Can Juice Really Make You Healthier?

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On most days, you do everything you can to work more fruits and vegetables into your diet: You add berries to your oatmeal, pile spinach on your pizza, and swap out your fries for a side salad. While you should be congratulated for your efforts, chances are you, like more than 70 percent of adults, aren't hitting the USDA target of nine servings of produce (that's four halfcup servings of fruit and five half–cup servings of vegetables) daily. That's where juice comes in. "It can be overwhelming for busy women to try to get the fruits and vegetables they need," says Kathy McManus, R.D., director of the department of nutrition at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "Drinking 12 ounces a day can be a convenient way to get two servings closer to your produce goal."

Juice also can boost your health, as the nutrients normally found in these beverages have been credited with everything from warding off cancer to preventing age–related ailments. A recent study published in The American Journal of Medicine concluded that people who drank three–plus servings per week of juices high in polyphenols– antioxidants found in purple grape, grapefruit, cranberry, and apple juice– had a 76 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Plus, some store–bought juices are actually higher in certain nutrients than the fruits and vegetables they came from (see the boxes in this story for specifics).

The key, according to McManus, is to make juice a supplement to rather than a substitute for all of the fruits and vegetables in your daily diet. Though these beverages are generally higher in sugar and calories and lower in fiber than their whole counterparts, research shows that a combination of the two may be the most beneficial to your overall health. The Harvard–based Nurses' Health Study found that adults who had the highest intake of produce in both solid and liquid form– about eight servings per day– were 30 percent less likely to have a heart attack or stroke than those who got 1.5 or fewer servings daily. Plus, their overall risk for any type of chronic disease was 12 percent lower than the fruit and veggie skimpers'. To squeeze more nutrients out of every single sip, follow this expert advice.