I am often asked in my various seminars if the bottled and pasteurized carrot juice found in grocery stores and health food stores is as good as juice that has been freshly made at home in a juicer.
Olin Idol, ND, CNC, Hallelujah Acres Vice President of Health, has written an excellent article answering this question, as follows:
Are there benefits of raw juices over pasteurized juices? Unfortunately, many people are not aware of the differences and are using bottled juices as they seek to regain their health. In this brief article we will see what pasteurization is and how it affects the nutritional quality of juices. Pasteurization is defined by The American Heritage College Dictionary as “The act or process of heating a beverage or other food, such as milk or beer, to a specific temperature for a specific period of time in order to KILL microorganisms that could cause disease, spoilage, or undesired fermentation.” Various methods of pasteurization use different temperatures and different lengths of exposure to that temperature. Batch or Vat pasteurization uses a temperature of 145 degrees F with an exposure time of 30 minutes. High Temperature Short Time (HTST) pasteurization exposes the beverage to 250+ degrees F for 0.1 seconds and then rapidly cools the liquid. All forms of pasteurization of beverages usually destroy 99.9% of the bacteria, which is considered necessary to make a product safe and provide for a reasonable shelf life. With pasteurization, beverages can be produced and sold from grocery store shelves and not require refrigeration. We know from the research of pioneers such as Dr. Edward Howell, author of Enzyme Nutrition and Dr. Max Gerson, founder of the Gerson Therapy the amazing power of raw foods in supporting the body’s innate self-healing. Other researchers experimented extensively with rats by feeding one group raw milk and another pasteurized milk. Those on the raw milk thrived while those on the pasteurized milk did not only did not thrive but experienced earlier deaths. Raw foods (living foods) and beverages are identified by their enzyme activity or lack of enzyme activity (dead foods). At a temperature of 105 to 106 degrees F enzyme activity begins to diminish and by 118 degrees F almost all enzymatic activity ceases. Enzyme activity is an excellent way of measuring the life force of various foods. The high temperatures of pasteurization destroy enzymes and reduce sensitive nutrients such as vitamin C and some B complex vitamins. Some sources report as much as a 65% reduction of vitamin C levels in pasteurized juice. Antioxidant activity is dramatically reduced and proteins are denatured by heat exposure. One study by the Department of Food Science, University Federco II, Naples, Italy on pasteurized and sterilized commercial red orange juice demonstrated that antioxidant activity is positively related to the content of anthocyanins and “that the reduction of anthocyanins content, typical of commercial long-shelf life juices, leads to a remarkable loss of antioxidant power.” Without belaboring the point, it is quite evident that pasteurization of juices has a negative impact on the nutritional quality by significantly reducing heat sensitive nutrients and antioxidant potential. Enzymes that are normally present in the raw juice are completely destroyed by heat. The real health promoting qualities of vegetable juices can be found ONLY in raw juices. We simply cannot rely on pasteurized juices to support optimal levels of health. To maintain the amazing benefits of the living foods used in making Hallelujah Acres juice powders, no temperatures above 105 degrees F are applied. Nor does Hallelujah Acres in any way blanch with heat or use harsh sanitation processes that destroy enzymes and heat sensitive nutrients. The delicate processing used in making Hallelujah Acres juice powders is crucial for the preservation of the heat sensitive nutrients found in our living foods powders (BarleyMax; Carrot Juice Max; and Beet Max). For your health’s sake use only raw juices – and juice powders processed without heat – the benefits are well worth the effort! When freshly extracted vegetable juice is not an option, the next best is the concentrated raw juice powders available exclusively from Hallelujah Acres.
