--- title: Calorie counter: fruit vs. fruit juice description: There's been some debate whether fruit juice should count among your daily recommended servings of fruit and vegetables. Experts agree that, while pure fruit juice... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7145197/calorie-counter-fruit-vs-fruit-juice/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2009-08-07T21:48:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T11:53:03.949Z article:section: Health og:title: Calorie counter: fruit vs. fruit juice og:description: There's been some debate whether fruit juice should count among your daily recommended servings of fruit and vegetables. Experts agree that, while pure fruit juice... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7145197/calorie-counter-fruit-vs-fruit-juice/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Calorie counter: fruit vs. fruit juice twitter:description: There's been some debate whether fruit juice should count among your daily recommended servings of fruit and vegetables. Experts agree that, while pure fruit juice... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Health](/section/health/) # Calorie counter: fruit vs. fruit juice by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Aug 7, 2009 9:48 PM UTC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Aug 7, 2009 9:48 PM UTC There’s been some debate whether fruit juice should count among your [daily recommended servings](http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/DietaryGuidelines/2005/2005DGConsumerBrochure.pdf) of fruit and vegetables. Experts agree that, while pure fruit juice does contain a lot of vitamins, a whole piece of fresh fruit is almost always the better choice — since juice is packed with the fruit’s natural sugars. Here’s how some popular fruits stack up against their liquid counterparts. * ORANGES One 8-oz. glass of orange juice has close to 2.5 times the sugar and just one-third the fiber of a typical piece of fruit. The stats from [caloriecounter.com](http://www.thecaloriecounter.com): the small juice contains 112 calories, 0.1 g dietary fiber, and 20.8 g sugar, while the fruit has 45 calories, 2.3 g dietary fiber, and 9 g sugar. more * APPLES An 8-oz. apple juice has roughly twice the sugar but less than one-tenth the fiber of a medium-sized apple. [The stats](http://www.thecaloriecounter.com): juice has 120 calories, 0.3 g dietary fiber, and 27.2 g sugar; the fruit has 72 calories, 3.3 g dietary fiber, and 14.3 g sugar. * GRAPES A glass of grape juice contains — once again — about 2.5 times as much sugar as the same volume of fruit (one cup of grapes), although with about half as much fiber. [The stats](http://www.thecaloriecounter.com): juice has 154 calories, 0.3 g dietary fiber, and 37.6 g sugar; a cup of grapes has 62 calories, 0.8 g dietary fiber, and 15 g sugar. * PINEAPPLES An 8-oz. juice has not quite twice the sugar contained in the same volume of fruit (one cup of diced pineapple), with roughly one quarter the fiber . [The stats](http://www.thecaloriecounter.com): juice has 140 calories, 0.5 g dietary fiber, and 34 g sugar; a cup of fruit has 74 calories, 2.2 g dietary fiber, and 14.4 g sugar. more Verdict: If you’re not getting enough fruit and veg otherwise, juice is certainly better than nothing, since it does contain many vitamins and nutrients. But if you have the choice, go for a piece of fruit and (if you’re thirsty) a glass of water. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7145197/calorie-counter-fruit-vs-fruit-juice/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7145197/calorie-counter-fruit-vs-fruit-juice/"},"headline":"Calorie counter: fruit vs. fruit juice","datePublished":"2009-08-07T21:48:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T11:53:03.949Z","description":"There's been some debate whether fruit juice should count among your daily recommended servings of fruit and vegetables. 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