Juice - healthy or just caloric?

One of the first things most moms introduce to their babies is juice. Juice has had a long term rap as a great nutritious bevarage to offer our children. And I'm not going to argue that it isn't full of vitamins, but lets really pay attention to what we are offering in that one cup of juice.
For example, one cup of orange juice has:
110 calories, 21g of sugar, 2-3g of protein, 0g of fat.
It does have lots of Vitamin C (120%), Folic acid and some thiamin.
A lot of people like to compare it to a can of coke: 140 calories, 39g of sugar.
The juice is a much better choice when given the two. But the argument here is that it does have a lot of sugar, no fiber and you can drink up a glass of orange juice rather quickly.
What we try to promote as dietitians is for everyone to take advantages of the fruit instead of juice. Because with the actual fruit you will get some fiber with it, more vitamins, and are less likely to consume too much sugar in a few minutes gulping it down.
Lets talk on the mom's perspective here: giving kids juice is a good way to get some extra vitamins in them. They like juice, they enjoy it and have fun drinking it. So we should include the juice, but to avoid giving our little ones two tablespoons of sugar in one glass (one glass of orange juice has about the equivalent of 2 tablespoons of sugar!). The best thing to do is to dilute with water, half water. And limit the amount to 2 glasses per day. They should get the rest of their liquids from water and milk.
I can not tell you how many times I've watched mother's put soda in a baby's bottle, or in sippy cups.. yikes! My husband has to hold me back at restaurants and food courts not to go have a little talk with those mothers. Why would you do that to your child! But I digress.. this is another topic all together. For now, just take this message: No soda for kids, even if it is diet! Just no soda, that simple. No gatorade, no crazy waters with extra vitamins, no diet juices. Keep it simple: milk, water and diluted all natural (no sugar added!) juice. When choosing your juice make sure you read the ingredients, it should read: water and the fruit only. Nothing else! (sometimes they add some extra vitamin C, that's ok, just no sugars or syrups).
That was just kids, now for the kids above age of 10-12 and adults. You should really use juice as a once in a while treat. The best thing to do is eat the fruit. That way you are taking advantage of all the vitamins and minerals and also the fiber the fruit has to offer.
The comercials featuring a large glass of OJ with breakfast would do us all a favor if it would just substitute that for 2 oranges instead.
By no means I'm against orange juice, how can I be, Lima is my middle name :). But I like to endorse the fruit instead of juice.
Hint: great summer fun is popsicles! My 2 year old is obssessed with them right now. We make them ourselves to avoid the additives in the store bought ones. Just dilute half juice with water and fill up the molds. Works great and she loves it! For more fun I started dropping a couple of blueberries in the mold too, that way it is 2 flavors in one and she's actually eating the whole fruit while enjoying the popsicle. You may try other fruits too, just cut them up small, strawberries and grapes freeze really well.
Note- juice should not be introduced until the child is at least 6 months old. Before that the only thing they need is breastmilk/formula.