Mother Camy Sleeman says she has to be a detective when shopping for juice for her kids.

"I think you really have to do your homework in terms of reading the labels and seeing what is within each bottle of juice you buy," she said.

Sleeman is not alone.

North Americans spend almost $6 billion a year on juice -- on everything from orange and apple to pomegranate.

To know if you're buying real juice, be sure to investigate the labels and the ingredients.

Letters from confused shoppers prompted Jamie Hirsh of Consumer Reports to take a closer look at juice labels to figure out if shoppers are getting the real deal.

Juice drinks sport all sorts of labels these days from "light juice," "juice beverage" and "juice cocktail," to name a few.

But some of these labels are misleading.

For starters, two labels to look out for so you don't get duped are "100 per cent juice" and "100 per cent pure."

"These (labels) mean that you're getting pure juice, but you still want to read the label," Hirsch explained.

"Often juices are actually a blend -- and a lot of times you'll see that apple or grape juice is actually the first ingredient. So you could end up getting more of these juices than the featured juice that you actually want."

If you see juice "cocktail," "beverage" or "drink," that's a red flag because these contain less than 100 per cent juice.

"These drinks can contain as little as five per cent juice," Hirsh said. "Water and sweeteners, like high fructose corn syrup, often make up the rest."

And what exactly is "light" juice?

"Some big juice companies, including Tropicana, Welch's and Ocean Spray have come out with 'light' versions of the juices, which they tout as having less sugar and few calories," Hirsh said. "These are often regular juices diluted with water."

Diluting your drinks is something you can do yourself -- and save money, too -- with 100 per cent real juice you have purchased.

As for 100 per cent juice products that are blended with apple or grape juice, customer-service representatives at Tropicana and Ocean Spray told Consumer Reports that grape and apple juice add sweetness and make cranberry and pomegranate less tart.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen