Drinking a glass of raw sugarcane juice can give you a lot of surprising health benefits. Sugarcane juice is loaded with essential nutrients and can help reduce blood pressure, strengthen your bones, reduce cholesterol, help with weight loss, relieve stress, treat infections, break fevers and more. If you want to learn more, give this article a read!
What is Sugarcane?
Sugarcane is a member of the grass family. It’s native to Papua New Guinea, but it can grow pretty much anywhere, so it’s now a beloved crop for over half the world, particularly rampant in America and Asia. You can either eat pieces of sugarcane or drink its juice; either way, you’ll benefit.
Sugarcane contains no fat, but it does have 30 grams of sugar per serving. In fact, sugarcane is a major source of white sugar, particularly popular in Thailand, Brazil and India, where it is sold on the street. It’s usually pressed out with iron rollers and can be served as a refreshing drink with some ice or a bit of lemon.
Sugarcane juice is a base ingredient for a lot of products, like ethanol, biofuel, rum, molasses and jaggery.
Nutritional Value of Sugarcane Juice
1 serving of sugarcane juice may contain the following:
| Nutrients | Amount | % Daily Value |
| Calories | 269 | – |
| Total Fat | 0 gram | – |
| Trans fat | 0 gram | – |
| Monounsaturated fat | 0 gram | – |
| Polyunsaturated fat | 0 gram | – |
| Saturated fat | 0 gram | – |
| Cholesterol | 0 milligram | – |
| Sodium | 58 milligrams | – |
| Potassium | 63 milligrams | – |
| Total carbohydrates | 73 grams | – |
| Dietary fiber | 0 gram | – |
| Sugar | 73 grams | – |
| Protein | 0 gram | – |
| Iron | – | 19% |
| Calcium | – | 1% |
| Vitamin A | – | 0% |
| Vitamin C | – | 0% |
Health Benefits of Sugarcane Juice
Here are some of the most astounding health benefits of sugarcane juice:
- Helps with weight loss: the dietary fiber content of sugarcane juice helps bind fat and prevent it from being stored in the body. This makes you feel full, thus preventing overeating and snacking.
- Helps prevent kidney stones: various studies show that drinking sugarcane juice may help reduce UTIs and lower your risk of developing kidney stones.
- Helps strengthen immunity: sugarcane has a lot of vitamin C and antioxidants that stimulate and boost your immunity. It can also help reduce infections in the respiratory tract, liver and stomach.
- Regulates blood pressure: the potassium in sugarcane helps reduce tension and strain in the blood vessels and arteries.
- Helps manage stress: the amino acids, magnesium and tryptophan in sugarcane help balance the stress hormone levels and induce sleep.
- Helps lower cholesterol: studies show that drinking sugarcane juice help reduce overall cholesterol levels in the body. This is one of its best health benefits.
- Helps boost energy: as you can probably tell from its name, sugarcane has a lot of sugar in it. This, combined with its high fructose content, helps boost energy levels.
- Helps with bone mineral density: the juice can boost levels of calcium, magnesium, manganese, potassium and iron in the body, making it a good tool to strengthen bones.
Side Effects of Sugarcane Juice
Sugarcane juice doesn’t really pose any major risks, but this depends on how it’s prepared. There can also be some negative effects if you consume too much, as with anything. Never drink more than one glass a day, or you may experience the following side effects:
- Insomnia
- Bleeding disorder
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Upset stomach
- Headaches
Sugarcane juice truly is an amazing juice. I hope this article can attest to that.
