You Ask, I Answer: Pasteurization

Is it true that orange juice loses some of its micronutrient value through pasteurization?

If so, do these nutrients get added back into the juice following pasteurization?

And lastly, if pasteurization does effect the nutrient content, what does that mean for milk?

Please help me clear up this confusion.

-- Anonymous
Via the blog

Since pasteurization involves heat, some of the Vitamin C (a nutrient sensitive to heat) in orange juice is lost in the process – approximately fifteen to twenty percent.

It’s actually not a big deal, since 8 ounces of pasteurized orange juice still deliver more than a day’s worth of Vitamin C.

Unlike the Enrichment Act of 1942 (which mandates that nutrients originally found in grain products but lost in the milling process be added back in), there is no such law for fruit juices.

Regardless, I am a proponent of opting for a whole fruit over a juice. Not only do you get slightly higher vitamin and mineral values -- you also get more fiber!

As far as milk is concerned, nutrient losses as a result of pasteurization (simply heating it at 161.5 Degrees Fahrenheit for a 15 seconds) are not very significant.

Since the B vitamins present in milk (riboflavin and niacin) are heat sensitive, there are some small losses, but these vitamins are enriched in grain products and otherwise easily accessible in the diet.

It would take a VERY limited diet to be deficient in either of those two nutrients.

I do not think of pasteurization as a process that is majorly depriving us of nutrients.

Many raw milk enthusiasts will spout off statistics about pasteurized milk offering less absorbable calcium, although I have yet to see any of this information published in any respectable journals.

They will also talk about valuable enzymes "being destroyed" by pasteurization, not realizing we don't need to get digestive enzymes from food -- our bodies naturally produce them.

Back to the absorption issue.

Research has demonstrated that we absorb approximately one third of calcium in milk -- raw or pasteurized.

If high-quality, "junk-free" milk is on your mind, I would be more concerned with getting it from non-hormone-treated, grass-fed cows rather than worry about pasteurization.

I can't think of any particular health benefits associated with raw milk.