Fructose can be both, friend and foe. It all depends on how you consume it. Be it the whole fruit, fruit juice or in the form of high fructose corn syrup, the from and amount of fructose you consume defines whether it will be healthy or toxic to your body.
Fructose
Fructose is the source of sugar in fruit. You can find it in fruit, fruit juice, maple syrup, honey, table sugar and of course High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). HCFS is a liquid form of sugar and the most common form is HCFS 55 which means it is 45% glucose and 55% fructose. To give you an idea of how sweet fructose is, if table sugar is listed at 100 on the sweet scale, glucose is a level of 73 and fructose is at 173. That means fructose is 75% more sweet than table sugar. Surprisingly, in the standard american diet, the most common sources of fructose are not fruit, but processed foods. HFCS is a cheap alternative to sucrose (table sugar) and is used in almost every processed food. It is found in non-diet soda, candy, most yogurts, salad dressings, granola bars, juice, breakfast cereals, baked goods and coffee creamers just to name a few. In fact the food industry has created something called the “Bliss Point” that essentially maximizes the amount of sugar that is put into every processed food. The more sugar in a product, the more likely you are to buy it again. That’s just how our brain is wired.
Fiber
It’s important to touch on fiber in regard to fructose. Fiber has a number of benefits, but one of them is, when combined with sugar, it results in less sugar being absorbed into your bloodstream. There are 2 types of fiber, soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber remains unchanged as it passes through the colon and provides food for the bacteria in your gut, the microbiome. Insoluble fiber also remains undigested throughout the digestive tract, however it can’t be digested by the microbiome. Instead, this type of fiber attracts water and is responsibile for…keeping you regular, if you know what I mean. Fiber helps to slow down digestion and decreases the amount of sugar that is absorbed. This helps to keep blood sugar levels more stable and helps you to feel full longer. Processed foods typically have most of the fiber removed so eating these types of foods lead to blood sugar spikes and crashes.,
Fruit
Fruit contains both fiber and fructose. When you eat a piece of fruit, the fiber in the fruit slows the absorption of the fructose. It’s important to know that fructose is processed by the liver. Your liver can process only so much fructose at one time, such as that from a piece of fruit. However, it can become overwhelmed by a sudden boost of large amounts of fructose. The more a fruit is processed, say into juice, the more fructose that is delivered to the liver. For instance, one 12 oz glass of unsweetened orange juice has about 150 calories including 9 tsp of sugar… the same as a 12 oz can of coke. If a person drinks a 12 oz glass of orange juice every day that would equal 3,285 tsp of sugar per year, that is close to 70 cups or 53,000 calories. An orange only has about 60 calories which means there is 3 times more calories in a glass of orange juice than in an orange. In addition, the fiber in the orange will help lower the amount of sugar absorbed from that piece of fruit, whereas almost all of the sugar in the juice will hit your bloodstream.
Fructose and Fatty Liver
Unfortunately, almost every processed food has some form of sugar in it, most commonly, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Because HFCS is easily absorbed, large amounts of sugar are delivered to the liver all at once.The glucose will cause a spike in your blood sugar and insulin will then be released from the pancreas to help move the glucose out of the blood and into your cells. Unfortunately, fructose doesn’t partner with anything and so it is processed directly by the liver. For a long time fructose was considered to be a healthy alternative to glucose because it didn’t affect blood glucose or insulin levels. However we now know that isn’t the case.
Because the liver can’t process that much fructose at one time, it packages it up and stores it as fat in the liver, what we now call Fatty Liver (FL). The same is true for alcohol so high levels of fructose essentially have the same effect on your liver as alcohol. Chronic fatty liver can lead to inflammation of the liver cells, what is known as Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH). Steato means fat and hepatitis means inflammation of the liver. Chronic, long term NASH can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver. There are multiple studies that show a diet high in HFCS results in higher levels of fatty liver and NASH. Therefore, eating highly processed foods that are loaded with high fructose corn syrup can damage your liver just as alcohol does.
When it comes to any kind of sugar it’s important that you Eat With Intention. Every time you consume sugar or any type of carbohydrate, you must consider how it will affect your blood sugar levels. If you eat something that contains sugar, best to combine it with fiber so less of the sugar is absorbed. Always try to eat sugar in its most natural form, such as fruit, and not extracted in the form of juice. So a couple of good rules of thumb, always try to consume sugar with fiber and NEVER, and I mean NEVER, drink your calories.