The FDA is targeting orange juice. Here's why, and what the science says.
While that move can sound like a way to make America healthier, it's actually at the behest of Florida's citrus industry as it grapples with changes to the crop and its sugar levels. The Food and Drug Administration described the proposed change as unlikely to affect taste and nutritional value while providing 'flexibility to the food industry.'
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Behind the proposal is the broader question of whether the breakfast staple is actually good for you.
Orange juice contains nutrients including calcium and Vitamin C. But some nutritionists argue that's not enough to make up for the unnecessary calories and natural sugars.
'Juices are a dilemma,' said Peter Lurie, the executive director of the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, which advocates for a healthy and safe food supply.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends instead eating real fruit, which contains more fiber than juice. The association advises against giving fruit juice to infants except to manage constipation. It also advises limiting how much juice parents should give older children, such as no more than 4 ounces per day for kids 1 to 3 years old.
'If you're going to have a small amount of juice, it's not going to be anything that anybody's going to worry about,' said Marion Nestle, a retired professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University who called fruit juices 'delicious.'
'When you worry about juice is when it's in large amounts,' she added.
Even though leading orange juice brands do not contain added sugars, high levels of natural sugars can still be harmful, some experts said.
'Orange juice is sugar water,' said Barry Popkin, a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina. 'Every juice is essentially sugar water.'
Once touted as part of a balanced breakfast, Americans are souring on orange juice. Consumers have gravitated toward other beverage options seen as healthier. Prices have risen. Production has stalled.
And this has become a problem for Florida's orange producers. The sugar content of the fruit grown in the state has been steadily dropping due to a bacterial disease afflicting the crop, exacerbated after Hurricane Irma struck in 2017. In 2022, Florida trade groups representing the state's citrus growers and citrus juice industry petitioned the FDA to lower the minimum fruit sugar levels for pasteurized orange juice.
The FDA sets a minimum standard for the sugar content in order to call a drink 'pasteurized orange juice,' the kind commonly sold at grocery stores without added sugars. If manufacturers fall below that threshold, they are essentially no longer allowed to call their products 'pasteurized orange juice.'
Florida orange industry groups said lowering that threshold would protect their business and reduce orange imports from other countries while going unnoticed by consumers.
Sugar per serving would lower from 18 grams to 17 grams, according to nutritional label samples provided to the FDA by the industry. Other nutrients would be largely unaffected to the change.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary both pledged to examine this proposal during congressional hearings when pressed by Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Florida).
Some nutrition experts said if Kennedy wanted to advance his 'Make America Healthy Again' agenda, which included pledges to improve the diets of children, he should champion more sweeping regulations broadly targeting sugars and sodium.
'If one is serious about sugar in the American diet, we need an across the board approach,' Lurie said.
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