Ökotest Hardly good grades for multivitamin juices

Eco test: Bad results with many multivitamin juices- Eight juices with touch “six“ rated

09/01/2014

The Federal Office for Consumer Protection criticizes the oversupply of food supplements in food. These include vitamins, minerals, trace elements and fiber. These should rather be fed to the body via natural food. The magazine “Eco test“ In its current issue, it has examined several juice blends for their ingredients and criticized the addition of aromas and vitamins. For instance, consumers should be offered more protection against influenza infections by adding vitamins, especially in the cold season. But drugs do not bring real benefit to consumers.

But especially multivitamin juices, which have often been fortified with extra vitamins, are well received by consumers. “Eco test“ has studied some of the juices on the market and has come to a scathing conclusion in most cases.

Eight juice blends were made “six“ rated
Total had “Eco test“ 18 juice blends under closer scrutiny. Eight were with a smooth “Insufficient“ rated. Among them are also in the advertising often advertised as particularly healthy brands „High C multivitamin“, the fruit juice of “Farmer“ and also a product of the company “Valensina“ encountered. As the main reason for the poor ratings, the testers cited the levels of extra vitamins that the body would prefer to use from the right foods. Only the tested organic fruit juices performed well in the evaluation.

The name „Multivitamin juice“ may only be used if the juices contain an extra portion of vitamins. This makes an addition of artificial substances actually superfluous. Often a single 250 ml glass will cover 125 percent of the recommended daily intake, explains „Eco test“.

In the production of multivitamin juices is used as a base depending on the apple, pear and orange juice. As a rule, it is a fruit concentrate, which was deprived of water after pressing. As a result, the juices lose their natural aroma and afterwards, artificial aromas are added again to relieve the loss of taste. The juices are also enriched with nutritional supplements. Directly squeezed juice is rarely used.

Addition of vitamins rather counterproductive
Since 2001, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) has advocated that foods should not be fortified with artificial vitamins. Experts from the German Nutrition Society (DGE) and experts from the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) also rate the addition as harmful rather than healthier. In individual cases, for example, when people do without dairy products, adding calcium may be useful.

The belief that supplementing supplements can compensate for bad eating habits is simply wrong. In Germany, a vitamin deficiency in the population is rather rare, according to the DGE. „A one-sided, unbalanced diet can not be compensated by taking supplements“, explain experts and consider a receipt for superfluous. Too much of it may even hurt, as the example of beta carotene shows. Studies had already shown at the beginning of the 2000s that natural beta-carotene should be better made by adding carrots, instead of artificial variants, because this can even be dangerous. For example, smokers are said to have been associated with an increase in the lung cancer rate and cardiac deaths. (Fr)

Picture: Rainer Sturm