Naked Juice is a brand of fruit and vegetable smoothies with enticing flavor combinations like Pomegranate Blueberry and Green Machine - a blend of apple, kiwi, broccoli, and several other tasty foods. Naked Juice gets its name from its products’ absence of preservatives, added sugars, and artificial flavors. Some of its drinks are supplemented with vitamins or health foods, such as spirulina. Although they’ve recently gained popularity as juicing has become a trend, there’s significant controversy surrounding their health effects.
This article reviews everything you need to know about green juice so you can determine whether to add it to your routine.
What is Green Machine Juice?
Green juice is a drink that contains healthy, green foods and has become more popular over the years. Green juice is a beverage made from the juices of green vegetables. There’s no official recipe, but common ingredients include celery, kale, Swiss chard, spinach, wheatgrass, cucumber, parsley, and mint. Some green juices may also include fruit.
Given that green juice tends to taste bitter, most recipes add small quantities of fruit - which may or may not be green - to sweeten it and improve its overall palatability. Popular fruit options include apples, berries, kiwi, lemons, oranges, and grapefruit.
The most dedicated green juice drinkers prefer fresh, homemade juice, but you can buy it from specialty juice cafés too.
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Nutritional Information of Naked Green Machine Juice
A 15.2-ounce (450-ml) serving of Naked Juice’s Green Machine provides:
- Calories: 270
- Carbs: 63 grams
- Sugar: 53 grams
- Fiber: 1.3 grams
- Protein: 4 grams
- Fat: 0 grams
- Vitamin C: 50% of the Daily Value (DV)
- Vitamins A, B2, and B6: 25% of the DV
However, other products, such as Blue or Red Machine, pack as many as 320 calories and 76 grams of carbs per 15.2-ounce (450-ml) bottle.
Homemade green smoothies can be loaded with vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin A, C, and K, folate, and zinc that boost the immune system, which keeps the body healthy.
Potential Benefits of Green Machine Juice
Naked Juice products may provide several benefits. Green juice is not a substitute for a balanced and healthy diet, but it shares many of the benefits that come along with eating more fruits and vegetables.
Meeting Daily Fruit and Vegetable Requirements
Research shows that moderate consumption of 100% fruit and vegetable juices, such as Naked Juice drinks, may help people meet their daily antioxidant needs. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which suggest having 2 servings of fruit per day, either from whole fruits or 100% fruit juice. Still, since fruit juices are lower in fiber, the USDA emphasizes that at least one serving should come from whole fruits. Thus, you may need to limit your juice intake to make sure you’re also eating whole fruits.
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Increased Antioxidant Levels
Fruits and vegetables may safeguard against certain chronic diseases due to their antioxidant content. Antioxidants protect your body from damage caused by free radicals, which are unstable molecules that may cause oxidative stress.
One 14-week study in 49 people found that drinking fruit and vegetable juices significantly increased blood levels of antioxidants and folate, compared with a control group.
A 4-week study in 60 people observed similar results. Those who drank a fruit and vegetable concentrate daily showed a 528% and 80% increase in blood antioxidant levels for beta carotene and lycopene, respectively, as well as a 174% increase for folate.
Rich Source of Vitamins and Minerals
Green veggies and their juices are excellent sources of several essential vitamins, minerals, and beneficial plant compounds. For example, Swiss chard and kale are packed with vitamins A and K, while wheatgrass supplies plenty of vitamin C and iron.
Supports Heart and Brain Health
Research suggests that eating leafy green vegetables daily may help reduce inflammation, heart disease risk, and your risk of age-related mental decline.
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Promotes Healthy Digestion
There’s also evidence that certain compounds in fresh juice can function as prebiotics, which feed and support the growth of beneficial bacteria living in your digestive tract. Routine prebiotic intake is linked to numerous benefits, including reduced constipation, weight maintenance, and improved immune function.
Easier Nutrient Intake
Moreover, many people find that drinking their vegetables and fruits is an easy and efficient way to boost their intake of valuable nutrients. Finally, certain people, such as those who’ve had surgery on the stomach or intestines, can benefit from green juice, as it’s easier to digest. For these populations, juicing is a short-term option during recovery. Speak to your healthcare provider or dietitian about juicing for your specific condition.
Potential for Detoxification
Detox drinks are considered to be drinks that help your body get rid of toxins. Many people claim that green juices can do this. In this green machine juice recipe, kale’s anti-inflammatory properties can also help your body block certain harmful substances. Consuming it can thereby help you detoxify.
Potential Downsides of Green Machine Juice
Although Naked Juice drinks may offer some health benefits, they’re low in fiber and high in sugar. Green juice is healthy when consumed in moderation but lacks certain important nutrients like fiber. What’s more, drinking too much may harm your blood sugar and kidney function.
High Sugar Content
Even 100% fruit and vegetable juices may provide too much sugar, as they pack multiple servings of whole fruit in drinking form. High sugar intake is associated with an increased risk of obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.
For example, a 15.2-ounce (450-ml) bottle of Naked Juice’s Red Machine is made from almost 2 apples, 11 strawberries, half of a banana, 13 raspberries, 2/3 of an orange, 7 grapes, 1/4 of a pomegranate, and 3 cranberries.
In an 18-year study in 71,346 healthy women, eating whole fruits and vegetables significantly decreased their risk of type 2 diabetes - while drinking fruit and vegetable juices increased their risk.
Furthermore, a study in 187,382 adults determined that replacing fruit juice with the same amount of whole fruit lowered diabetes risk by 7%.
A typical 15.2-ounce bottle of naked juice contains approximately 53 grams (3.5 grams per ounce) of sugar. The American Heart Association suggests an added-sugar limit of no more than 100 calories per day (about six teaspoons or 24 grams of sugar) for women and no more than 150 calories per day (about nine teaspoons or 36 grams of sugar) for men. A bottle of naked juice has about two times the recommended sugar intake limit per day.
Low Fiber Content
Fruit and vegetable juices, including Naked Juice, have most of their fiber removed during the juicing process. Juicing a fruit or vegetable removes the majority of its fiber. Fiber is vital to a healthy diet. Adequate fiber intake supports heart health by helping manage blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels. It may also relieve certain digestive disorders, such as acid reflux, diverticulitis, and intestinal ulcers. The Institute of Medicine recommends a daily intake of 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men. Given that green juice doesn’t contain much fiber, it shouldn’t be used to substitute your veggie or fruit intake.
Fiber plays an essential role in weight management by promoting feelings of fullness, thus regulating your appetite and food intake. Fiber is also linked to a reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. What’s more, it helps stabilize blood sugar levels and insulin secretion, potentially preventing blood sugar spikes - a risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
Yet, fruit and vegetable juices may increase both blood sugar and insulin levels due to their lack of fiber.
Potential Weight Gain
Drinking Naked Juice may lead to weight gain. Since Naked Juice beverages are 100% fruit and vegetable juice, their sugar content is mostly fructose, one of the naturally occurring sugars in fruit. Scientific evidence suggests that consuming too much fructose may lower your calorie expenditure and fat metabolism. It may also promote insulin resistance while increasing your calorie intake and levels of belly fat.
In a 10-week study in 31 adults, those who drank fructose-sweetened beverages had a lower fat-burning rate and resting calorie expenditure than those who drank glucose-sweetened beverages.
Moreover, liquid calories - like those in fruit juice - are less likely to make you feel full compared with calories from food, potentially leading to higher calorie intake.
In a study that gave 40 adults an equal number of calories from either apples, apple sauce, or apple juice, those who received the juice reported feeling hungry sooner than those who received the whole fruit or apple sauce.
May Raise Blood Sugar
If you have diabetes or another medical condition that contributes to poor blood sugar control, juices may not be the best option for you. These drinks tend to be low in fiber and protein, two nutrients that support balanced blood sugar.
Green juices made only with veggies are lower in carbs and unlikely to negatively affect your blood sugar. However, if you prefer your green juice with fruit, the sugars in the fruit may contribute to unwanted increases in your blood sugar levels.
You can mitigate this effect by pairing your juice with a meal or snack that provides fiber and protein, such as flax crackers with cheese, veggie sticks with tuna salad, or oatmeal with unsweetened plant milk and almond butter. That said, you should be especially wary of store-bought green juices, as these may pack added sugar. Check the label and ensure that fruits or veggies are the only ingredients. You can also check the nutrition label for added sugar, which should be zero. This is distinct from “total sugars,” which will account for the natural sugar found in fruits.
Potential Kidney Harm
Drinking green juice in moderation can boost your intake of multiple nutrients, but too much may cause serious side effects.
Green vegetables are a rich source of oxalic acid, or oxalate, which is considered an antinutrient because it binds to minerals in food and stops your digestive tract from absorbing them. The amount of oxalates you typically consume from whole vegetables in a balanced diet isn’t harmful. However, green juices tend to be highly concentrated sources of oxalate. Too many oxalates can lead to negative health effects, including kidney stones and even kidney failure.
A handful of recent cases of acute kidney failure have been attributed to excess oxalate intake from green juices and smoothies included in cleanse or fasting protocols.
Although juice cleanses, detoxes, and fasts are a popular trend, relying on green juice - or any other juice - as a sole source of nutrition is never necessary and may harm your health.
If you plan on including green juice in your diet, play it safe by practicing moderation and eating balanced meals that include a variety of whole foods.
Misleading Marketing
Despite all the hype and popularity, naked juice has a lot of naysayers questioning its health benefits because they believe the brand is misleading consumers. Many consumers perceive “no added sugar” to mean naked juice beverages are sugar-free. The human body metabolizes all sugars similarly. Sugar has the potential to disrupt leptin, a hormone responsible for signaling the brain when a person has eaten enough.
How Much Green Machine Juice Should You Drink?
You can aim to drink an eight fluid ounce serving of green machine juice a day. It will help you complete almost 50% of some of your vitamin intakes, like vitamin C. You can take it up to two servings if you like. But keep in mind that the added sugar eats up a significant chunk of your daily sugar limit. Reducing or completely removing it can help you healthily consume more than one serving of this green machine juice. You can also alternate between this juice and our simple green juice and add variety to your health regimen.