Kids' Nutrition: Fruit Juice

The American Academy of Pediatrics, in their policy statement on the Use and Misuse of Fruit Juice in Pediatrics, makes clear that "there is no nutritional indication to feed juice to infants younger than 6 months."

When it comes to adding fruit to a child's diet, many well-meaning parents leap to the mistaken conclusion that substituting fruit juices will help solve the problem and benefit kids' nutrition. This is a dangerous misconception. As far as I'm concerned, fruit juice is the dietary equivalent of drinking soda. There is absolutely no nutritional value in fruit juice. The vitamin C you can get from juice is too small an amount to compensate for all the sugar contained in that glass of juice.

If you do decide to give your child juice, follow these tips from the AAP:

It should be 100 percent pasteurized fruit juice and not "fruit drink."

You should offer it to your infant in a cup only and not a bottle.

Infants under 6 months of age should not be given juice.

Younger children (aged 1 to 6 years) should have only 4 to 6 ounces of juice a day.

Instead of juice, children should be encouraged to eat whole fruits.