Fructose: Is Fruit Unhealthy?

Fruit is considered part of a healthy diet and provides many nutrients. But it also contains fructose – fruit sugar. You can find out everything about fructose here.

What is fructose?

• Fructose is a natural sugar found especially in fruit or honey. Household sugar (sucrose) also consists of half fructose and half glucose.
• Most fructose is found in sweet fruit, such as dates, grapes or apples. Fruit juices can also contain plenty of fructose. Small amounts of the sugar can also be found in vegetables. With 90 grams of fructose per 100 grams, corn syrup is one of the sweetest foods of all.

Structure and metabolism

• Chemically, fructose forms a ring with five corners, unlike glucose with its hexagonal structure. The glycaemic index (GI) of fructose is significantly lower than that of glucose, which means that the blood sugar level and thus insulin are much less affected.
• In the liver, fructose is metabolised to glucose, glycogen and fatty acids. However, with 4 calories (carbohydrates) per gram, fructose is no different from other sugars.

Healthy or unhealthy sugar?

• It’s the quantity that makes the poison. This rule is almost always the law with food. Even if fructose hardly increases insulin and the body receives fewer signals for ravenous appetite than household sugar, this sugar can still have negative effects.
• Consuming quantities of more than 25 grams per meal can cause stomach aches and flatulence in the body. You cannot always tell how much fructose is in foods or drinks, but the further ahead the sugar appears in the list of ingredients, the more it contains.
• Since the consumption of fructose hardly leads to an increase in insulin, studies have shown that the body does not get a feeling of satiety, which can have a negative effect on the liver in the form of fatty deposits. As a result, there are also assumptions that a high fructose content in food could lead to overweight, diabetes and heart disease.

Correct handling of fruit sugar

• If you now think that fructose is the enemy in your diet and you have to protect your intestines and liver from it from now on, we have good news for you: As long as you do not completely over-eat fruit, the risk of the above mentioned effects seems to be low.
• Studies also show that only a high intake over a long period of time in combination with an additionally increased amount of calories of carbohydrates can have negative effects. It is questionable whether this is really due to fructose or not to an excessive amount of calories.
• It is important to minimize the consumption of finished products and fruit juices containing high amounts of fructose. With pure fruit and vegetables you will hardly get into areas that are really harmful. To do so, you would have to eat a kilo of apples, which, depending on the size, would be equivalent to about 5-10 apples.

Fructose: Consumption with intolerance?

• Basically, the tolerance of food varies from person to person, so you should observe for yourself if you notice symptoms such as stomach ache when you consume fruit. The reason for this can be a fructose intolerance, where fruit sugar is not digested properly in the intestines.
• Fructose intolerance may be congenital or may occur later. You only need to avoid fruit completely if it is the innate form. Otherwise, you should even consume some fructose, as otherwise the body cannot cope with the digestion of fructose and symptoms can occur even with small amounts.