Your Health Blog

Research has shown that too much sugar is harmful. This includes table sugar and high fructose corn syrup. These sugars are a combination of glucose and fructose. Fructose can have negative effects on your health when consumed in large amounts. Since it is known excess sugar is not good for you, many people now believe this applies to fruit too. This is not true! Fructose is a natural, simple sugar commonly found in fruits. The absence of glucose makes pure fructose fundamentally different from high fructose corn syrup.

It is difficult to get excessive amounts of fructose from fruit. Fruits are high in fiber and require chewing, which means fruits take some time to eat and digest, and the fructose is being transported to your liver slowly. The fiber has many benefits such as regulating blood sugar levels, reducing cholesterol, and helping you feel full.

Fruits also contain antioxidants and multiple vitamins and minerals that may be otherwise lacking, particularly vitamins A, C, folate and potassium.

What about fruit juice? Fruit juice lacks the fiber found in whole fruits because the juicing process strips out the fiber. Calories add up quickly in juice and there is no fiber to offset its natural sugar content, which can increase blood sugar quickly. If you do drink juice, try to limit it to no more than 4 ounces per day.