London, Oct 13 (IANS): A glass of fruit juice a day may not be as 'healthy' as previously thought as researchers found that those who regularly drink fruit juice have significantly higher blood pressure than those who have it occasionally.

With high amounts of sugar with negligible fibre, a daily glass of fruit juice could lead to high blood pressure and cardio-vascular disease, the researchers explained.

A daily glass of fruit juice leads to people having significantly higher central blood pressure - which can increase the risk of problems such as a heart attack or angina, the findings showed.

"Although juices may have essential vitamins, they commonly contain high amounts of sugar with negligible fibre," said Matthew Pase from the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia.

"Thus, frequent fruit juice consumption may be contributing to excessive sugar intake, typical of the Western population, exacerbating the prevalence of hyper-tension (high blood pressure) and cardio-vascular disease," Pase pointed out.

Fruit juice has also been blamed for helping fuel obesity and diabetes epidemics in Britain as a 250 ml serving contains 115 calories, the equivalent of seven teaspoons of sugar, Daily Mail reported.