Why Peach Juice Can Give You Diarrhea

Peaches are undoubtedly one of the most sumptuous fruits in the world. They ooze flavor and have a smooth, delicate texture that can freak out your taste buds. One surprising thing that is derived from this delicious fruit is peach juice. This is one of the most popular fruit juices, behind the obvious candidates like apple, orange, and cranberry juices. Like the fruit itself, peach juice has a host of nutritional benefits, which make it worth considering when it comes to choosing a healthy diet. However, a small downside that can often cause a little annoyance is that peach juice can cause diarrhea.

Why do fruit juices cause diarrhea?

Peach juice isn’t the only one causing what is a notoriously frustrating condition; in fact, many fruit juices, if drunk in large quantities, can change the dynamics of your stool. The reason for this is due to something in fruit juices, the name of the culprit is sorbitol.

So what is sorbitol?

Sorbitol is a sugar that the body cannot digest. If you are drinking a lot of peach juice, or even other fruit juices like apple and prune juice, your body will react by trying to dilute the sugar. This is accomplished by using water from the bloodstream and delivering it to the intestine. This extra water is, therefore, responsible for changing the constitution of the stool, making it looser.

This is the same for people of all ages, however with babies the problem can be more of a problem because their bodies are so small. Let this be a warning to anyone who feeds their babies a lot of fruit juice, the consequences could be messy!

Nutritional benefits of peach juice

If you are an adult who likes to drink peach juice, don’t let this put you off, as this is only likely to happen if you drink excessive amounts. I am not trying to discourage you from drinking fruit juices, on the contrary, as they are loaded with the nutrients your body needs. They are a much better alternative to other soft drinks such as sodas.

To be clear here, I will highlight some of the benefits of peach juice that are worth taking note of.

* Peach juice is loaded with vitamin C; in fact, with a regular 500g serving of peach juice, you can get more than a fifth of the total vitamin C you need in an entire day.

* You get a very healthy amount of dietary fiber from peach juice, from a 500g serving you can get about 14% of the total fiber that your diet requires in a day.

* You can get just over 10% of your total vitamin A needed in a day with a 500g cup of peach juice.

One downside: calories

Calories are something we all look for in our diet, and because of the sugar found in peach juice, it’s not exactly low on them. There are approximately 330 calories in a 500 g serving of peach juice. This is quite a lot considering that if you went for the fruit alone, you would eat considerably less. There are only 38 calories in a medium-sized peach weighing about 100g.

Compared with other fruits, and even more so with most of the foods that we all include in our diet, the calories found in peaches they are hardly something to worry about, even the most avid calorie counter.

There is always an alternative, of course, and that could be diluting the juice with water. Of course, you are not going to cut the calories in peach juice, but making a 500g serving with one part water and one part peach will cut the calories in that serving in half.

More information

So there you have it, drinking a lot of fruit juices can cause an upset stomach and diarrhea due to the sorbitol they contain. One thing to keep in mind is that it actually comes from the fruit itself, not some kind of ingredient added when making a fruit juice. However, due to the concentrate of the fruit that is used to make the juice, it is more likely to cause you problems than simply eating a serving of the fruit.

Eating the fruit itself will not only reduce the chances of an upset stomach, but it will also ensure that you are taking in fewer calories. So maybe a peach and a glass of water could be less of a problem than a nice refreshing glass of peach juice. The choice is yours and it depends on how your body reacts to the juice, and also how concerned you are about the calories in the peach or those in the juice.