Is sugar from fruits bad for you?

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  • kawookie
    kawookie Posts: 813 Member
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    Refined sugar and natural sugar have some significant differences:

    Calories in a snickers bar ( 52.7 g)
    250 calories
    12 g of fat
    4.5 g saturated fat
    33 g total carbs
    1 g fiber
    27 g sugar
    120 mg sodium
    4 g protein

    Calories in an apple (medium, 182 g) Note: This apple is 3x heavier than a snickers bar
    95 calories
    0.3 g of fat
    0.1 g saturated fat
    25 g total carbs
    4.4 g fiber
    19 g sugar
    > 1/3 of an apple is about the weight of a whole snickers bar (so an equal amount of apple ~6.33 g of sugar)
    2 mg sodium
    0.5 g protein

    .
    Information taken from snickers.com and googling "calories in an apple"

    The point is that sure, sugar is sugar. However, natural sugar in a piece of fruit 1 g of fruit has 1 calorie. 1 g of sugar has 4 calories. One apple is likely to fill you up without adding significantly to any column but fiber and sugar. A snickers will add to every category and you might still be hungry after the small 52.7 gram bar.
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    Refined sugar and natural sugar have some significant differences:

    Calories in a snickers bar ( 52.7 g)
    250 calories
    12 g of fat
    4.5 g saturated fat
    33 g total carbs
    1 g fiber
    27 g sugar
    120 mg sodium
    4 g protein

    Calories in an apple (medium, 182 g) Note: This apple is 3x heavier than a snickers bar
    95 calories
    0.3 g of fat
    0.1 g saturated fat
    25 g total carbs
    4.4 g fiber
    19 g sugar
    > 1/3 of an apple is about the weight of a whole snickers bar (so an equal amount of apple ~6.33 g of sugar)
    2 mg sodium
    0.5 g protein

    .
    Information taken from snickers.com and googling "calories in an apple"

    The point is that sure, sugar is sugar. However, natural sugar in a piece of fruit 1 g of fruit has 1 calorie. 1 g of sugar has 4 calories. One apple is likely to fill you up without adding significantly to any column but fiber and sugar. A snickers will add to every category and you might still be hungry after the small 52.7 gram bar.

    Thanks for the analysis--good job! :smile: WHAT you eat is very important to overall success.
  • fatfudgery
    fatfudgery Posts: 449 Member
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    You are denying the research that strongly suggests the association?

    Between fructose and pancreatic cancer? Yes, I'm totally denying it. People with no idea of how biomedical research works took the Liu et al paper and made all kinds of wrong conclusions from it. Here's a good takedown for us laymen:

    http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/08/05/fructose-and-pancreatic-cancer/
    There are LOTS of studies which demonstrate a link between the consumption of certain foods and health.

    Well, yeah, but you mentioned specific nutrients in fruit, which I'd be interested in reading more about.
    Check out my thread on the inhibition of angio-genesis.

    Link?
    Ellagic acid in strawberries has been found to be a potent inhibitor of angio-genesis and is therefore "applies the brakes" on cancerous tumor growth. Artificially flavored strawberry soda will NOT have the same effect even if the calories are identical.

    Again, source? I can't find any human clinical studies on MedLine. FWIW, the American Cancer Society's website says the only study on humans so far improved prostate cancer patients' tolerance of chemo drugs, but didn't slow the cancer's progression.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
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    Refined sugar and natural sugar have some significant differences:

    Calories in a snickers bar ( 52.7 g)
    250 calories
    12 g of fat
    4.5 g saturated fat
    33 g total carbs
    1 g fiber
    27 g sugar
    120 mg sodium
    4 g protein

    Calories in an apple (medium, 182 g) Note: This apple is 3x heavier than a snickers bar
    95 calories
    0.3 g of fat
    0.1 g saturated fat
    25 g total carbs
    4.4 g fiber
    19 g sugar
    > 1/3 of an apple is about the weight of a whole snickers bar (so an equal amount of apple ~6.33 g of sugar)
    2 mg sodium
    0.5 g protein

    .
    Information taken from snickers.com and googling "calories in an apple"

    The point is that sure, sugar is sugar. However, natural sugar in a piece of fruit 1 g of fruit has 1 calorie. 1 g of sugar has 4 calories. One apple is likely to fill you up without adding significantly to any column but fiber and sugar. A snickers will add to every category and you might still be hungry after the small 52.7 gram bar.

    I like apples, so I eat them. Of course, I also like Snicker's bars (particularly the ice cream type) so I eat them too. It's a simple matter of focusing on calories and macros, and eating basic whole foods most of the time, but not being afraid to mix in some treats. It's funny though, we all can say it thousands of times and people still don't get it. Keep arguing with success . . .
  • contingencyplan
    contingencyplan Posts: 3,639 Member
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    Sugar is sugar, whether from fructose, dextrose, or any other source. The difference is that, in fruit, there are tremendous amounts of micronutrients which more than make up for it from a nutritional perspective.
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    You are denying the research that strongly suggests the association?

    Between fructose and pancreatic cancer? Yes, I'm totally denying it. People with no idea of how biomedical research works took the Liu et al paper and made all kinds of wrong conclusions from it. Here's a good takedown for us laymen:

    http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/08/05/fructose-and-pancreatic-cancer/
    There are LOTS of studies which demonstrate a link between the consumption of certain foods and health.

    Well, yeah, but you mentioned specific nutrients in fruit, which I'd be interested in reading more about.
    Check out my thread on the inhibition of angio-genesis.

    Link?
    Ellagic acid in strawberries has been found to be a potent inhibitor of angio-genesis and is therefore "applies the brakes" on cancerous tumor growth. Artificially flavored strawberry soda will NOT have the same effect even if the calories are identical.

    Again, source? I can't find any human clinical studies on MedLine. FWIW, the American Cancer Society's website says the only study on humans so far improved prostate cancer patients' tolerance of chemo drugs, but didn't slow the cancer's progression.

    Here you go: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1107606-inhibiting-angio-genesis-to-inhibit-obesity

    ETA: Just as an informal observation--Steve Jobs was, for many years, a "fruitarian"--he even named his company after his favorite fruit: Apple Inc. Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer. Even the actor, Ashton Kutcher who was hired to play Jobs in the bio-pic said that he tried a fruitarian diet for a time (one supposes that he did it in order to "get into character"). He said that he had to quit it after several months because it was "messing up my pancreatic enzymes". I think I got the quote from Kutcher right but it was something to that effect.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
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    Sugar is sugar, whether from fructose, dextrose, or any other source. The difference is that, in fruit, there are tremendous amounts of micronutrients which more than make up for it from a nutritional perspective.

    So do most sweetened cereals.
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    Sugar is sugar, whether from fructose, dextrose, or any other source. The difference is that, in fruit, there are tremendous amounts of micronutrients which more than make up for it from a nutritional perspective.

    So do most sweetened cereals.

    Mmmm--no. I have yet to see ellagic acid as an additive to sweetened cereal. Yet it is in certain fruits and is a potent inhibitor of angio-genesis.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
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    Sugar is sugar, whether from fructose, dextrose, or any other source. The difference is that, in fruit, there are tremendous amounts of micronutrients which more than make up for it from a nutritional perspective.

    So do most sweetened cereals.

    Mmmm--no. I have yet to see ellagic acid as an additive to sweetened cereal. Yet it is in certain fruits and is a potent inhibitor of angio-genesis.

    You're a one note musician as always. When you actually have something to show other than pseudoscience, reading into real science in a unique and incorrect way, and an empty avatar, let me know.

    In the meantime, I'll continue to get stronger, faster, and more muscular even though I'm in my 40s. Best of luck!

    ETA: And you probably should read the side of a cereal box sometime. But I know, that would conflict with your world view.
  • paleojoe
    paleojoe Posts: 442 Member
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    Eat the apple if you like... Eat the snickers bar if you like. If you eat too much of either you are gonna get fat. If you don't you won't.
  • mammamaurer
    mammamaurer Posts: 418 Member
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    it can be, like everything eles, if you eat too much of them yes... lol altho if you ask a Fruitarian they will tell you other wise

    also bacon:flowerforyou:
  • mammamaurer
    mammamaurer Posts: 418 Member
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    Of sugars, our digestive system can absorb only simple sugars, called monosaccharides. If you break the word monosaccharide into its pieces, mono-sacchar-ide, you'll see mono (one), sacchar (sugar), and ide (class of compounds). So, monosaccharides are a class of compounds composed of single sugars. This class includes fructose, glucose and galactose. These names indicate they are sugars by their -ose endings. These monosaccharides are C6H12O6 molecules of different configurations (thus the different names).

    Humans have evolved to identify fructose as the sweetest of all sugars. Fructose is so named because it is found in fruits, and both words derive from the Latin fructus meaning enjoyment or profit. Fruits develop mostly containing glucose, a less sweeter sugar. Part of the ripening process then converts some of the glucose into fructose, and thus, the fruit turns from a not so sweet, unripened fruit into a sweeter, ripe fruit. Thus, a ripe fruit appeals more to humans than unripened fruit.

    Our bodies metabolize fructose mostly through the liver. Glucose, for example, stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin, which stimulates cells to absorb glucose from the blood. Brain cells use glucose for energy, so a diabetic with low blood glucose can suffer a diabetic coma because the brain loses its energy source. However, the body can produce glucose, and people don't necessarily need to eat foods containing glucose.

    Anyway, there are other sugars called disaccharides and polysaccharides (di- means two, and poly- means many, and I'll let you figure out what class of compounds described by these words). Sucrose is what we commonly called "table sugar", and it's a disaccharide along with lactose found in milk. Polysaccharides is a class of compounds of structures of three or more simple sugars ... what we usually call starches, which we can digest, but also other compounds such as cellulose that we cannot digest.

    Basically, if we can't break a disaccharide or polysaccharide into simple sugars, we can't absorb them. This is one way our bodies tell them apart. We break down disaccharides and polysaccharides using enzymes specifically for that job that are called by the complex sugar they break up. For example, sucrase is the enzyme that separates sucrose into its fructose and glucose monosaccharides. We know this name is of an enzyme because of its ending -ase. A problem suffered by some people is often called "lactose intolerance", when more technically, it's "lactase deficiency". If you guess that lactase is the enzyme that breaks lactose (milk sugar) into its glucose and galactose monosaccharides, then you're right. When our bodies don't produce enough lactase to break down the sugar in milk, we do not digest it, and it passes into the large intestine, where bacteria eat it all up, producing gas in the process, and causing cramps, gas, diarrhea, etc. Nasty. When you see milk in the stores for "lactose intolerant" people, the maker has added lactase to it which has "digested" the lactose into its two sugars. It's partly digested milk, which might sound gross, but really isn't.

    High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is interesting. Corn syrup (at least in the US) is mostly glucose, and not so sweet. HFCS is produced by converting some of the glucose into fructose, thus making it sweeter to our tongues AND easier to digest than regular table sugar (which is a fructose-glucose disaccharide). This is because the sugars are already in their simple form and there's no need to break them down. So they're absorbed somewhat faster than, say, sucrose (table sugar).

    :love: so you took that class to :heart:

    bacon:flowerforyou:
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    Sugar is sugar, whether from fructose, dextrose, or any other source. The difference is that, in fruit, there are tremendous amounts of micronutrients which more than make up for it from a nutritional perspective.

    So do most sweetened cereals.

    Mmmm--no. I have yet to see ellagic acid as an additive to sweetened cereal. Yet it is in certain fruits and is a potent inhibitor of angio-genesis.

    "...You're a one note musician as always. When you actually have something to show other than pseudoscience, reading into real science in a unique and incorrect way, and an empty avatar, let me know..."

    Ad Hominem much? Do you consider a Harvard trained researcher as a performer of "pseudoscience"? Check out my thread on the inhibition of angio-genesis. I DO NOT read into science, sir. Your insults totally miss the mark.

    "...In the meantime, I'll continue to get stronger, faster, and more muscular even though I'm in my 40s. Best of luck!..."

    And in the meantime, I continue to get stronger, faster, and more muscular even though I'm in my 60's. :love:

    "...ETA: And you probably should read the side of a cereal box sometime. But I know, that would conflict with your world view..."

    I HAVE read them, sir---and they come up quite short compared to natural foods. My favorite parts are BHA and BHT. Seriously, I wouldn't want my dog to partake of those chemicals regularly (even though the government has ruled them GRAS--"generally recognized as safe") :sick: Best of luck to you, as well!
  • fatfudgery
    fatfudgery Posts: 449 Member
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    Refined sugar and natural sugar have some significant differences:

    Calories in a snickers bar ( 52.7 g)
    250 calories
    12 g of fat
    4.5 g saturated fat
    33 g total carbs
    1 g fiber
    27 g sugar
    120 mg sodium
    4 g protein

    Calories in an apple (medium, 182 g) Note: This apple is 3x heavier than a snickers bar
    95 calories
    0.3 g of fat
    0.1 g saturated fat
    25 g total carbs
    4.4 g fiber
    19 g sugar
    > 1/3 of an apple is about the weight of a whole snickers bar (so an equal amount of apple ~6.33 g of sugar)
    2 mg sodium
    0.5 g protein

    .
    Information taken from snickers.com and googling "calories in an apple"

    The point is that sure, sugar is sugar. However, natural sugar in a piece of fruit 1 g of fruit has 1 calorie. 1 g of sugar has 4 calories. One apple is likely to fill you up without adding significantly to any column but fiber and sugar. A snickers will add to every category and you might still be hungry after the small 52.7 gram bar.

    You're missing the point. I don't think anyone is arguing (at least I'm not) that a Snickers bar has the same nutritional profile as an apple, or that they're somehow interchangeable, or have the same amount of calories, or the same metabolic effect. The point is that the sugar in an apple is metabolically the same as the sugar in a candy bar.
  • mrdexter1
    mrdexter1 Posts: 356 Member
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    when dieting why would you eat anything that promotes the release of insulin ?

    kind of defeats the object of the diet to spike insulin whose job it is to store excess energy as fat !
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
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    Sugar is sugar, whether from fructose, dextrose, or any other source. The difference is that, in fruit, there are tremendous amounts of micronutrients which more than make up for it from a nutritional perspective.

    So do most sweetened cereals.

    Mmmm--no. I have yet to see ellagic acid as an additive to sweetened cereal. Yet it is in certain fruits and is a potent inhibitor of angio-genesis.

    "...You're a one note musician as always. When you actually have something to show other than pseudoscience, reading into real science in a unique and incorrect way, and an empty avatar, let me know..."

    Ad Hominem much? Do you consider a Harvard trained researcher as a performer of "pseudoscience"? Check out my thread on the inhibition of angio-genesis. I DO NOT read into science, sir. Your insults totally miss the mark.

    "...In the meantime, I'll continue to get stronger, faster, and more muscular even though I'm in my 40s. Best of luck!..."

    And in the meantime, I continue to get stronger, faster, and more muscular even though I'm in my 60's. :love:

    "...ETA: And you probably should read the side of a cereal box sometime. But I know, that would conflict with your world view..."

    I HAVE read them, sir---and they come up quite short compared to natural foods. My favorite parts are BHA and BHT. Seriously, I wouldn't want my dog to partake of those chemicals regularly (even though the government has ruled them GRAS--"generally recognized as safe") :sick: Best of luck to you, as well!

    You might want to duct tape yourself to your automobile seat too, because the NHTSA approves seat belts and air bags. And don't get me started on the FAA and the risk of dying in fiery aircraft disaster.

    Risk assessment. You're doing it wrong.
  • Akimajuktuq
    Akimajuktuq Posts: 3,037 Member
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    Sugar is sugar, whether from fructose, dextrose, or any other source. The difference is that, in fruit, there are tremendous amounts of micronutrients which more than make up for it from a nutritional perspective.

    So do most sweetened cereals.

    Mmmm--no. I have yet to see ellagic acid as an additive to sweetened cereal. Yet it is in certain fruits and is a potent inhibitor of angio-genesis.

    You're a one note musician as always. When you actually have something to show other than pseudoscience, reading into real science in a unique and incorrect way, and an empty avatar, let me know.

    In the meantime, I'll continue to get stronger, faster, and more muscular even though I'm in my 40s. Best of luck!

    ETA: And you probably should read the side of a cereal box sometime. But I know, that would conflict with your world view.

    Dude, you have no idea how ignorant you sound to someone reading through these threads.

    I'm getting stronger, faster and more muscular (for a woman) than before and I'm in my 40s too, but guess what? I couldn't do it while eating garbage. Does that make me somehow inferior to you, muscle man? I'm sure that you think so. Yet, I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to determine that healthy food is a better way to fuel one's body than the processed stuff that comes in a box so devoid of nutrients that they have to add a few back just to tout their product as "healthy", even if it's a complete lie.

    Good on you for eating anything you want and everything is perfect. That's not the way it is for ALL of us.

    PS. Oops, I am eating everything I want! Ribeye steak, mushrooms fried in butter, salads, bacon and eggs..... So, never mind.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    Options
    Sugar is sugar, whether from fructose, dextrose, or any other source. The difference is that, in fruit, there are tremendous amounts of micronutrients which more than make up for it from a nutritional perspective.

    So do most sweetened cereals.

    Mmmm--no. I have yet to see ellagic acid as an additive to sweetened cereal. Yet it is in certain fruits and is a potent inhibitor of angio-genesis.

    You're a one note musician as always. When you actually have something to show other than pseudoscience, reading into real science in a unique and incorrect way, and an empty avatar, let me know.

    In the meantime, I'll continue to get stronger, faster, and more muscular even though I'm in my 40s. Best of luck!

    ETA: And you probably should read the side of a cereal box sometime. But I know, that would conflict with your world view.

    Dude, you have no idea how ignorant you sound to someone reading through these threads.

    I'm getting stronger, faster and more muscular (for a woman) than before and I'm in my 40s too, but guess what? I couldn't do it while eating garbage. Does that make me somehow inferior to you, muscle man? I'm sure that you think so. Yet, I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to determine that healthy food is a better way to fuel one's body than the processed stuff that comes in a box so devoid of nutrients that they have to add a few back just to tout their product as "healthy", even if it's a complete lie.

    Good on you for eating anything you want and everything is perfect. That's not the way it is for ALL of us.

    PS. Oops, I am eating everything I want! Ribeye steak, mushrooms fried in butter, salads, bacon and eggs..... So, never mind.

    You sound angry. Try some counseling. I hear that it helps people like you.

    ETA: I'm curious about whether Paleolithic man had counselors, carrot cake, fudge, and potato chips.
  • paleojoe
    paleojoe Posts: 442 Member
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    So I try to eat a couple apples a day and some other fruit at times, but I notice that I'm usually over (sometimes way over) my sugar allowance for the day and the majority of it is from the fruit. I understand that sugar ultimately turns into fat so I'm wondering if fruit sugar is bad for you and/or will make you fat. And if its not, what makes fruit sugar ok?

    Not sure if this was asked but, is it only sugar that is over or is it sugar AND overall calories that you went over?

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