Nordic Sun – 100% Organic Quince Juice 1 L

What Science Says About Japanese Quince

• A dense source of vitamin C

Juice pressed from Japanese quince at the Latvian Institute of Horticulture contained 68.3 to 72.8 mg of vitamin C per 100 mL. [1] A Polish study of pressed juice measured 34.48 mg per 100 g, about five times what remained in jams and syrups made from the same fruit. [10] Across the wider literature, juice has been reported from 20 to 112 mg per 100 mL [4] and fresh fruit from 55 to 243 mg per 100 g, depending on genotype and method; [3] [10] Latvian cultivars average 57 to 90 mg per 100 g. [2] Under EU rules a beverage may be described as high in vitamin C from 12 mg per 100 mL. Vitamin C contributes to the normal function of the immune system, to normal collagen formation for the normal function of skin, bones, cartilage, gums, teeth and blood vessels, to the protection of cells from oxidative stress, and to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue.

• Vitamin C and iron

Vitamin C increases the absorption of iron. This matters most for iron from plants, which the body takes up less readily than iron from meat — so a sharply acidic, vitamin C-rich juice drunk with a plant-based meal does something a sweeter one does not.

• Very little sugar of its own

Total sugars in the Latvian cultivars Rasa, Darius and Rondo measured 2.69%, 3.45% and 4.0% of fresh weight, against soluble solids of 8.1 to 9.9%. [5] Most of the difference is acid: malic acid alone runs 3.06 to 5.09 g per 100 mL of juice, [3] [4] and the fruit’s organic acids have been put at roughly ten times an apple’s. [5] Nothing is added to sweeten it.

• Flavan-3-ols and procyanidins

A 2024 review of the quinces found Chaenomeles japonica fruit about three times richer in phenolic compounds than Cydonia, with chlorogenic acid, catechin, epicatechin and procyanidins B1 to B3 dominating the profile. [3] Latvian cultivars measured 422 to 550 mg of phenolics per 100 g of fruit, [2] and pressed juice 318 to 326 mg per 100 mL. [1]

• Carbohydrate handling, in liver cells

In human liver (HepG2) cells, a polyphenolic extract of the fruit — mainly catechin, epicatechin and procyanidin oligomers — increased AMPK phosphorylation by about 35%, raised glucose uptake by 25% and glycogen storage by nearly 40%, lowered glucose production by 20%, and halved PEPCK expression. [6] This is a cell culture study, not a trial in people.

• Liver fat in a rat model

Fifty male Wistar rats were fed a high-fat, high-fructose diet for ten weeks, three groups of them receiving the fruit juice at 2.5, 5 or 10 mL/kg. At the middle dose the juice prevented liver steatosis and reduced visceral fat indices. The diet nearly doubled triglycerides (1.23 against 0.67 mmol/L in controls) and impaired glucose tolerance, and no dose of the juice significantly changed either. [7] The middle dose also did more than the highest — an animal finding, and one the authors do not fully explain.

• Inflammatory signalling in human immune cells

An aqueous extract of the fruit reduced TNF-α secretion by roughly 40 to 50% and IL-8 to about half in human neutrophils, and raised the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in mononuclear cells. After simulated digestion, the resulting fractions cut IL-8 in intestinal Caco-2 cells to 15 to 27% of stimulated controls. [8] Cells in culture again.

• A long record of traditional use

In Chinese medicine the fruit has traditionally been used for coughs and sore throats, colds, asthma, intestinal inflammation and rheumatism, and against vitamin C deficiency. [3] [4] In the Baltics it was a hedge plant for far longer than it has been a food.

• What has not been studied

No controlled human trial has tested Japanese quince or its juice. A 2023 review of the entire Maleae tribe — apples, pears, aronia and the quinces — found only fourteen human trial papers published between 2000 and 2023, and none of them on Chaenomeles. [9] Everything above describes the fruit and its compounds, not an outcome in people.

References

1. Segliņa D, Krasnova I, Radenkovs V, Juhņeviča-Radenkova K, Cinkmanis I, Kļaviņš L, Lazdiņa D. (2025). Assessment of Quality Indices in Japanese Quince (Chaenomeles japonica L.) Juice and Concentrate: Evaluating the Impact of Hydrolytic Enzymes and Clarifiers. Food Technology and Biotechnology, 63(4), 8413. doi:10.17113/ftb.63.04.25.8413
2. Kaufmane E, Ruisa S. (2020). Breeding of new cultivars of the fruit crop Japanese quince (Chaenomeles japonica) in Latvia. Acta Horticulturae, 1281, 51–58. doi:10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1281.9
3. Kostecka-Gugała A. (2024). Quinces (Cydonia oblonga, Chaenomeles sp., and Pseudocydonia sinensis) as Medicinal Fruits of the Rosaceae Family: Current State of Knowledge on Properties and Use. Antioxidants, 13(1), 71. doi:10.3390/antiox13010071
4. Marat N, Danowska-Oziewicz M, Narwojsz A. (2022). Chaenomeles Species — Characteristics of Plant, Fruit and Processed Products: A Review. Plants, 11(22), 3036. doi:10.3390/plants11223036
5. Urbanavičiūtė I, Viškelis P. (2022). Biochemical Composition of Japanese Quince (Chaenomeles japonica) and Its Promising Value for Food, Cosmetic, and Pharmaceutical Industries. In: Fruit Industry. IntechOpen. doi:10.5772/intechopen.102361
6. Zakłos-Szyda M, Pawlik N. (2018). Japanese quince (Chaenomeles japonica L.) fruit polyphenolic extract modulates carbohydrate metabolism in HepG2 cells via AMP-activated protein kinase. Acta Biochimica Polonica, 65(1), 67–78. doi:10.18388/abp.2017_1604
7. Moneva-Marinova K, Gancheva S, Eftimov M, Tzaneva M, Todorova M, Reyzov M, Rafailova E, Zhelyazkova-Savova M, Valcheva-Kuzmanova S. (2026). Effects of Chaenomeles japonica Fruit Juice on Energy Balance and Biochemical and Histological Parameters in a Model of Diet-Induced Metabolic Syndrome in Rats. Pharmaceuticals, 19(4), 609. doi:10.3390/ph19040609
8. Olędzka AJ, Sirak A, Hovtvian D, Koshovyi O, Czerwińska ME. (2025). Bio-Assay-Guided Study of Chaenomeles japonica — Cytokine Modulation by Fruit Aqueous Extract In Vitro in Connection with Its Processing with Enzymatic and Microbial Additives. Nutrients, 17(23), 3716. doi:10.3390/nu17233716
9. Rutkowska M, Olszewska MA. (2023). Anti-Diabetic Potential of Polyphenol-Rich Fruits from the Maleae Tribe — A Review of In Vitro and In Vivo Animal and Human Trials. Nutrients, 15(17), 3756. doi:10.3390/nu15173756
10. Kazimierczak R, Kopczyńska K, Ponder A, Hallmann E, Żebrowska-Krasuska M, Średnicka-Tober D. (2025). The Concentrations of Phenolic Compounds and Vitamin C in Japanese Quince (Chaenomeles japonica) Preserves. Foods, 14(8), 1369. doi:10.3390/foods14081369