% vegetable juice a day with a balanced diet increased their vegetable intake and lost an average of four pounds during the study. Study participants who didn’t drink the juice lost one pound. The study participants included 81 adults with metabolic syndrome risk factors.

Both studies were supported in part by Campbell Soup Company and by the University of California-Davis and Baylor College of Medicine.

(Image via WikiMedia Commons)