Fructose Vs. Fruit

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood: https://www.pexels.com/photo/sliced-strawberries-banana-and-blackberries-1120581/

Nutrition is a highly complex subject, but it often gets reduced to discussions of very basic elements in isolation. When it does, mass disagreement and misconceptions, even among “experts” occur and faulty information gets disseminated to people trying to make healthy eating choices.

One particular area that this occurs pretty regularly is the debate over whether or not fruit is healthy to eat. All too often the discussion goes something like this…

“Research has shown that fructose has several negative health effects. Fruit contains fructose; therefore you should avoid eating fruit.”

Now, different studies performed different ways will show different results, but there is pretty consistent data that shows that the sugar known as fructose does have several negative effects when consumed in a purified form, including weight gain (especially in the form of visceral or “belly” fat that is particularly unhealthy), and impaired blood sugar control. It is also a well-established fact that fruit contains fructose.

But drawing the conclusion that eating fruit is unhealthy from that information alone misses a much bigger picture.

The amount of fructose consumed at one time and the other substances consumed with it make a massive difference in how the body is affected by it.

From an amount standpoint, for example, a 12 ounce can of Coca-Cola has about 22 grams of fructose (that’s fructose – total sugar is quite a bit higher). By comparison, a medium-sized banana has about 6 grams of fructose. A cup of whole medium-sized strawberries has less than 4 grams of fructose.

A lot of people commonly consume an entire 12 ounce Coke in one sitting and not even think about it. But how many people consume three to four bananas, or five to six cups of strawberries at one time (which would have approximately the same fructose content as the Coke)?

The body is quite capable of processing some fructose, but high levels in things like Coke or candy can overwhelm that capacity. But just from a quantity of fructose standpoint, whole fruit is not all that bad.

But what about juice? If we’re talking about simple juice directly from fruit, like fresh-squeezed orange juice, there is going to be a tendency to bump the quantity of fructose up considerably, so eating whole fruit would be preferable - strictly in terms of fructose consumption - to drinking a glass of juice derived from 3 to 4 or more pieces whole fruits. “Juice drinks,” a mixture of juice and other ingredients, often including added fructose, are going to provide an even higher load of fructose, to the point where it probably is best to avoid them.

But quantity of fructose is only one part of the story. A coke has a bunch of other ingredients, including a considerable amount of glucose, which will place significant demands on the body’s blood sugar control systems and insulin response in addition to what the fructose causes. It also has caffeine, which increases heart rate and blood pressure, which in turn speeds up the absorption of fructose into the blood stream, so there’s more to be processed quicker by the liver and other organs than you would get by ingesting just pure fructose. Then there’s various artificial colors and other chemicals which further increase the load on the liver.

Different fruits have different quantities of fructose, glucose, fiber, and other nutrients, and the relative impact of their fructose content varies. But as a general rule, the relative health impacts of the fructose from fruit relative to something like soft drinks, or even pure fructose, is pretty low.

For one thing, most fruit is high in fiber, which tends to slow the absorption of its fructose. Some fruits, particularly strawberries and other berries (preferably organic to avoid pesticides), contain various biochemicals which significantly mitigate the potential blood sugar and insulin resistance effects of their fructose, and the potential weight and visceral fat gain associated with those issues.

In addition, eating fruit tends to provide pretty effective hunger satiation for most people, and that means less consumption of foods and beverages that are higher in fructose and other unhealthy ingredients.

So, the potential negative effects of the fructose you would get with moderate fruit consumption is typically quite a bit less than what is seen with purified fructose, or fructose from highly-processed foods and beverages. Despite the fact that you’ll see articles and videos proclaiming that “fruit makes you fat,” this has not been borne out by current research, and in fact, in some cases it appears that fruit actually helps you reduce weight and belly fat.

That said, diet is very much an individual thing. You can certainly be healthy without eating fruit, and if you choose not to, and feel better when you don’t, there’s no reason to change. But if you’ve been afraid to eat fruit out of concern for developing insulin resistance / diabetes, and/or gaining weight and visceral fat, chances are you can actually eat fruit with no ill-effects. In fact, a handful of popular formerly strict ketogenic diet proponents have acknowledged that they actually have added some fruit into their diets and feel better for it.

Until next time…

George Best, D.C.