V8 supplies several key vitamins and minerals you need for good health, but it shouldn't be the only way you consume fruits and vegetables. If you only drink V8, you could be missing out on certain nutrients, as well as consuming too much of other ones, depending on which flavor and type you choose.
Tomato juice is one of the main ingredients in original V8. Image Credit: NA/Photos.com/Getty Images
V8 supplies several key vitamins and minerals you need for good health, but it shouldn't be the only way you consume fruits and vegetables. If you only drink V8, you could be missing out on certain nutrients, as well as consuming too much of other ones, depending on which flavor and type you choose. Keep a daily glass of V8 in your diet, but eat plenty of other healthy foods, too.
Too Much Sodium
Original V8 contains 650 milligrams of sodium per 8-ounce serving. That translates to 43 percent of the 1,500 milligrams of sodium you should limit yourself to each day, according to the American Heart Association. If you drink a serving of V8 in place of your regular three meals, that's 1,950 milligrams of sodium. Too much sodium raises your blood pressure, which can increase your risk of heart attack and stroke. The low-sodium version, with 140 milligrams of sodium per serving, is a better option.
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Too Much Sugar
Certain fruity flavors of V8 aren't 100 percent fruit juice, meaning they contain added sugar. The American Heart Association recommends that women have no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar per day and that men limit themselves to 9 teaspoons each day. An 8-ounce serving of the strawberry kiwi V8 Splash, for example, contains 16 grams of sugar, which is equal to 4 teaspoons. If you have three servings, you'll consume 36 grams of sugar. The diet versions are better, with about 2 grams of sugar per serving. The V8 Fusion blends are also better because they're 100 percent fruit juice and contain no added sugar.
Macronutrient Deficiencies
If you rely only on V8 as your sole source of sustenance, you'll be missing out on key macronutrients. For example, original V8 only contains 2 grams of fiber per serving, so you would have to drink more than 10 servings to get close to the 25 to 38 grams of fiber you need each day. The V8 Splash and V8 Fusion varieties don't contain any fiber. Most of the V8 Splash and V8 Fusion blends don't contain any protein either. The original V8 only has 2 grams of protein, which isn't much toward the 46 grams women need each day and the 56 grams men require daily.
Micronutrient Deficiencies
You would need to drink 25 8-ounce servings of original V8 to get 100 percent of the calcium and iron you require every day, as one serving contains just 4 percent of the daily value of each of these nutrients. Most of the V8 Splash drinks, such as the Berry Blend or Fruit Medley, don't contain any calcium or iron at all. It would take 10 8-ounce servings of most of the V8 Fusion blends to get all of the vitamin E you need each day, as each serving only contains 10 percent of the daily value.
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The top fruits for lowering blood pressure include bananas, apples, pears, apricots, grapes, raisins, kiwis, mangoes, watermelon, pomegranate, plums, prunes, avocado, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, tomatoes, citrus fruit, berries, and more.
A healthy diet can help you manage high blood pressure, including eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. The top fruits for lowering blood pressure include bananas, apples, pears, apricots, grapes, raisins, kiwis, mangoes, watermelon, pomegranate, plums, prunes, avocado, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, tomatoes, citrus fruit, berries, and more.
High blood pressure (hypertension) is a condition in which the force of blood pumping through the arteries is consistently too high. When this occurs, the walls of the arteries are extended beyond their normal limit, which can lead to damage and scarring and put people at risk for heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease.
Blood pressure is expressed in two numbers:
Systolic blood pressure (the first/top number): measures the pressure in the blood vessels when the heart beats
Diastolic blood pressure (the second/bottom number): measures the pressure in the blood vessels when the heart is at rest between beats
High, elevated, and normal blood pressure is usually defined in the following ranges:
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