Eating fruit for health

366to266
366to266 Posts: 473 Member
in Food and Nutrition
As all around me are continually telling me to eat fruit, and as a society in general, and the NHS guidelines etc are constantly pushing the idea that fruit is healthy and indeed essential to health, it was interesting to read this summary by addiction expert Gillian Riley.

(The sugar contained in fruit is fructose.)

Richard J. Johnson MD has been conducting research, funded by the US National Institutes of Health, on the causes of high blood pressure since the late 1980s. With over 500 papers published, he could know more than anyone what fructose does in our bodies.

According to Johnson, the component in sugar that causes problems is the fructose molecule:



Rats fed a diet containing fructose don't gain weight if calories are restricted, but they do develop metabolic syndrome: high blood pressure, systemic inflammation, insulin resistance, bad cholesterol ratio and fatty liver disease.




Fructose disrupts our appetite, increasing hunger because it makes us resistant to the appetite hormone leptin.




When fructose is metabolized in the body, it has a unique ability to deplete energy production in every cell, and as a result to cause the cells to accumulate fat instead of releasing it.


There are two more interesting findings from this work. One is that some people don't absorb fructose, so even when they eat it, it doesn't get metabolized and so this chain of events doesn't occur. They are all those dreadful people who eat tons of rubbish, don't put on an ounce of extra fat, and have limitless energy. (The undigested fructose, however, does end up in the intestines, and promotes the growth of bad, "pathogenic" bacteria, leading to other kinds of problems later.)

The other finding is practically the opposite; that many people manufacture fructose from starches. So perhaps they ate wheat, for example, which doesn't contain fructose, but their bodies create fructose from that, leading to the same problems.

Dr Johnson says that fructose isn't just a calorie; it can be biologically active in a way that can lead to metabolic syndrome and autoimmune disease... He points out that about 4 per cent of Americans were obese back in the 1900's, and diabetes occurred in 1 or 2 out of every 1,000 people. It's now thought that diabetes will soon be seen in 1 in 3, and I believe obesity rates are currently 2 in 3.

Still think fruit is "healthy"?

Replies

  • nomeejerome
    nomeejerome Posts: 2,616 Member
    Yes. I still think fruit is healthy, will continue to eat it and not be scared away from it.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    yes...and sugar does not scare me ..just eat less and work out and stay within your calorie/macro goal...you will be fine...
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,209 Member
    Dr. Johnson needs to add more pieces to his Lego set.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    Ah, yes. Funding by the NIH these days. For more fun with how science is taking a back seat to policy, take a look at the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The fox really has taken over the hen house there. Politics and science are such a ****ty mix and it is getting hit by both sides of the aisle.
  • curlyloca
    curlyloca Posts: 81 Member
    I've never seen an obese person who's diet consists of only fruit.
  • danasings
    danasings Posts: 8,218 Member
    Oh, FFS. What's the agenda here, now? What is the title of the book and/or the name of the "breakthrough diet plan?" The no-fruit diet?

    Yes, it's fruit making everyone fat. That's it! You have cracked the code, well done!!

    Again, FFS. :grumble: :huh:
  • jonsey_s
    jonsey_s Posts: 222
    Yes.

    I'm not a rat, fed fructose in a cage.
  • honsi
    honsi Posts: 210 Member
    Yes.

    I'm not a rat, fed fructose in a cage.

    Exactly.

    Fruit isn't just made of sugar. It contains vitamins, minerals, fibre, anti oxidants and important enzymes. The fructose in different varieties in fruit also varies quite a bit.
    Just eat a balanced diet.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    So ... it was my fruit smoothies and not Hamburger Helper, 2,000-calorie restaurant meals and lack of activity???

    Problem solved!
  • honsi
    honsi Posts: 210 Member
    So ... it was my fruit smoothies and not Hamburger Helper, 2,000-calorie restaurant meals and lack of activity???

    Problem solved!

    yeah I bet you feel foolish now...egg on your face.:tongue:
  • scottaworley
    scottaworley Posts: 871 Member
    Fructose is not bad for you. Fruit is good for you because of its fiber and vitamin content. Anyone who says otherwise is a quack.
    /thread
  • apittmanrn
    apittmanrn Posts: 200 Member
    So ... it was my fruit smoothies and not Hamburger Helper, 2,000-calorie restaurant meals and lack of activity???

    Problem solved!


    This x 100.
  • litatura
    litatura Posts: 569 Member
    So, I should choose between scurvy and diabetes?
  • FerretBuellerr
    FerretBuellerr Posts: 468 Member
    I'm never giving up fruit. I can and have weaned off almost all processed sugars, but I'm not ever getting rid of all sugars in general. I will go insane :brokenheart:

    Besides, I think processed sugars eaten in excess is what causes people to be overweight, not eating fruit. Fruit has other nutritional value, but processed sugar foods....not as much
  • lannenac
    lannenac Posts: 1
    I've gotten to the point where I ignore all diet advice from such authors. Everybody completely contradicts each other, and all claim to be scientifically legit.

    Processed foods are poison. Unprocessed foods are poison.
    Carbs are unhealthy, eat meat. Meat is unhealthy, eat carbs.
    Cooked food is bad for you, eat only raw food. Raw food is bad for you, cook everything.
    Eat only alkaline foods! No, no, eat only acidic foods!
    Eat fruits only, nothing else. Don't eat fruits, they are killing you!

    Sick and tired of all the B.S. I just focus on calories, my macros, exercise and the hell with anything else.
  • Enchiladas123
    Enchiladas123 Posts: 3 Member
    Yes.

    I'm not a rat, fed fructose in a cage.

    Wasn't that a Smashing Pumpkins song?

    Despite all my rage
    I'm still just a rat fed fructose in a cage.
  • lucystacy71
    lucystacy71 Posts: 290 Member
    And to think I'm sitting here eating a piece of fresh canteloupe while I'm reading this.
  • SPBROOKS68
    SPBROOKS68 Posts: 561 Member
    I am not a RAT!:huh:
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    Okay, this is serious business!! If you believe what it says in that article about fruit to be true, then phone your local zoo and warn the zookeeper not to give fruit to any of the other primate species either.

    Because guess what, primates eat fruit, and humans are primates. If it's bad for humans it's bad for all the other primates too.
  • Contrarian
    Contrarian Posts: 8,138 Member
    I love fruit, too! Hooray for fruit! Everyone eat fruit!
  • MyaPapaya75
    MyaPapaya75 Posts: 3,143 Member
    fruit is healthy in moderation just like anything else....however if you have diabetes you do need to watch it more closely...as a former type 2 diabetic I couldn't sit and eat 20 grapes while that may not seem like many to most but for me it would shoot my glucose into the 200's...its all about the individual....a few days ago I saw a post encouraging a woman to eat as much fruit as possible disregarding the fact the Dr told her to eat 2 small fruits per day...nearly everyone on the post told her that her Physician was out of her mind....and that no Dr would tell someone to eat only 2 small fruits per day...again people need to consider the individual with all cases ...some of us are "snowflakes" as much as I hate the term....I am one.
  • tifferz_91
    tifferz_91 Posts: 282 Member
    Oh.

    *continues sipping organic banana pineapple mango chia green smoothie*
  • glin23
    glin23 Posts: 460 Member
    smh. If we were talking just fructose with nothing else, I'd give it more of a thought but no.
  • AbbsyBabbsy
    AbbsyBabbsy Posts: 184 Member
    That's one of the things about the internet, isn't it? You can always find validation for whatever belief you already hold.
  • Ange_
    Ange_ Posts: 324 Member
    Fruit is not just straight fruitose. It contains alot of fibre and very important vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. It has some of the highest good nutrients in it of any food (after green leafy vegetables). The fibre slows the absorbion of fruitose so the effect you describe from the paper doesn't actually apply except perhaps if you were drinking juice with all the fibre removed.
    Fruit has many anticancer properties. So if you decide to avoid it you are really missing out and possibly affecting your long term health. That is why it is recommended by all government food guidelines!
  • Athena98501
    Athena98501 Posts: 716 Member
    There are two more interesting findings from this work. One is that some people don't absorb fructose, so even when they eat it, it doesn't get metabolized and so this chain of events doesn't occur. They are all those dreadful people who eat tons of rubbish, don't put on an ounce of extra fat, and have limitless energy. (The undigested fructose, however, does end up in the intestines, and promotes the growth of bad, "pathogenic" bacteria, leading to other kinds of problems later.)

    You miss understand fructose malabsorption. Nothing hangs around in the intestines of those who have it, and have consumed a significant amount of fructose. Everything they've eaten blows through them as though they've overdosed on laxatives they didn't need to begin with. Just an fyi.
  • Deroboy
    Deroboy Posts: 6 Member
    The other finding is practically the opposite; that many people manufacture fructose from starches. So perhaps they ate wheat, for example, which doesn't contain fructose, but their bodies create fructose from that, leading to the same problems.

    Glucose is converted to fructose by everyone as a part of glycolysis: the metabolic pathway through which all cells derive energy from glucose.

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