Do Juicers Remove Fiber?

Yes -- a juicer removes most of the fiber, and the pulp container is where it went. That is the honest mechanical answer, and the useful detail sits one layer down: what a juicer removes is the insoluble fiber, the structural material that holds a plant up. Some soluble fiber, which dissolves into the liquid, comes through into the glass, along with whatever fine particles the screen lets past. That is why fresh juice is cloudy rather than clear.

Where the fiber actually goes

Both mechanisms separate a plant into two streams, and both put the bulk of the structural fiber into the same place:

• In an auger machine, the screw drags produce into a narrowing chamber and crushes it against a mesh screen. Liquid goes through the mesh; the crushed fibrous mat keeps travelling and is pushed out of a separate opening as pulp. The screen mesh is what decides how much fine material follows the liquid.
• In a centrifugal machine, a flat blade shreds produce against the base of a spinning basket and centrifugal force throws the liquid out through the basket wall. The shredded fiber stays in the basket or is ejected into a bin. Because the shredding is violent, more of the fiber is reduced to particles small enough to pass the mesh -- which is why centrifugal juice is cloudier.

So the fiber is not destroyed and it is not transformed. It is sorted, and you can hold the sorted result in your hand. Juicer pulp explained goes into what the pulp actually is, and what to do with juicer pulp covers using it rather than binning it.

Soluble and insoluble, briefly and mechanically

The one honest caveat: nobody publishes a number here. No juicer manufacturer measures the fiber content of the juice its machines produce, and no published test compares machines on it. So "most of the insoluble fiber" is as precise as the available evidence allows, and anyone quoting a percentage for a specific juicer generated it.

A blender removes none of it

This is the comparison the question is usually really about. A blender has no screen and no separation stage -- it breaks the entire plant down and keeps all of it in the jug. Nothing is removed, which is why a smoothie is thick and a juice is not. A juicer's defining feature is the separation; a blender's defining feature is the absence of it.

That is a mechanical difference with no "better" attached to it from us, and it is the main reason this site tells some people to buy a blender instead of a juicer. Juicer vs blender and juice vs smoothie are the two pages that work through which appliance suits which plan, and juicer vs vitamix covers the specific machine people usually mean.

What to look for if you want more fiber in the glass

If the point of the question is to keep more fiber, the specification to look for is pulp control -- a coarser screen, a second filter, or an adjustable pressure setting. Four machines on this site publish one:

1. 1.Omega NC900HDC -- Omega states five adjustable end-cap pressure settings and two juicing screens at 80 RPM on 150 W. Coarse screen plus low pressure is the most fiber this site can point to from a published setting, and it is the most flexible machine here.
2. 2.Ninja NeverClog JC151 -- Ninja states two pulp filters, for less pulp or more pulp, plus 150 W and dishwasher-safe removable parts. The cheapest explicit more-pulp option.
3. 3.Cuisinart Pulp Control Citrus Juicer -- Cuisinart states three pulp control settings: low, medium and high, with a limited 3-year warranty. For orange and grapefruit juice specifically.
4. 4.Breville Citrus Press Pro 800CPXL -- Breville states adjustable pulp control on a powered lever press, at 110 W with four dishwasher-safe parts.

Three machines that let you choose

The Omega NC900HDC is the one to buy if you want the decision to stay open -- five pressure settings and two screens, with a 15-year limited warranty. The Ninja NeverClog JC151 does the same job with a filter swap under $200. The Cuisinart Pulp Control Citrus Juicer settles the orange juice argument for the lowest price on this list. The fuller versions are juicers that keep the pulp and, for the opposite preference, best pulp-free juicers.

Two things that cost nothing

To put fiber back: stir a spoonful of the pulp straight back into the glass. It works on any machine, it costs nothing, and it is more effective than any screen setting. The texture is grainy and some people dislike it, which is the only real objection.

To take more out: pour the juice through a fine-mesh sieve or a nut-milk bag. That removes more fine pulp than any setting on any machine on this page, and it is how juice bars get glass-clear juice from ordinary equipment.

Both are worth knowing before you shop, because the honest position is that a sieve and a spoon cover most of what a pulp-control feature does. Buy for pulp control if you are buying a machine anyway; do not replace a working juicer over it.

If you are still deciding whether a juicer is the right appliance at all, is a juicer worth it is the page that takes that seriously, and juicing for beginners covers starting out.

The appliance decision that follows from this one is covered in juicers and blenders -- whether to own both, and what a combination machine actually does to the juicing stage.