Fructose - The Sweet Poison: Are You Eating Too Much of It?
Fruit is healthy.
Everybody knows that and I'm not going to deny it.
But fructose, the sugar most dominant in fruit, can be dangerous when consumed in excess.
First of all, I'd like to make clear that fruit is far from the biggest source of fructose.
It's present in virtually all processed foods you can buy in your local grocery store, mostly in form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
It's sweet and very cheap, and it's one of the main causes for obesity and all modern age diseases.
How fructose causes fat gain and other adverse effects Fructose (unlike glucose) can only be used to replenish glycogen stores in your liver.
If you haven't been fasting for around 16 hours, your liver has more than enough glycogen, so guess where the fructose goes...
It's turned straight into fat.
Too much fructose also increases your fasting blood sugar level, the level of triglycerides in your blood and reduces your insulin sensitivity - the ability of your cells to take in glucose.
That means more insulin will be necessary to achieve the same effect.
And more insulin = more fat.
Insulin sensitivity is no joke.
It's most advanced form is known as type 2 diabetes.
In addition, the process of metabolizing fructose into fat is very taxing for your liver and can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
How much fructose should you consume The recommended daily dose of fructose is around 15-25g.
Many people consume well over 100, or even 200 grams a day and they may not even be aware of it.
Now that you know the adverse effects of fructose, you realize that you need to be smart about it.
You need to avoid HFCS and all sources of non-natural fructose as much as possible.
That means avoiding sodas (diet sodas are even worse, but more on that in a future article), sweets, candy bars, table sugar (which is 50% fructose), etc.
I don't recommend avoiding all fruits as some nutritionists do.
After all, fruits are a great source of vitamins and antioxidants.
However you should definitely not go crazy on fruits.
Which fruits (not) to eat The best fruits to eat are the ones with the lowest fructose content.
These include:
Prefer fruits from the first group whenever you can.
If you want to know the exact sugar content in these and many more fruits, check out this table.
Why you shouldn't drink fruit juice Many people mistakenly think they are doing something for their health by drinking fruit juices.
This is not exactly true.
First of all, most juices you buy in the grocery store contain HFCS.
Those are your worst possible option.
But not even the natural juice you make at home can be considered very healthy.
Why? Because the vast majority of nutrients you'd get by eating fruit are wasted when you extract only the juice from it.
You simply throw away the good stuff and you're practically left with a fructose-laden sweet drink.
Smoothies are much better than juices in term of nutrient content.
Use the whole fruit as you'd eat it - without peeling, if it makes sense...
You obviously don't want to throw in a whole banana with the skin on.
Drink your smoothie right after making it or store it inside an airproof container in the fridge and drink ASAP.
How about dried fruits? Dried fruits are commonly referred to as a healthy.
While they are definitely much better than cookies or candy bars to snack on, you still need to be aware of how much you consume.
If you look at the table of sugar content which I linked above, you can see how much fructose dried fruits contain.
It's several times more than their fresh counterparts.
Unlike fructose, nutrients are not as resistant when it comes to drying.
There are still some left, but the antioxidant and vitamin content of dried fruits is far from that of fresh fruits.
Think of dried fruits as flavouring - add them in small quantities to meals to enhance flavour, but don't eat too much of them on their own.
Together with nuts, they can make an awesome mini snack.
Which sweeteners (not) to use Honey and maple syrup are natural sweeteners with many health benefits.
They make a superb addition to a sweet treat.
Nevertheless, they still have a high sugar content and you should use them with caution.
Also, if you're buying maple syrup, make sure you're actually buying maple syrup.
There are lot of HFCS-laden goodies posing as maple syrup on the shelves of supermarkets.
Stevia is a natural plant-based sweetener without any sugar content.
If you have the chance, give it a try.
Agave nectar can have up to 92% fructose content and is therefore a big no-no.
Stay way from this allegedly "healthy sweetener".
Brown sugar, also known as 'raw sugar' is in fact pretty much the same as regular white sugar.
It's 97% sucrose compared to 99.
9% in white sugar.
It's not any better, so stay away from this one too.
Everybody knows that and I'm not going to deny it.
But fructose, the sugar most dominant in fruit, can be dangerous when consumed in excess.
First of all, I'd like to make clear that fruit is far from the biggest source of fructose.
It's present in virtually all processed foods you can buy in your local grocery store, mostly in form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
It's sweet and very cheap, and it's one of the main causes for obesity and all modern age diseases.
How fructose causes fat gain and other adverse effects Fructose (unlike glucose) can only be used to replenish glycogen stores in your liver.
If you haven't been fasting for around 16 hours, your liver has more than enough glycogen, so guess where the fructose goes...
It's turned straight into fat.
Too much fructose also increases your fasting blood sugar level, the level of triglycerides in your blood and reduces your insulin sensitivity - the ability of your cells to take in glucose.
That means more insulin will be necessary to achieve the same effect.
And more insulin = more fat.
Insulin sensitivity is no joke.
It's most advanced form is known as type 2 diabetes.
In addition, the process of metabolizing fructose into fat is very taxing for your liver and can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
How much fructose should you consume The recommended daily dose of fructose is around 15-25g.
Many people consume well over 100, or even 200 grams a day and they may not even be aware of it.
Now that you know the adverse effects of fructose, you realize that you need to be smart about it.
You need to avoid HFCS and all sources of non-natural fructose as much as possible.
That means avoiding sodas (diet sodas are even worse, but more on that in a future article), sweets, candy bars, table sugar (which is 50% fructose), etc.
I don't recommend avoiding all fruits as some nutritionists do.
After all, fruits are a great source of vitamins and antioxidants.
However you should definitely not go crazy on fruits.
Which fruits (not) to eat The best fruits to eat are the ones with the lowest fructose content.
These include:
- berries - strawberry, blueberry, blackberry...
everything that ends with -berry - citrus fruits - grapefruit, orange, lemon, pomelo, mandarin...
- "fruitables" - tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, olives (known as veg by most people, but they are actually fruits)
- plums, peaches, apricots
- pineapple
- apples
- pears
- grapes
- mango
Prefer fruits from the first group whenever you can.
If you want to know the exact sugar content in these and many more fruits, check out this table.
Why you shouldn't drink fruit juice Many people mistakenly think they are doing something for their health by drinking fruit juices.
This is not exactly true.
First of all, most juices you buy in the grocery store contain HFCS.
Those are your worst possible option.
But not even the natural juice you make at home can be considered very healthy.
Why? Because the vast majority of nutrients you'd get by eating fruit are wasted when you extract only the juice from it.
You simply throw away the good stuff and you're practically left with a fructose-laden sweet drink.
Smoothies are much better than juices in term of nutrient content.
Use the whole fruit as you'd eat it - without peeling, if it makes sense...
You obviously don't want to throw in a whole banana with the skin on.
Drink your smoothie right after making it or store it inside an airproof container in the fridge and drink ASAP.
How about dried fruits? Dried fruits are commonly referred to as a healthy.
While they are definitely much better than cookies or candy bars to snack on, you still need to be aware of how much you consume.
If you look at the table of sugar content which I linked above, you can see how much fructose dried fruits contain.
It's several times more than their fresh counterparts.
Unlike fructose, nutrients are not as resistant when it comes to drying.
There are still some left, but the antioxidant and vitamin content of dried fruits is far from that of fresh fruits.
Think of dried fruits as flavouring - add them in small quantities to meals to enhance flavour, but don't eat too much of them on their own.
Together with nuts, they can make an awesome mini snack.
Which sweeteners (not) to use Honey and maple syrup are natural sweeteners with many health benefits.
They make a superb addition to a sweet treat.
Nevertheless, they still have a high sugar content and you should use them with caution.
Also, if you're buying maple syrup, make sure you're actually buying maple syrup.
There are lot of HFCS-laden goodies posing as maple syrup on the shelves of supermarkets.
Stevia is a natural plant-based sweetener without any sugar content.
If you have the chance, give it a try.
Agave nectar can have up to 92% fructose content and is therefore a big no-no.
Stay way from this allegedly "healthy sweetener".
Brown sugar, also known as 'raw sugar' is in fact pretty much the same as regular white sugar.
It's 97% sucrose compared to 99.
9% in white sugar.
It's not any better, so stay away from this one too.