Discover 6 detoxifying and delicious juice ingredients that you can drink and apply topically for gorgeous, glowing skin!

Juicing is one of the biggest health trends that goes hand in hand with kale chips, yoga and veganism, and for a good reason, too. The benefits of introducing the mass of vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants to your body through pure, low calorie juice ingredients is a boon to your being. Learn which juice ingredients will make your skin glow from the inside out, and then utilize the leftover pulp to make de-clogging and regenerating facial masks!

1. Carrots
Carrots are the number one vegetable source of beta-carotene, which is an amazing antioxidant that prevents cell degeneration, helping keep your skin vibrant and youthful. Less known is the fact that these orange root veggies contain a fair amount of vitamin C, which is essential for the natural production of collagen to help keep skin elastic and wrinkle free. Carrots ale contain potassium, helping generate new skin cell growth and also promote liver detoxification, which in turn helps keep your skin free of blemishes and dark spots. Use the green tops too for a light parsley flavor!

2. Cucumbers
Cucumbers are very high in water content, and so have the ability to flush toxins out of your body. Cucumbers also have a calming and soothing effect when applied topically, and may help soothe inflamed, burnt or over-heated skin. These green fruits also contain high amounts of phytonutrients and silica that act as skin tighteners, helping to prevent wrinkles and cellulite when ingested or applied topically. Recent studies have shown that cucumbers have been used to lower blood pressure and reduce cholesterol, both of which are important for keeping your skin smooth and not puffy or inflamed.

3. Parsley
Parsley is an extremely cleansing herb and tasty juice ingredient that is very high in vitamins A and C, helping to keep skin tone even and pores open. Use parsley to activate the liver, kidneys and urinary tract, all organs that help to filter and flush toxins out of your body and away from your skin. High levels of vitamin K can also be found in parsley, which helps heal wounds and improves skin elasticity and smoothness.

4. Beets
Beets are a pretty  powerful skin cleansing juice ingredient, as they filter toxins out of your body to keep your blood clean and your circulatory system healthy and functioning. Since raw beets are so potent, it’s important to never use more than half of a medium sized one, and best to avoid them if you have kidney stones. Beets are high in iron, potassium, copper, vitamin C, niacin, zinc and manganese, all minerals and nutrients that help keep your energy levels high, boost your brain power and keep that healthy blood circulating around your body’s largest organ, which is the skin.

5. Apples
Apples are wonderful ingredients for a low sugar method of sweetening fresh juices, but also come with a handful of benefits for your skin. Apples, especially green ones, are great for toning and brightening skin as they contain high amounts of vitamins A and C. Certain apple varieties also offer copper in high densities, which helps the body produce melanin, a natural pigment that provides the skin with sun protection.

6. Ginger
Zingy and zesty ginger is a gorgeous addition to any juice, and also helps to boost the immune and circulatory systems. Although slightly spicy, ginger root is actually a specific for inflammation, making it ideal for treating acne and other inflamed skin irritations.  Ginger is also high in magnesium, manganese and vitamin B6, all of which help slow the aging process of your skin.

Recipes
Try the two tasty and healthy recipes below using the ingredients we’ve pointed out to create your own juices and masks for glowing skin.  Simple use a juicer or a blender and a sieve to make the juice. Use any leftover pulp to make a facial mask. You can choose to mix some olive, avocado or walnut oil to the pulp create more of a hydrating mask, or alternatively mix in plain yogurt for oilier skin. Gradually add the oil or yogurt to the pulp until it turns into a smooth paste.

Sweet & Spicy              Green Goodness
4 carrots                            1 carrot (and its tops if you have them)
1/2 apple                           1 large cucumber
1/2 beet                             1 small bunch parsley
1 T grated ginger             ginger to taste

Related on EcoSalon

Do Cleanses Really Work for Health and Weight Loss?

DIY Skincare Guide: 15 Essential Herbs for Natural Beauty

12 Market Price DIY Face Mask Recipes for Every Skin Type: Affordable and Effective

Image: FoundryParkInn

Sources: WellandGoodNYC, SacredSourceNutrition, Shape Magazine

The post 6 Juicy Ingredients to Drink and Wear for Glowing Skin appeared first on EcoSalon.

Amp up your summer ice cubes with these 10 cool ideas.

A scorching Summer calls for cool beverages – preferably iced. But where’s the fun in run-of-the-mill ice cubes? Sure, they cool things down, but they also dilute many an iced coffee or a cocktail, which is not okay. This is where flavored ice cubes enter the scene – they’re easy on the eyes and add more taste than water ever did. Impress guests (and yourself) with these 10 flavored ice cube ideas.

Coffee

Cool down your coffee without diluting it! Freeze coffee that you would normally drink hot and throughout a sizzling week, use the cubes in your daily cup or blend them into a smoothie for some extra coolness and caffeine.

Herbs

Wow a crowd by adding chopped herbs to an ice-cube tray. Cool water with cubes infused with chopped mint leaves and dried ginger and bring extra taste and sophistication to the table.

Coconut Water

Coconut water has an electrolyte balance similar to human blood, so it’s super nourishing. Add coconut water ice cubes to an smoothie or glass of water in place of regular water ice cubes for a refreshing energy kick.

Colorful Fruit

For a beautiful presentation, add raspberries and blueberries or slices of pineapple, mango, and other sweet fruit to an ice-cube tray. They not only make a glass of water look festive but also leave it with a fruity hint that intensifies with each sip.

Edible Flowers

This one is mostly for show. The summer is all about outdoor barbecues, pool-side treats, and nature. Ice cubes with colorful edible flowers sprinkled in simply fits the bill.

Lemon Juice

Save the slice. Freeze lemon juice, and cool down on a blistering Summer afternoon with a tall glass of water with lemon ice cubes.

Old Wine

Old wine can be salvaged! Freeze remaining wine into cubes and melt them on the stove top into recipes that call for wine. And don’t dilute that sangria with water ice cubes, use red wine ice cubes instead to retain the alcohol level (very important) and taste.

Wheat Grass

It may be one of the healthiest juices on earth, but it sure doesn’t have a shelf life. Wheatgrass in its liquid state goes rotten quite quickly. Freeze the juice into cubes and use them in smoothies or use them to cool fruit and vegetable juice, all the while offering you some blood-cleansing benefits.

Milk

Milk ice cubes can be added to a hot cup of coffee or tea to cool it down but bring up the richness of the drink.

Chocolate

Melt dark chocolate, let cool to room temperature, and freeze into cubes. Toss the frozen chocolate cubes into a glass of milk. As the chocolate melts, you have yourself an increasingly richer chocolate milk that is as fresh and cooling as it is decadent and delicious.

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

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7 ways to be planet and body friendly while in London for the Olympics.

London is this summer’s hottest destination – maybe not for the heat, but indeed for the buzz! Whether you’re heading to the UK for Olympic festivities or are passing through any time of the year, it’ll do your body and social consciousness a favor to get going with the following seven suggestions.

Run Like a Royal

What’s free and a fantastic way to stay in shape? Outdoor jogging. MapMyRun.com is the ultimate resource for not only getting in a good workout but also seeing a city from a completely different perspective. The site provides you with visual tracks that other runners have trod before. You can also create your own route, tailoring it according to your distance and terrain requirements. Check out the nearly 9,000 routes already mapped out in London.

Hydrate Organically

Need a morning fix that will keep your energy levels high for the rest of the day? Sip on a refreshing and hydrating organic vegetable and fruit juice from Planet Organic. The market has a juice and smoothie bar with plenty of vegan, vegetarian and organic options to satisfy a breakfast, lunch or dinner appetite. There are locations in Devonshire Square, Muswell Hill, Islington, Torrington Place, and Westbourne Grove, so there is always one at a reasonable distance. Each location offers food, natural beauty, and health and well-being products.

Eat Kindly

London is emerging as an epicenter to the raw and vegan food movement in Europe, but before these venues were established, hailing strong were the numerous farmers markets spread throughout the city. Berwick Street Market is one of the city’s oldest. It has been running in Soho since as far back as 1778. It is open Monday-Saturday, 9am-6pm. Marylebone Farmers Market is also a fantastic market that has a something for everyone. Going beyond produce and general goods, the market has stalls offering prepared food from a variety of cuisines. Both the Berwick and Marylebone markets have organic options. Find a full directory of markets in London, check out official London Farmers Market page.

If sit-down dining is more your style, support local restaurants with your patronage and enjoy the city’s take on food fit for a health nut. Some of the standouts include:

• Saf (63 Kensington High St, London W8 5SE)
• VitaOrganic (74 Wardour Street  London, Greater London W1F 0TE)
• InSpiral Lounge (Camden High Street, London NW1 8QS)
• Bonnington Café (11 Vauxhall Grove, London Borough of Lambeth, London SW8 1TD)
• 42Raw (6 Burlington Gardens, City of Westminster, London W1S)
• Wild Food Café (1st floor  14 Neil’s Yard, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9DP)
• Vx (73 Caledonian Road, London N1 9BT)
• Green Note (106 Parkway, London, NW1 7AN)
• Ms. Cupcake (408 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, London SW9 8LF)
• Greenz (5 Station Rise, Tulse Hill, London SE27 9BW)

While the Olympics may be enough of a party, if you are looking to entertain or partake in a clean-eating cleanse while traveling, contact Raw Fairies, a no-cook food delivery service whose menu can be tailored to your needs. Meals include juices, salads, entrees and desserts! Rainforest Creations, too, is a healthy catering alternative that offers modern cuisine with an organic flair.

Strike a Pose

Find your inner Zen in the chaos of London and head to one of the most comprehensive studios in the city – Tri Yoga – for a £20, 2-week access to all of its yoga and pilates classes. Operating since 2000, the studio currently offers a list of bodywork therapies, including massage, acupuncture, reiki, reflexology, and psychotherapy. Find Tri Yoga in Primrose Hill, Chelsea Soho, and Covent Garden.

With locations in Notting Hill since 1993 and Islington since 2001, The Life Centre is a fixture in London’s yoga scene and draws a loyal clientele. It also cuts visitors a break, offering unlimited yoga at an introductory price of £20 for 20 consecutive days.

If you have special needs or are traveling with children, check out the Special Yoga Centre. The studio supports children and those with physical limitations, gladly offering 20% concessions to those who qualify as well as community payment classes.

Park Yourself

Grab a blanket, a friend, and a few sandwiches and spend the day looking up at the sky rather than at a blur of traffic. London is full of green space and spending an afternoon at the park is a cheap and fuss-free way to escape the city without ever leaving it. With so many parks to choose from, Time Out London has jumped the gun and organized a directory. Check out the list of parks here, which are categorized under “local parks,” “public gardens,or “hidden oases of green,” and never bore of nature. Challenge accepted.

Reduce Your Footprint

Ditch the taxi, car, bus, metro, or any engine-run mode of transportation and opt for a cleaner way to explore the city. The London Bicycle Tour Company provides daily Central London and West End bike tours, each for £18.95. Flat Tire Bike Tours is also a popular service that offers Royal London and River Thames bike and walking tours. Get a workout and an education all at once!

Shop Friendly

Do London in style, eco-friendly style that is. The city boasts a selection of boutiques and shops with fair-trade, conscious clothing and accessories.

Equa is a small Islington boutique that sells organic, fair-trade clothing from approximately 20 different designers. For children and infants, Green Baby houses organic and fairly-trade baby and mother goods, from clothing to beauty to nursery items. The Family Tree sells lamps, shades, hooks, tables, and jewelry, all of which are made ethically and locally. The store also carries People Tree, a fair-trade clothing store in operation since 2001.

Looking for the perfect shoes to go with that fair-trade blouse? Terra Plana is a shoe company that uses recyclable products. It compensates for its CO2 emissions through donations and uses vegetable leather, leather without chromium, and its self-created “E-Leather,” which is a mix of leather and textile fibers. Terra Plana has a store in Covent Garden, Brushfield Street and Westfield.

For more brands with an eco-friendly backstory, check out the annual Eco Design Fair’s directory of designers. Each listed designer incorporates the following elements in its creations: recycled/recyclable, organically grown, fair-traded, non-toxic, low energy-consuming in production/use, and cruelty-free.

Web portals dedicated to bringing eco-friendly products to the UK are My Eco Store and Ethical Superstore. Both are stocked with just about any household appliance and clothing item. Browse through their inventories and enjoy the vast selection.

Image: Australia Photos, Abigail Sylvester, nakedsky

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With a parent company like Coca-Cola, are Odwalla juices as healthy and natural as they claim?

The story of Odwalla is that of your classic lemonade-stand-turned-multi-million-dollar-juice-company. In 1980, partners Greg Steltenpohl, Gerry Percy, and Bonnie Bassett started selling fresh, unpasteurized orange juice squeezed by a secondhand juicer in a backyard shed. By 1996, Odwalla was one of the largest fresh juice companies in America, and in 2001 it was bought out by The Coca-Cola Company, as part of the global conglomerate’s efforts to enter the health beverage industry.

Odwalla’s motto from the start was “soil to soul” – but when a parent company like Coca-Cola is in the picture, how natural and healthy can Odwalla’s products still be?

In its early days, Odwalla’s distribution was local, with headquarters and production in California, and its offerings were limited to fruits that were in season. Named after a song character that guided “people of the sun” out of the “grey haze,” the company’s initial mission was to help people break away from the cycle of over-processed foods, an aim that earned Odwalla a cult following among health junkies and food activists. In fact, Steve Jobs, known for his strict vegan eating habits, was said to have stocked Odwalla juices in Apple’s early offices.

In 1996, Odwalla made more than $59 million in sales and was considered a success story – that is, until October of that year, when it was found that a batch of apple juice made with blemished fruit was contaminated with E. coli. The outbreak led to the death of a 16-month-old and made at least 66 people sick, some with lasting health damage.

Though Odwalla went immediately into action mode – a recall of the products cost $6.5 million and took around 48 hours to complete – stock in the company fell by 40 percent and product sales plummeted by 90 percent.

The outbreak was blamed on the fact that Odwalla’s juices were unpasteurized, because the company claimed that the process of pasteurization altered flavors and killed essential nutrients and enzymes. In addition, Odwalla was blamed for other flawed safety practices, like unsanitized equipment. The company pled guilty, paid a $1.5 million fine, and added flash pasteurization to their juice making practices.

Odwalla gradually recovered, and in 2001 it was acquired by Coca-Cola for a reported $181 million and folded into the corporation’s Minute Maid department. Today, Odwalla continues to sell its original fresh juices along with lines of Proteins, Quenchers, Fruit Smoothies, Superfood blends, and energy bars.

The Good

In an industry where most “natural” food and beauty products have ingredient lists that are paragraphs long, Odwalla, for the most part, is the real deal. A handful of the company’s natural juice products continue to list just one ingredient: “pure pressed carrots,” for instance, or simply “apple juice.” And most of the other ingredient lists don’t top ten items, with the majority of ingredients derived from nature. Odwalla’s popular Original Superfood, for instance, contains a unique blend of apple juice; peach, mango, strawberry, and banana purees; spirulina; soy lecithin; vitamin C; wheat grass; barley grass; wheat sprouts; Jerusalem artichoke; lemon bioflavonoids; and Novia Scotia Dulse – and somehow it still manages to taste good.

Most of Odwalla’s fruit is sourced from producers in California, where the company’s juice processing plant is also located. The fruit is washed, rinsed, and sorted, and then put through a second cleansing process before it is pressed and flash pasteurized to eliminate bacteria. According to Odwalla’s website, a group of employees gathers for a daily taste test – “we’d never serve our customers anything we wouldn’t gulp down ourselves,” they say.

In addition to keeping their juices relatively simple, Odwalla has also made a commitment to standard environmental practices, like recycling, reducing their carbon footprint, reusing water, and finding ways to eliminate waste. And recently, Odwalla was the first national beverage company to introduce packaging made from 100-percent plant-based materials. The new bottle, called PlantBottle™, is made from HDPA plastic derived from sugarcane, which is 100 percent recyclable. The innovation was also incorporated into water bottle packaging for Dasani, another Coca-Cola-owned company.

The Bad

After the disastrous E. coli outbreak in 1996, Odwalla was no longer able to produce juices that were as untainted and unpasteurized as before. The company introduced flash pasteurization, also called “High Temperature Short Time” processing, which is a process of heat pasteurization that is said to better maintain the color and flavor of ingredients.

But that’s not the only change that has taken place in Odwalla products over the years. With the introduction of new product lines, like Quenchers, Smoothies, and Superfoods, Odwalla also introduced something else into the mix: sugar.

To be fair, the sugar in question is not of the white powder variety. Instead, Odwalla uses Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, a less processed sweetener. And not all of Odwalla’s products contain added sugars. But the ones that do pack quite a punch, like the following popular 12-ounce items:

• Lemonade: 41g sugar, 44g carbohydrates, 180 calories
• Strawberry C Monster: 43g sugar, 56g carbohydrates, 240 calories
• Serious Tropical Energy: 44g sugar, 59g carbohydrates, 240 calories

For the Lemonade, that’s about the equivalent of adding 10 teaspoons of sugar to a single glass.

Bloggers weighing in tended to agree that many Odwalla drinks can barely qualify as health beverages. In a review of the Strawberry Protein Monster drink, Kristin from Fit Bottomed Girls says:

With 25 grams of protein per bottle, it certainly qualifies as a protein drink … It’s the other ingredients that have me a little more concerned. Yes, 25 grams of protein is great, and it provides plenty of calcium, vitamins B6 and B12, but all that goodness comes with some less savory friends; namely, 300 calories, 33 grams of sugar, and 170 milligrams of sodium. Now, the drink itself isn’t bad—maybe a bit on the chalky side, but sweet like strawberries and easy enough to drink—but with those kinds of stats on a beverage billed as a healthful choice, I really expected to be blown away with the tastiness.

Hungry Runner adds in:

Odwalla smoothies and juices aren’t necessarily “unhealthy,” but you also wouldn’t really want to consume an entire bottle of this product in one sitting, because even though the sugars are coming naturally from fruit, doing so would be somewhat of a sugar overload for your body. 

The Questionable

While Odwalla juice products are a comparatively good natural beverage choice, fans should adhere to the old lesson that not everything that’s natural is good for you. Though their major ingredients may be natural, many Odwalla items are still packed with sugar, or “organic evaporated cane juice” as they call it. Glamour magazine’s in-house health expert, Dr. Melina Jampolis, confirms that “evaporated cane juice is pretty much just sugar,” less processed but with the same amount of calories.

Snack Girl, who noted that her Mango Tango contained more sugar per serving than Coke, made a healthy suggestion.

What to do? I say treat these as a treat! Use them to replace soda or ice cream because they are better for you than those choices. Do not treat them like water or a snack that will fill you up.

Real juice fans are better off heading to their neighborhood juice bar. Not only can you keep an eye on how much sugar goes into your beet-apple-carrot-ginger-lemon concoction, but chances are, your local juicer needs the business more than Coca-Cola.

SEE ALSO:

Behind the Label: Pom Wonderful vs. The FTC

Behind the Label: The Kashi Controversy

Behind the Label: Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value

Behind the Label: McDonald’s See What We’re Made Of Campaign

Behind the Label: Chipotle, Food With Integrity

Check out all Behind the Label columns here.

Image: Hannah Rosen

The post Behind the Label: Odwalla Juices as Healthy As They Claim? appeared first on EcoSalon.

A government assault on the pomegranate.

Everyone knows that juice is good for you. But can a company claim that its benefits extend beyond general healthfulness? That was the question at hand last week, when a judge ruled that pomegranate juice purveyor Pom Wonderful was misleading customers by saying that its product reduces the risk of heart disease, prostate cancer, and impotence. The ruling came two years after a complaint from the Federal Trade Commission contending that Pom’s advertising was false and misleading.

Though the decision clearly stated that the juice company had insufficient evidence to support its claims, Pom reacted with a set of full-page celebratory advertisements in publications like the New York Times, with pull-out quotes from the ruling about the health benefits of pomegranates, which many critics say were taken out of context. The case begs the question: is pomegranate juice the “antioxidant superpower,” “death cheater,” and “life preserver” that Pom claims it is? Or is it no different than a glass of Tropicana?

When Stewart and Linda Rae Resnick started Pom Wonderful in 2002, few were familiar with the sweet, juicy, seed-filled pomegranate. But thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign on the fruit’s health benefits, pomegranates soon started showing up in everything from muffins to green tea to vodka, with Pom at the center of the frenzy.

Though the fruit originally hails from modern-day Iraq and Iran, Pom’s juice comes from pomegranates grown in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Pom promotes its juice as coming from “tree to bottle,” without added sugars, colorants, or low-grade fruit juices. In fact, in an interesting twist, Pom has previously sued competitor brand Minute Maid for false and misleading advertising surrounding its Enhanced Pomegranate Blueberry Juice, which contains just 0.3% pomegranate juice. The full story, from Pom’s point of view, is available in an article titled The True Story Behind Pomegranate Juice: Why POM is the Real Deal and Why Minute Maid is a Deceptive Sham. (Those juice guys sure don’t mince words.)

The Good

As far as juices go, pomegranate is pretty exceptional. One 8-ounce bottle provides about 50 percent of an adult’s recommended daily allowance of vitamins A, C, and E; 100 percent RDA of folic acid; and 13 percent RDA of potassium. In 2008, a UCLA study ranked it the healthiest fruit juice, above red wine and concord grape juice, because of its high levels of disease-fighting antioxidants.

Claims that pomegranate juice can help fight prostrate cancer originated in a series of studies reported in Harvard Men’s Health Watch in 2007. In the first study, pomegranate fruit extracts were shown to slow the growth of cultured cancer cells. Those cancer cells were then implanted in mice, which developed smaller tumors than untreated animals after receiving water laced with pomegranate juice. In another study, of men living with prostrate cancer, drinking pomegranate juice lengthened PSA doubling time and slowed tumor growth.

The same article referenced previous studies of pomegranate juice’s effect on heart disease, which showed that it can protect bad cholesterol from oxidative damage. Two small clinical trials also showed that pomegranate juice can lead to a decrease in carotid artery thickness and an improvement in cardiac blood flow.

But while the Harvard studies suggest a correlation between pomegranate juice consumption and better health, the article made sure not to state a direct causal relationship. It concluded:

The bottom line: Early studies raise hopes that pomegranates may have potential benefits for prostate cancer and heart disease, but more research is needed to determine whether these hopes are justified.

The Bad

Pom’s troubles began about two years ago, in September 2010, when the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against Pom for deceptive and misleading advertising, particularly relating to claims about the juice’s prevention and treatment of heart disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction. “Any consumer who sees POM Wonderful products as a silver bullet against disease has been misled,” said David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a CBS News report.

On May 17, the complaint reached a conclusion with a cease-and-desist order from FTC chief administrative judge D. Michael Chappell, which stated:

The greater weight of the persuasive expert testimony demonstrates that there is insufficient competent and reliable scientific evidence to substantiate claims that the Pom products treat, prevent or reduce the risk of erectile dysfunction or that they are clinically proven to do so.

The ruling mentioned similar findings on Pom’s claims regarding heart disease and prostate cancer, and it ordered Pom and parent company Roll Global to submit ad and marketing materials, complaints, and comments to the FTC for the next five years.

Though some might see the ruling as devastating, Pom Wonderful seemed to view it as a win. On its website, Pom announced that it was “vindicated,” and in a corporate press release, it stated: “In a 335 page ruling, the FTC’s Administrative Law Judge has upheld POM Wonderful’ s right to share valuable, scientifically-validated information about the health benefits of its safe food with consumers.”

Pom also followed up the ruling with a number of provocative advertisements published last week, taglined: “FTC vs. POM: You be the judge.”

In the advertisements, Pom quotes statements from Judge Chappell’s ruling, which state that the health benefits of pomegranate juice are not in doubt and that pomegranate juice provides a benefit to erectile and prostate health.

But food scientist and activist Marion Nestle, who authors the blog Food Politics, decided to fact-check these quotes. One ad, for example, reads:

Competent and reliable scientific evidence supports the conclusion that the consumption of pomegranate juice and pomegranate extract supports prostate health, including by prolonging PSA doubling time in men with rising PSA after primary treatment for prostate cancer (page 282).

But after that quotation in the actual FTC document, the paragraph continues:

However, the greater weight of the persuasive expert testimony shows that the evidence relied upon by Respondents is not adequate to substantiate claims that the POM Products treat, prevent, or reduce the risk of prostate cancer or that they are clinically proven to do do so.

It’s the same story with another Pom-celebrated quote:

Competent and reliable scientific evidence shows that pomegranate juice provides a benefit to promoting erectile health and erectile function (page 198).

Followed immediately by:

There is insufficient competent and reliable scientific evidence to show that pomegranate juice prevents or reduces the risk of erectile dysfunction or has been clinically proven to do so.

The Questionable

The FTC’s ruling itself was considered a blow to Pom Wonderful and the pomegranate industry as a whole. But the company’s response seems to have damaged its reputation even more. Forbes columnist David Vinjamuri sums it up well:

Corporate communications groups rarely get high points for transparency, but this release shows a singular lack of accountability to the consumer that hurts POM Wonderful, its sister brands and the consumer brand community as a whole.

In this case, no one seems to be debating the fact that pomegranate juice is good for you. Taken in moderation as part of a healthful diet, it’s a great source of antioxidants and vitamins. But as with all juices, Pom’s health benefits have to be weighed against its natural sugar content, which clocks out at a whopping 31 grams per 8-ounce bottle – nearly as much as a can of Coca Cola.

In short, if you like fruit juice and enjoy the taste of pomegranates, by all means drink Pom. But if you’re looking to prevent and treat disease, you’d be better off reevaluating your entire diet and lifestyle, rather than relying on the “miracle juice” that Pom says it is.

SEE ALSO:

Behind the Label: The Kashi Controversy

Behind the Label: Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value

Behind the Label: McDonald’s See What We’re Made Of Campaign

Behind the Label: Chipotle, Food With Integrity

Check out all Behind the Label columns here.

Images: Pom Wonderful

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