One Reason We Can't Stomach Even The Best Commercial OJ

sm1693

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I've known to try and avoid pectin for a while now, but I never knew the actual amount of pectin in different things and what specifically to avoid. If this wikipedia entry is trustworthy, then it is not the sweet parts we need to watch out for,

"Typical levels of pectin in plants are (fresh weight):

apples, 1–1.5%

apricots, 1%

cherries, 0.4%

oranges, 0.5–3.5%

carrots approx. 1.4%

citrus peels, 30%

The main raw materials for pectin production are dried citrus peel or apple pomace, both by-products of juice production. Pomace from sugar beet is also used to a small extent."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pectin


It seems that it would add to a company's profits to include as much orange peel to the orange juice as possible without degrading the taste. And apple juice would probably be in the same boat.

I have been experimenting with filtering the pectin out of the OJ, as it is really the only readily available "fresh" juice you can expect to find anywhere in the US you might be traveling. But then again, if you have to filter it, is it any easier than just buying a bag of oranges and cutting them up as needed...? No refrigeration...
 

FredSonoma

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Interesting, makes sense as even good, organic orange juice in large quantities makes me feel really anxious. I've been doing well drinking "Best" brand mango juice (Ingredients: mango pulp, water, sugar). Would this have less Pectin?
 

Mittir

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Feb 20, 2013
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Commercial apple juice are pectin free, They add pectinase to remove the pectin.
This is the reason apple juice does not look cloudy like some other natural juice.
You can buy pectinase from amazon and try it with homemade juice to see if it makes
any big difference. Potato is also quite high in pectin.

The size of pectin molecule is different for different fruits. I believe there are other
problematic things in orange than just pectin. Orange and orange juice are quite high in
polyamines. RP wrote about polyamines in aged meat.

Fruits (like oranges), fruit juices (orange juice and grapefruit juice), sauerkraut, cheddar cheeses, cod roe, soy sauce, and soy miso were high in putrescine
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3022763/
 
OP
S

sm1693

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Mittir said:
Commercial apple juice are pectin free, They add pectinase to remove the pectin.
This is the reason apple juice does not look cloudy like some other natural juice.
You can buy pectinase from amazon and try it with homemade juice to see if it makes
any big difference. Potato is also quite high in pectin.

I read every post you made previously on apple juice and you persuaded me to do heavy experimentation with it many months back and I have tried nearly every brand available to me. The end result of the experimentation is that I much prefer the "fresher" juices that require refrigeration and, in general, I prefer cold pressed, unpasteurized juice (or maybe flash-past), if I were to drink juice at all.

If I could find an apple juice that did cold pressed, unpasteurized and did not include the skin or stems from the apples, then I would buy that juice. But I doubt that such a juice will ever exist, so I would have to choose from existing brands, and in general, currently I just don't drink much juice. I'm traveling right now and so I grabbed some OJ because of convenience and it reminded me that it was kinda still up in the air as to why OJ causes bad reactions in some.

In fact, stemming from my juice experimentation, I hypothesized that it might be pasteurization itself that would give these "old" juices a negative effect over time. Because it was only after several weeks heavy on "old" juice that a negative health theme was established.

This is for reasons I can't completely explain logically. I tentatively offer electron balance as the answer. Perhaps pasteurization changes electron donators to electron acceptors enough to tip the oxidation balance of the material flowing through the blood and ultimately cellular energy production takes a nosedive as a result. This is an academic argument though and ultimately I don't care because "old" juice feels wrong.

I feel the heavily pasteurized, unrefrigerated juice takes more from my body than it offers. It tastes very unpleasant to me now and I would have to force myself to drink it. In contrast, a variety of fresh fruit eaten each day (often with the pulp spit out after I have benefited from the juice) remains enjoyable and continually desirable.



Extra potential theory: The organic acid composition is also different from fruit to fruit and there is the possibility that a certain fruit is desired when its organic acids are needed. Relying on one type of juice (because only apple, oj are commonly available) could skew your acid intake. Acids are forefront because they seem to be where the biggest difference is, but I suppose there could be a large difference in minerals too, even though the total amounts are low with minerals.
 

DaveFoster

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Jul 23, 2015
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Interesting, makes sense as even good, organic orange juice in large quantities makes me feel really anxious. I've been doing well drinking "Best" brand mango juice (Ingredients: mango pulp, water, sugar). Would this have less Pectin?
I have the same experience with anxiety. Thanks for the suggestion.
 

RealNeat

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Jan 9, 2019
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HI
Commercial apple juice are pectin free, They add pectinase to remove the pectin.
This is the reason apple juice does not look cloudy like some other natural juice.
You can buy pectinase from amazon and try it with homemade juice to see if it makes
any big difference. Potato is also quite high in pectin.

The size of pectin molecule is different for different fruits. I believe there are other
problematic things in orange than just pectin. Orange and orange juice are quite high in
polyamines. RP wrote about polyamines in aged meat.
the clear apple juices are questionable because they are always from concentrate which means there is mystery water used in the product. Many such juices have been found to contain PFAS.
 
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