Hi everybody this is Monica Reinagel and you're listening to the nutrition

diva quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous I've gotten a lot of

questions from listeners about the pros and

cons of juicing. So today I'm going to take a closer look at the claims and give you my

take on what juicing can and can't do for you. Fresh fruit and vegetable juices have a reputation for being super healthy and it's true

that juices can be a very concentrated source of valuable nutrients.

As Steph commented in an email you often hear people say that the nutrients and juice are also easier for your body to absorb than the nutrients in whole fruits and vegetables.

And there is some evidence that certain nutrients, especially those in the Corotenoid family, do seem to be better absorbed from juice. Corotenoids are found in carrots, of course, but also in tomatoes, spinach, apricots, melons, peppers, and lots of other brightly colored fruits and vegetables.

This class of nutrients seems to play a big role in preventing cancer.

But the nutrients aren't the only things that are quickly and easily absorbed from juice.

Juice is also a concentrated source of natural sugars.

If you consume it without any other food, juice will pass relatively quickly through your stomach to your

small intestine, where both the nutrients and the sugar will be rapidly absorbed.

And when it comes to sugar, rapid absorption isn't necessarily a good thing. A big glass of

fresh juice can cause a sharp rise in your blood sugar, which in turn provokes a

big release of insulin from the pancreas and that then causes a quick drop in blood sugar.

That particular roller coaster is the sort of thing we like to avoid.

For one thing, the blood sugar roller coaster isn't very fun to ride. Your energy

levels tend to go up and down with the rise and fall of your blood sugar and you

usually end up hungry sooner than you would if you ate foods that are more slowly digested.

For another thing, the blood sugar roller coaster ride is tough on the pancreas.

It can even set up a situation where your

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