Fruit juice and kids

Children who drink 100 percent fruit juices tend to weigh less than those the same age who drink no juices at all, a new study has revealed.
Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, USA, studied data provided by the parents of about 3,600 children ages 2 to 11 from 1999 to 2002.
The surveyed parents recorded everything their children ate and drank within a span of 24 hours and listed their height and weight.
Dr. Theresa Nicklas, who was involved in the study, said in a statement: "We did not find a relationship between 100 percent juice consumption and obesity among children. Even among the children who consumed the most juice, we found no association at all with the children being overweight or at risk from being overweight."
An association between 100 percent juice consumption and weight was noted in children ages 2 to 3, but the children who drank a lot of juice tended to be thinner than their peers rather than heavier. The researchers found that the kids ages 2 to 3 who drank the most juice were close to three times less likely to be overweight or at risk for being overweight than children their age who were not juice drinkers.
If you are making any juices for your children the usual recommendations given are for adults and do not apply to children. As a guideline, children younger than 13 should not drink more than 145ml/ 5 fl oz of raw juice a day, and should always drink their juice diluted with water. Teenagers can begin to drink undiluted juices, but no more than one to two servings per day. Dilution is necessary because fresh juices can be rather thick in consistency and strong in taste, are always very concentrated, and may be too potent for young digestive systems.
I didn't have time for breakfast this morning so just had a juice for lunch. 'Veg out' is yet another very healthy drink with strange ingredients - 100g cauliflower, 2 small carrots and 1 large tomato. The cauliflower, like broccoli, doesn't juice that well with my juicer so the finished result was a little lumpy. To get round this just put the juice into a blender and blend until the lumps have gone. It should make about 200ml, but I think I managed to get about 100ml out. Bright orange in colour, this vegetable juice is definitely an acquired taste. The sweetness of the carrot juice does balance out the other more bland flavours however and this one was strangely nice! Rating 3/5