Freshly squeezed juice is really not better than fruit! This group of people should pay special attention!

ask

Is fructose the sugar in fruit?

At first glance, fructose means the sugar in fruit. But is this really the case? What exactly is fructose?

Nutritionist Zhang Xinyue from the Department of Clinical Nutrition at West China Hospital of Sichuan University will give you a detailed explanation today!

/ Too long to read version/

● Natural fructose mainly comes from fruits and honey;

● It is recommended to eat 200g~350g of fruit every day;

● It is not recommended to use freshly squeezed juice instead of fruit;

● Gout/hyperuric acid patients should avoid foods high in fructose, such as honey;

● It is not recommended to consume any processed foods containing fructose.

/ Let's get into the official science /

We usually think that anything that tastes sweet is sugar.

In fact, the big family of "sugars" is divided into:

In these different categories

Fructose plays different roles

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In nutrition, sugar belongs to "carbohydrates" and is roughly divided into:

So fructose itself is the simplest type of carbohydrate that cannot be broken down.

The sugar we refer to in our daily lives is more often "refined sugar" (that is, sugar purified from natural foods). Brown sugar, white sugar, corn syrup, crystalline fructose (purified fructose), and high fructose corn syrup (fructose + glucose) are all refined sugars.

Although they often appear on food ingredient lists, we need to reduce our intake of these "sugars".

Because they have a greater impact on blood sugar, they also increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc.

In order to avoid the risks of refined sugar, "sugar-free" and "low-sugar" foods have emerged.

According to GB28050-2011

For prepackaged liquid foods:

Sugar content ≤ 0.5g/100ml

Can claim to be sugar-free

Sugar content ≤ 5g/100ml

Can claim to be low in sugar

The "sugar" here refers to added sugar, which includes monosaccharides or disaccharides added to food by manufacturers, chefs or consumers.

“Refined sugar” and “added sugar” can mostly overlap.

"Sweetener" refers to a substance that gives food a sweet taste. Naturally occurring fructose can also act as a sweetener in food.

The recently popular "sugar substitute" is actually "sweetener", which is mainly classified as follows:

Let's see

Sweetness comparison of common refined sugars/sweeteners

*The sweetness in the table is based on the sweetness of refined sugar/sweeteners compared to sucrose of the same amount

Sucrose sweetness = 1

A little bit of sweetener can make food sweet enough, especially non-nutritive sweeteners.

*For example, aspartame is 150-200 times sweeter than sucrose and only needs to be added in small amounts, so the calories are negligible .

Speaking of "aspartame", it has been the "big brother" among sweeteners for many years.

However, it has caused controversy due to its potential risks:

Not recommended for patients with phenylketonuria

(Aspartame is broken down in the body to produce phenylalanine)

Most people can eat small amounts

Image source: Photo Network

If you are really worried, you can consider erythritol, a rising star in the sweetener world. Current research shows that it is relatively safe.

Although sweeteners reduce the use of refined sugar, long-term consumption of foods with sweeteners will reduce people's sensitivity to sweetness. Be careful to consume more sugar in other foods!

So to summarize:

Fructose is a monosaccharide and a natural sweetener/nutritional sweetener. However, purified fructose becomes refined sugar/added sugar in processed foods.

Fructose is the sweetest natural sugar known so far and is often used in sugary beverages such as soft drinks and fruit juice drinks.

● Good taste

● High thermogenic efficiency (i.e. high sweetness, low added amount, low calories)

● Less likely to cause tooth decay and less likely to raise blood sugar

About fructose

You may also want to ask these~

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1.Since fructose is so good, can we eat it without worry?

First, the latest animal experiments have clarified the mechanism by which fructose increases obesity and promotes the progression of colon cancer .

Moreover, studies have confirmed that fructose intake will affect the secretion of endocrine hormones and thus lead to obesity - fructose will not make you feel too full, but will make you have an appetite to eat a lot of other foods.

Fructose is mainly metabolized in the liver. Long-term and excessive intake of fructose will increase the burden on the liver , causing a large amount of fat to accumulate in the liver, further causing fatty liver.

Image source: Photo Network

2. Fructose is so scary, do you still dare to eat fruit?

It’s not that exaggerated! Although fruits contain fructose, they also contain a lot of dietary fiber and other beneficial ingredients. It is still recommended that you eat 200g-350g of fruit a day!

Not juice not juice not juice!

*It is difficult for a person to eat 4 apples at a time, but blending them into juice is equivalent to sending the fructose in the 4 apples into the liver at once in a very short period of time (without any feeling of fullness), and the liver can only be overwhelmed and convert the excess fructose into fat.

Compared with fruits, we should pay more attention to processed foods!

Taking happy water as an example, every 100ml contains 10.6g of carbohydrates, and the top three main ingredients in the ingredient list are water, fructose syrup and white sugar.

We assume that happy water uses the most commonly used F55 fructose syrup (55% fructose), and the ratio of fructose syrup to white sugar is 1:1.

It can be calculated that drinking a 500ml bottle of happy water will ingest 27.825g of fructose .

The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)" recommends that daily sugar intake should not exceed 50 grams, and it is best to control it below 25 grams. After drinking 500 ml of happy water, the fructose alone exceeds the standard!

3. Will consuming fructose cause an increase in uric acid?

The reason why honey is not recommended for patients with gout/hyperuric acid is that it contains fructose.

Fructose can induce uric acid production, inhibit uric acid excretion and indirectly promote obesity and visceral fat accumulation.

Therefore, patients with gout/hyperuric acid also need to avoid fruit juice intake!

4. I heard that there is a kind of "fructose" that can help with bowel movements?

There is a kind of oligofructose among oligosaccharides. Except that they are both called "sugar", they have nothing to do with fructose.

Oligofructose exists in fruits and vegetables. It cannot be digested and absorbed. It can only be utilized and fermented by colon probiotics to produce short-chain fatty acids, which have the function of regulating human intestinal flora .

As a water-soluble dietary fiber, oligofructose can:

● Increase intestinal motility

● Adsorbs lipids and bile acids in the intestine

● Promote stool excretion

It not only indirectly reduces the absorption of cholesterol and fat, but also can treat functional constipation.

Health tips about fructose

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