Fruit, Fructose and Health.
I read a brilliant article the other day…
It was all about someone who had lost a significant amount of weight, during lockdown. They had altered their diet, created a calorie deficit, performed more exercise and smashed it!
They look and feel amazing! Well done!
There was one quote in the article however that raised my eyebrow. It went something like this:
‘I never realised how much sugar was in fruit! I used to eat loads of it, as I thought it was so good for you…!’
And this quote is the reason for this piece.
This comment is not new, I have heard it or some iteration of it, many times before. As well as the opposite:
‘Oh its alright, coz it’s natural sugar, so it’s healthy…’
And as is the pattern with these things, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
When it comes to Fruit, the sugar we worry about is Fructose. And quite rightly so.
Without getting all ‘Biology’ on you, Fructose is metabolised very differently than Glucose, whereby the vast majority of Fructose ingested is up taken by the liver and this can lead to fat storage, fatty liver and increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
All very serious stuff!
However, that does not mean we should banish Fruit from our diets or even recommend it shouldn’t be eaten.
The vast majority of research and study completed about Fructose has been done using Fructose sweetened drinks or drinks sweetened with HFCS (High-fructose-corn-syrup).
These findings showed that when total calorie intake exceeded 25% from Fructose or HFCS the risk of developing metabolic and cardiovascular disease increased massively.
Bear in mind I say 25% of Calorie intake. This includes regimes that have a balanced energy intake and maintain an individuals total weight!
So what does this mean?
It is important to understand it is not Sugar itself that is the issue, it is the dose, the proportion of this sugar that makes up your daily intake of food, that is the issue.
Remember, the studies into this are using highly palatable foods, with very little nutrition and have a very large dose of the sugar in question.
So should you eat fruit?
100% Yes!! The likelihood you are eating 25% or more of your daily intake from fruit is very unlikely, or if you did manage to, you are not doing it everyday!
We don’t tend to binge on Fruit. We are more likely to binge on cakes, biscuits, trifle and junk! And this is when that level of intake can be far more easily achieved.
Furthermore, fruit has many many other health benefits with Vitamins, Minerals and Fibre to name a few, which the coke and cookies you are consuming are totally devoid of!
So, yet again it is about balance. Can you drink a coke? Of course, but drink it sparingly.
Should you be eating fruit? Absolutely.
Every single day!
Dan
Resources:
Kimber Stanhope Phd. The effects of sugar consumption on body composition, lipid regulation and insulin sensitivity.
