Sugar from fruit...is it bad?

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  • south001
    south001 Posts: 19
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    Fruit is gods gift ;)

    it is like an engine oil for the body, and yes the body burns it all up so its fine as long as its not 10 oranges a day, fruit juice has no fiber when bottled so its just sugar water.
  • south001
    south001 Posts: 19
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    I have never met an obese person who eats a lot of fruit. Just saying....
    You have to watch the amount of fruit you eat if you are diabetic. But if you are not I don't think it is a problem. I wouldn't take the word of MFP members only thou. Ask Weight Watchers for example :)
    exactly, arent we meant to eat 5 serves of fruit a day?
    fruit wont make anyone fat :D
  • LishaCole
    LishaCole Posts: 245
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    I have never met an obese person who eats a lot of fruit
    I saw one on TV, trying to justify her weight in terms of a low metabolism while eating hundreds of calories of fruit several times a day. She didn't count those calories because they were "healthy".
    The sugar in fruit is often in complex with fiber and phytonutrients - this increases digestion time and slows release into the blood stream. This slow release is much better than large "blood sugar spike" from eating refined sugar.
    The sugar in fruit is in solution and absorbs rapidly. That's why the glycemic index of a water melon is higher than white sugar and that of a pineapple is the same as white sugar - http://www.amsa.org/healingthehealer/GlycemicIndex.pdf - so the same blood sugar spike. If it's lower it's because there's a lot of fructose and less glucose - fructose is not the glucose of blood sugar so doesn't register on the GI test.

    Makes me laugh how people start from received wisdom that "fruit is healthy" then magic up fake scientific arguments to try and support that idea. Living 56deg north of the equator I wouldn't expect to encounter a whole lot of fruit in nature, so regard it with some suspicion ;-)


    Energy storage molecules in plant cells are most commonly sequestered in vacuoles/vesicles which in turn are encapsulated by a lipid membrane and cell wall. As this involves a lot of nonhomogenous fiber, lipids, and protein. I would in no way consider this in "solution". Not all fruits are equally healthy, obviously. I suggested healthy fruit choices, I apologize for being vague. My personal favourites - for an decent ratio of nutrients to sugar - include berries and grapefruit.

    I agree that a "solution' of fruit nutrients, such as apple juice, would not be an ideal nutritional choice.

    I too consider my degree in biochemistry and cell biology to be "magic". =D .
  • Jaxter888
    Jaxter888 Posts: 21 Member
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    SIGH...... unfortunately, its really not as simple as what general public think is common science... unfortunately, things just fall under umbrellas.... a calorie ISNT just a calorie, not all proteins are created equal, not all transfats are bad and all not sugars are created equally.... so people just confuse propaganda with science....

    Fruits have MANY positives, but this topic is asking if the sugar is bad....i'm guessing its on about its impact on fat gain/loss.

    As mentioned here, the sugar from fruit is called fructose (fruit isnt the only source btw)...

    Fructose is VERY different from other sugars.... and is unique in that it can ONLY be processed, stored and/or used by the liver (your body's natural nuclear power plant).... to cut a long story short and to leave out the big sciency words.... basically when fructose enters the body, it goes through your intestines and passes straight to your liver.... your liver will do 2 things first... it will decide a) can i use this, b) can i store this..... 9/10 times, computer says NO!.... because you have plenty of other fuel its happy to use, and its glycogen is most likely full already... so not wanting to be wasteful, it'll just send that fructose straight for processing and into lipid (fat) stores!.... so, generally speaking, its best to have fructose when glycogen stores IN YOUR LIVER will be depleted (ie after a long fast, like in the morning after sleeping).

    But here's the shocker ok... fruit is NOT the main source of fructose... just because they share the same first 3 letters!.... i know it gets most ppl... things like corn syrup, maple syrup, honey and brown sugar to name a few are much higher in fructose than fruit !!!

    So in summary, try to limit your fructose to the morning or after something like a marathon (though i'd never recommend marathons as a regular activity unless you actually want to weaken your heart!!!... but that's a different story) .... or similar low-medium intensity endurance activity for a good few hours like hiking maybe.

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