Is sugar in fruit bad for you? Sugar content in fruits

Fruit is called nature’s sweet for a reason: It’s the largest source of sugar in minimally processed whole foods. So, when the low-carb diet gained popularity, fruit was targeted by discerning arbiters looking for a nutritional edge. We know Fruits are a good source of valuable vitamins and mineralsbut many people wonder: Is the sugar in fruit bad for you?

Read on to better understand the sugar in your fruit and whether it might be a concern.

Is sugar in fruit bad for you?

In short, no, you probably shouldn’t eliminate that daily banana. Experts want you to consume less sugarbut you should try to cut adding sugar, not the natural sugars from fruit and dairy. This is because natural sugars also contain fibre, which slows down the absorption of this sugar by your body and therefore helps balance blood sugar levels.

Instead of chomping down on fruit, try cutting back on sugary drinks like sodas, lattes, energy drinks and sports drinks, as well as refined carbs like cookies, cakes and candies. Compared to some of these sugar bombs, fruit’s sugar content doesn’t come close – and it’s a real, nutritionally superior food.

However, moderation is key because sugar in fruit is still sugar.

Can you eat too much sugar from fruit?

Sometimes. The natural sugar in fruit is better than refined sugar, but it’s still possible to overdo it: “For people who have a severe sugar addiction or who want to lose weight, you can really overdo it [fruit] if you eat them all day,” he says Keri GlassmanMS, RD, CDN.

Researchers like Dr. Robert Lustig link fructose with “Alcohol without the buzz.” The basic argument: Glucose can be used by any tissue in the body, but only the liver is responsible for processing fructose, which, remember, is the main source of sugar in fruit.

When dealing with fructose, the liver has two options: It can convert the fructose into glucose to feed other tissues, or it can convert the fructose into fat and store it. If you regularly eat more than enough calories, guess what choice your liver makes? That’s right: It will store excess fructose as fat.

This is not good because over time, this fat can build up in the liver and increase your risk for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Is the sugar in fruit the same as regular sugar?

The sticky sweetness you get from an apple crisp comes from fructose, the main (but not the only) sugar in fruit. Fruit contains a combination of sugars – for example, a Apple contains 6 percent fructose and 3 percent sucrose by weight. Sucrose is what we commonly know as table sugar and is made up of fructose and glucose units (molecules) joined together.

Once consumed, you can digest both sucrose and fructose into glucose, which your brain and body use as fuel—and it’s the glucose that ends up in your bloodstream and raises your blood sugar. While sucrose can be quickly digested into glucose to raise blood sugar, fructose is more complicated.

Pure fructose it does not raise blood sugar much, making it a popular sweetener for diabetics. Of course, that doesn’t give him a free pass.

When should you avoid eating fruit?

The evidence against fructose gathered by well-intentioned researchers such as Dr. Lustig is partly why you may encounter people with saccharophobia. But keep in mind that even Dr. Lustig, who continues to call sugar “toxic,” said New York Times he I wouldn’t recommend cutting fruit.

Basically, if you’re worried about your sugar intake, you might want to consider avoiding fruit when it’s highly processed—that apple juice isn’t the same as eating an apple, and you may not be getting the same ratio of beneficial fiber compared to the Apple.

Also, be careful with dried fruit. Dried fruit contains fiber, but in a much smaller volume, which makes overeating more likely.

How much sugar is in fruit?

Still interested in looking for lower sugar fruits? Here’s a chart to help you figure out how much sugar is in 20 popular fruits:

*Graph is shown from least sugar to most sugar per gram.