Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/ask-dr.-sue-juice-abuse-monkey-bars-and-lice/5012891/
Juice AbuseSome caregivers offer fruit juice and fruit drinks instead of water as a routine beverage. While many juices are a healthy source of vitamin C, drinking more than four to eight ounces of juice daily can cause problems. Products marked 100% juice are better than fruit drinks that are mostly sugar water. Children can easily receive their recommended milk and juice portions at meals, leaving water the beverage of choice for drinks throughout the day.
Pear, apple, and grape juices contain sorbitol, a non-absorbable, osmotically active sugar. This means that sorbitol acts like a sponge, holding water in the gut that would otherwise be absorbed from the gut into the circu-latory system, maintaining overall hydration. Among the common juices, prune juice has the highest sorbitol content of all. Since prune juice holds water in the gut, it tends to loosen stools and is used to treat constipation. Next highest in sorbitol concentration are, in order: pear, sweet cherry, peach, apple, and grape juice. Feeding too much juice to children can cause diarrhea, an excludable condition for children in child care.
Juice not only loosens stools, it causes other problems. It replaces other, more nutritious foods so children who drink too much juice ...