How do you get the public’s attention these days? Just come up with yet another scare about some consumer item. The best is a scare about some item that we thought was safe and wholesome. Like orange juice. I think Alissa Hamilton, a Toronto writer, figured that nobody had yet attacked orange juice, so it was about time to try to knock this beverage, which most perceive to be healthy, off its pedestal and make a few bucks on the side. Her new book is called “Squeezed: What You Don’t Know About Orange Juice.” Well, it seems that what we don’t know is that “freshly squeezed” doesn’t really mean that the oranges were squeezed straight into the container yesterday. Did anyone really think that was the case? Hamilton takes on the “not from concentrate” juice industry in her expose. And what dastardly trick do these processors perform? They store the juice in huge storage tanks and de-aerate it. That means they reduce the oxygen content of the air above the liquid to prevent oxidation which produces off-flavours. Isn’t that horrific? This leads to some loss of flavor which is then countered by some producers by adding what is called a “flavour pack” to the juice. And what is a flavour pack? It is a collage of substances extracted from orange essence or synthesized in the lab. Hamilton is apparently disturbed by the fact that ethyl butyrate is added to the juice. Well, ethyl butyrate is found anyways in orange juice and in many other juices. It is the main flavour of pineapples and pineapple juice. Whether it is extracted from orange peel or synthesized in the lab does not matter. Ethyl butyrate is ethyl butyrate and there is no problem adding it to juice to improve flavour. In any case, not every producer does this, some juice is just squeezed and pasteurized and that’s it. Yes, real freshly squeezed juice tastes better, but there’s nothing wrong with the stuff we buy in the store.
But there is something wrong with scaring people away from drinking orange juice. It is an excellent source of vitamin C as well as folic acid and potassium which many people may be deficient in. Yes there is a load of sugar in orange juice, a concern for diabetics and people watching their weight. But oj also contains compounds called limonoids which at least in rodents have anti-cancer effects. In one trial 60 young rats were injected with a chemical that causes colon cancer. Half got orange juice instead of water, with their diet being altered to contain less sugar to compensate for the extra calories in the juice. After 7 months 22 rats on the normal diet developed cancer, and only 17 on the orange juice diet. The research was supported supported by Tropicana, but that of course does not invalidate it. In other studies tumors in the lung, skin and forestomach of mice have also been inhibited with limonoids. But if you really insist on having something to worry about with orange juice, how about this? A 15 year old London girl used her teeth to open the metal cap on a plastic bottle of orange juice. It had fermented and she arrived in hospital pouring blood from her mouth. We can be pretty sure that this is the only case in surgical history of a tonsillectomy performed by an explosive.
