Minute Maid Heartwise Orange Juice

By: Tanya Taylor, PhD | Mar 16, 2005

Orange juice seems to be one of those good old fashioned juices that is just perfect the way it is, so I don't understand why companies are messing with it. First there was Tropicana Essentials Light which really was just watered down orange juice with artificial sweeteners added to make it artificially have less sugars, and I was pretty mad about this (read the review). Now Minute Maid is also 'improving' on OJ, by adding plant sterols, but thankfully, this is a change that I quite like. At least it's still 100% pure orange juice ... well now it's more like orange juice with a little extra uumph!

At least 0.8 grams of plant sterols taken daily have been clinically proven to help lower cholesterol (as part of a healthy diet of course). The good news is that all this adding still left us with the same great orange juice taste that we have come to know and love from Minute Maid, and the extra 1 gram of plant sterols per serving, will be of benefit to those trying to get their cholesterol under control.

Nutritionally, it's still the same as regular orange juice with 110 calories per 8 ounce serving, 24 grams of sugar, no fat, and lots of vitamins. This is not necessarily something that would appeal to the dieters among us, but I am a big believer in drinking natural juices 1x per month.

In a clinical study conducted at the University of California at Davis Medical Center, participants significantly lowered their LDL cholesterol by drinking two 8-fl.-oz. servings of Minute Maid Premium Heart Wise orange juice daily with meals for eight weeks. Benefits of Heart Wise were demonstrated in men and women with normal to "borderline high" total cholesterol levels.

If you are trying to reduce your cholesterol, then try incorporating more foods with plant sterols into your diet and let us know how it's working for you.

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