Kids under 12 months should not be drinking fruit juice

Children should not be drinking fruit juice before they are 1 year old, unless a doctor recommends it, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The group had previously advised parents to offer juice to their children only after they reach 6 months. However, the rising rates of obesity and concerns about tooth cavities made them change their minds, according to CNN.

“We couldn’t really see any reason why juice was still part of the potential recommendation for 6- to 12-month-old kids,” said Dr. Steven A. Abrams, chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas, and co-author of the policy statement. “We recommend breastfeeding or formula in that age group, and there really isn’t any need or beneficial role for juice, so we kind of made that adjustment.”

This is the first change to the academy’s fruit juice recommendations since 2001. Abramas explained that “this (guideline) hadn’t been looked at in a long time, so we thought it was time to take a close look.”

“The problem is, parents will stick a bottle or sippy cup in the kid’s mouth and kind of leave it there all day. That’s not good from the calorie-intake perspective, and it’s sure not good for the teeth,” Abrams said. “What happens is, the kid then gets used to all the sugar, and then they won’t drink water.”

Despite this, the academy stated that 100% fresh or reconstituted fruit juice can be a healthy part of a balanced diet for children older than 1. Furthermore, the academy advises parents to limit juice intake to 4 ounces daily for toddlers between 1 and 3 years. The juice would be best served in a cup , not a bottle or box, so that the kid will not be able to drink juice all day long.

The Academy discourages parents from offering their kids unpasteurized juice products. Grapefruit juice should not be served to kids taking certain medications – ibuprofen, flurbiprofen, warfarin, phenytoin, fluvastatin and amitriptyline – as it interferes with their effects.

“We primarily are supporting that kids learn how to eat fruit rather than fruit juice,” Abrams said. “I think that comes across more strongly than it has before.”

Sharon Zarabi, a nutritionist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, did not participate in the recommendations, saying that “with my experience of working with obese adults, we tend to see that what people eat when they’re younger is what sticks with them as they get older.

“When you isolate fruit into a liquid form, you’re mostly getting sugar water, and it’s easy to consume excess calories in liquid form, and those calories can add up, and they’re void of any protein or fiber, which is usually what helps keep people satiated,” Zarabi said. She recommends eating whole fruit for vitamins instead.”

Atlanta pediatrician Dr. Jennifer Shu believes the new recommendations are great. “In general, the time that I tend to recommend juice is if kids have constipation, and apple juice and prune juice can sometimes help with that,” she said.

“I do think there has been a lot of education in press about juice needing to be consumed in moderation,” Shu said. “We do try to encourage parents to think about juice as a sweet, just as you would soda.

“In moderation, it’s never ‘there’s just one good food or perfect food or one bad food you have to avoid.’ You have to know juice’s place in the healthy diet.

“We prefer simply to let parents make their own decision about that,” Abrams said, “and just focus on limiting the total amount of juice.”