If 60 percent of the apple juice concentrate sold commercially in the USA comes from China, according to the article, Daniel Lubetzky: Apple Juice from China Contains Arsenic, how do shoppers know whether or not safe pesticides or no pesticides were used on the apples, since few commercial apple juice says on the label that it's organic? But if a doctor speaks out he's likely to get blasted with the equivalent of yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater.
An important point is the juice under the microscope needs to be tested to see whether it has organic or inorganic arsenic, if there's arsenic in the juice and to find out how harmful or not harmful the juice really is for people. The issue includes the fact that apple juice also is sold also in baby food.
Apple juice concentrate is put into other juices and bottled, and scientists have not yet separated the organic from the inorganic arsenic in juices, food, and water used to produce apple juice concentrate.
How people pass by a juice display and not realize that apple juice concentrate is in another type of juice is because the label on the juice bottle may say it's some other juice such as a mix of coconut water and other fruits.
When shoppers read the label on various other types of fruit juices, the label may list apple juice or apple juice concentrate as the first or second ingredient. But the label may not tell you whether the apple juice came from apple juice concentrate, 60% of which may be important from China.
And who's testing that concentrate in a way that separates the organic from any inorganic arsenic that, in some brands of various juices that may contain apple juice? Or a label may list apple juice rather than apple juice concentrate -- when what's in the container really is apple juice concentrate diluted with other juices and water--that is, reconstituted, but the label may only read "apple juice." And you're not likely to see on the label that the apple juice came from China or anywhere else. There's not enough room on the label most of the time.
See the articles, FDA blasts Dr. Oz over apple juice warning - Houston Chronicle, and TV's Dr. Oz accused of fear-mongering about arsenic in apple juice. Maybe it's time to buy organic local apples and emulsify them in your blender if you're going to make baby food or your own apple juice.
Too much publicity has been in the news, reports the FDA, over the amount of "naturally-occurring" arsenic in apple juice. But the FDA still says apple juice is safe to drink. Check out the September 13 Sacramento Bee article from Stephanie Yao, from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), "FDA Consumer Health Information - FDA: Apple Juice is Safe to Drink." Maybe you'd be better off eating the entire apple, but not the seeds as apple seeds are toxic. Or juice your apples in a blender where you get the fiber instead of the sugar and fructose with the 'water'.
According to Donald Zink, Ph.D., senior science advisor at FDA's Center for Food Safety and Nutrition, arsenic is present in the environment as a naturally-occurring substance or as a result of contamination from human activity. So even if the arsenic contamination is there because of human activity such as air, ground, and water pollution, the small amounts of arsenic in various foods and beverages such as fruit juices and concentrates, supposedly show no evidence of any public health risk from drinking these juices, reports the FDA.
Who is testing apple juice concentrate to find out whether any arsenic is organic or inorganic? And what are the levels of any arsenic in various imports of apple juice? Are any levels safe? And if there is a so-called 'safe' level, what's that level compared to the harmful 'inorganic' form of arsenic sometimes found in tap water that has different limits set by the FDA?
The FDA has been testing fruit juices and concentrates for years. There's no way to get the small amount of arsenic out, at least, not at an affordable price. So maybe you'd be better off buying organic apples and emulsifying them in your blender for juice. You also may be wondering whether arsenic gets into the processing or whether it's in the soil, air, water, or the tree. Learn more about how FDA tests juices and concentrates for safety at the FDA's Consumer Updates website. Or sign up for e-mail notices of new FDA Consumer Updates. Or view the FDA Consumer Update RSS feed.
According to the FDA Consumer Health Information site, you can see further information. Also, the FDA values feedback on its consumer health information. Send questions, comments, or story ideas to: consumerinfo@fda.hhs.gov.
As yourself are eating apples healthy in small amounts? And what happens if you eat too many apples and their high natural fructose levels cause your blood sugar spikes to rise, possibly resulting in increased blood pressure and insulin resistance, if you're genetically susceptible to developing insulin resistance, or if you eat too much fruit or sweets in general? Balance is the key, but how many apples should you eat? And are the studies of apple eating in animal tests applicable to humans?
How healthy is eating organic, fresh local apples?
How will apples affect people with a genetic mutation that makes them more prone to develop insulin resistance and later perhaps type 2 diabetes? Do the health benefits of eating apples outweigh the high fructose content of apples?
Researchers found that apple extract was able to protect cells from damage and death by interfering with communication between cells. The research findings appear in the journal, Experimental Biology and Medicine. Earlier studies have shown that flavonoids--which are found in chocolate and green tea, as well as other fruits and vegetables--behave as anti-oxidants, taking up free oxygen radicals that can damage precious DNA.
According to a new study at another university published in March 2011 in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, "Apple Polyphenols Extend the Mean Lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster," scientists are reporting the first evidence that consumption of a healthful antioxidant substance in apples extends the average lifespan of test animals, and does so by 10 percent. The new results, obtained with fruit flies — stand-ins for humans in hundreds of research projects each year — bolster similar findings on apple antioxidants in other animal tests. Also check out a March 2, 2011 news release about this study, "Polishing the apple's popular image as a healthy food."
In the study, Zhen-Yu Chen and colleagues note that damaging substances generated in the body, termed free radicals, cause undesirable changes believed to be involved in the aging process and some diseases. Substances known as antioxidants can combat this damage. Fruits and vegetables in the diet, especially brightly colored foods like tomatoes, broccoli, blueberries, and apples are excellent sources of antioxidants.
A previous study with other test animals hinted that an apple antioxidant could extend average lifespan, according to the March 2, 2011 news release. In the current report, the researchers studied whether different apple antioxidants, known as polyphenols, could do the same thing in fruit flies.
The researchers found that apple polyphenols not only prolonged the average lifespan of fruit flies but helped preserve their ability to walk, climb and move about. In addition, apple polyphenols reversed the levels of various biochemical substances found in older fruit flies and used as markers for age-related deterioration and approaching death, according to the news release. Chen and colleagues note that the results support those from other studies, including one in which women who often ate apples had a 13-22 percent decrease in the risk of heart disease, and polish the apple's popular culture image as a healthy food.
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