If you haven’t already heard, fructose is catching a bad rap.  Yes, the naturally occurring form of sugar found in fruits. It has been implicated in wrong doings such as: elevated cholesterol, weight gain, rising blood sugar and blood pressure, fatigue and inflammation. You name it; fructose has been accused of it.

Each media headline carry with it a small piece of truth extracted from a scientific study what is often lacking is a comprehensive understanding of how this applies to real world nutrition. In the mainstream media well-intentioned journalists who may or may not have any background in nutrition or science generally write these articles. Most certainly are not adept at interpreting scientific studies. They are, after all journalists, NOT scientists.

At least two studies have cited adverse effects in subjects that consumed 74g of fructose and 200g of fructose daily, respectively. Other similar studies investigate fructose consumption ranging from 40-60% of daily caloric needs. Is that a little? Is that a lot?

First we would need to find out how much fructose foods contain.

One hundred grams of strawberries contains 3 grams of fructose. Seventy-four grams of fructose from strawberries would be roughly 5.5 POUNDS (2.466kg) of strawberries!! I’m not sure about you, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never eaten that many strawberries in a week, never mind in one day.

If we look at apples, 100grams of apple has 13.3 grams of sugars, of which 9.3 is fructose. In order for us to consume 200 grams of pure fructose from apples we would need to consume 1500 grams of apple! I’d love to see the tree THAT apple comes from!

Well, what about consuming 40-60% of our daily calories from fructose?

For argument’s sake let’s pretend we were able to guarantee that a consumption of 40-60% of calories did indeed come from fructose. A lightly active 70kg person would require 2,255 kcal per day according to the Harris-Benedict equation.

This translates to a daily consumption between 225 and 338 grams of fructose – that’s one heck of a fruit salad.

Now imagine eating that every day for anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months. Consuming this much fructose from real food would be close to impossible.

Is there a solution to the carb confusion?

Firstly, some, but not all, studies indicate adverse effects from excessive fructose consumption. Secondly excessive fructose consumption is highly unlikely from the consumption of whole, nutritious foods.

It is okay to have some berries in your oatmeal, a grapefruit for a snack or raspberries for dessert....yes, every day! Oh and don’t forget the apple, it looks like it will still keep the doctor away.

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