Diet cranberry juice is a healthy drink made from a hundred percent natural fruit and served without any extra sugar or chemicals. However, it is essential to note that diet cranberry juice is different from regular cranberry juice. It is calory deficient and inclined more towards serving diet-conscious people. There are also little to no preservative added in it, unlike the packaged regular cranberry juice.
Diet cranberry juice doesn’t only taste good but also contains several benefits for your health and well-being. Let’s discuss some significant benefits of consuming it.
Fats and Calories
Consuming diet cranberry juice is generally a better choice since it contains way fewer calories and improves your health. One cup of juice contains as little as five calories. In contrast, one cup of regular cranberry juice contains almost 116 calories. That’s a big difference. Suppose you try to rationalize the fat of both types of liquids. In that case, it makes one regular cranberry juice cup equal to almost 23 diet cranberry juice cups.
Each individual should drink at least 64oz of water every day. You can either replace some of it or the whole of it with juices as well. If you plan on consuming the entire 64 oz, i.e., eight 8oz cups of diet cranberry juice, your calorie intake at maximum would be near 40. However, if you plan to drink 64oz of regular cranberry juice, you will easily consume around 928 calories.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is a crucial nutrient required for the growth and repair of body tissues. It also aids in the formation of an essential protein that makes blood vessels and ligaments. As a result, vitamin C helps fight several illnesses and aids many diseases. For example, it helps manage high blood pressure, reduces gout attacks, prevents iron deficiency, and increasing immunity levels. It also helps in fighting more severe conditions like Alzheimer’s.
Both diet and regular cranberry juice help in increasing your vitamin C levels, but the extent differs. Regular cranberry juice is only sufficient for 31% of your required intake, while diet cranberry juice provides 100% intake.
However, always consult your doctor in cases of extreme and severe illnesses before giving patients cranberry juice.
Prevents urinary tract infections
UTI is becoming increasingly common and causing a lot of problems in women. Diet cranberry juice is said to be an effective cure for UTI or at least temporarily heal them. Cranberries consist of proanthocyanins, which many professionals believe can fight against and prevent UTI. Proanthocyanins restrict bacteria from growing so they can’t spread and cause an infection.
However, there still hasn’t been much research done on the relationship between cranberry juice and UTI. Many professionals also claim that cranberry juice has little benefit in preventing UTI. They say that cranberries have the same effect as antibiotics, it is only more expensive.
Heart health
Cranberries consist of compounds called polyphenols which considerably reduce chronic inflammation. Polyphenols keep your blood vessels and pressure levels healthy, preventing inflammation from damaging them. As a result, they increase circulation and prevents heart diseases. Hence, diet cranberry juice can significantly prevent inflammation and improve your heart condition.
Repeated studies have shown that regular consumers of cranberry juice have successfully managed to keep their cholesterol levels intact. In addition, some studies also reported a significant improvement in people infected with coronary artery disease because of cranberry juice consumption.
Digestive health
Polyphenols don’t only prevent chronic heart diseases but also improves your digestive system. For example, cranberry juice contains antioxidants that restrict Helicobacter Pylori formation, a dangerous bacterium that can cause stomach ulcers.
Diet cranberry juice can prevent H pylori from growing out of control.
Good for pregnant women
As is well-established by now, diet cranberry juice is rich in nutrients, minerals, and vitamins. All essential intakes for pregnant women to keep their and the baby’s health intact. One cup of diet cranberry juice can provide them with a sufficient amount of calcium, iron, and vitamin C. All of this will ensure their blood pressure levels don’t spike. They do not get infected with eclampsia which could lead to premature birth.
Prevention of Kidney Stone
A very crucial benefit of diet cranberry juice is that it aids prevention of kidney stones. This is because cranberry juice significantly helps dilute oxalate and phosphorous, which are the main reason for kidney stones.
As mentioned before, Cranberry juice increases the calcium level in your body, which reduces the oxalate level in your body and prevents the stones from affecting your kidney.
Top 3 Diet Cranberry Juice Brands
1. Ocean Spray 100% juice, unsweetened cranberry
Ocean spray is the leading brand in manufacturing completely pure and unsweetened cranberry juice. The juice is made from almost 900 fresh cranberry fruits and has no additional preservatives added.
Ocean Spray has won the American Culinary chef best award in the flavored juice category, further strengthening its authenticity.
2. Lakewood pure cranberry juice
This juice is one hundred percent pure. It is made from cranberries right out of the bog and has no additional preservatives mixed. Because it has no added sugar or chemicals, it has more of an acidic, bitter taste. Most people only consume Lakewood’s cranberry juice for medicinal purposes.
However, after something refreshing, you can blend the drink with other juices to reduce the bitterness and add some sugar.
3. Only Natural Organic Cranberry Concentrate
This cranberry juice acts more like a dietary supplement than a refresher drink. It is one hundred percent sugar-free and contains no other fluids. Its natural moisture is thick, so you will have to dilute it with water to consume it. If you want to use it as a juice, it is best to dilute it with water in a ratio of 3:1.
Overall, it is a very healthy, filling, and cleansing drink, providing your body with immense benefits.
Is the Diet Cranberry Juice Worth It?
Cranberries are a healthy fruit with a bunch of benefits. However, there still isn’t enough research on the actual effectiveness of diet cranberry juice with other drugs. Apart from that, there are also specific side effects people should know.
People taking any of the following medications and drugs should avoid drinking cranberry juice since there is a chance of reactions.
- amoxicillin
- cefaclor
- midazolam
- flurbiprofen
- diclofenac
You should still consult your physician to be sure whether cranberry juice will affect you or not.
Conclusion
Diet cranberry juice is very effective and beneficial in maintaining health standards. In addition to all the benefits mentioned above, diet cranberry juice is also very effective for weight loss.
The doctors and professionals advise only to allow older children and adults to drink the the juice. If parents want to feed their toddlers cranberry juice, they should do so in small portions and very carefully.
While regular cranberry juice also carries many advantages and benefits, diet cranberry juice is the better choice. It contains no extra preservative and so possesses little to no risk of health damage.
