Fruit juice (100%, no added sugar) for babies

How much and when

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) doesn’t recommend juice before 12 months: it offers no nutritional benefit at that age and raises the risk of tooth decay and a preference for sweet flavors. For children 1 to 6, the AAP advises limiting juice to 4 to 6 ounces (120 to 180 ml) a day, served with a meal. Skip juice at bedtime, and don’t use it to treat dehydration or diarrhea.

One small glass, total

The NHS says fruit juice, vegetable juice, and smoothies combined shouldn’t go over 150 ml a day, which is a small glass, and they count as no more than one of your 5 A Day, however much you drink. Juicing or blending fruit releases its sugars, which raises the risk of tooth decay, so juice is best with meals. The NHS counts juice sugar as free sugar, even though it occurs naturally.

Juice versus whole fruit

100 g of apple juice has 0.2 g of fiber; a whole apple has 2.4 g.

That’s USDA data. Juice has nearly as much sugar as the fruit, 9.6 g per 100 g, but almost no fiber. The AAP notes that juice has no nutritional advantage over whole fruit, which also provides fiber and other nutrients.

Pasteurized or fresh-squeezed

The FDA warns that fresh-squeezed juice can pick up bacteria from the produce, and untreated juice can make children seriously ill. Most juice sold in the US is pasteurized. Packaged untreated juice must carry a warning label, but juice sold by the glass, at farmers’ markets or juice bars, doesn’t need one. Untreated juice is most likely to be in the store’s refrigerated section.