Is natural sugar from fruit just as ‘bad’ as added sugar?

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[marcmarc]

No matter how much sugar is in a fruit, you're body will tell you to stop eating it, if the fruit is in its natural form. For example, nobody ever ate an apple and said "I think I'll have 20 more apples." But... many people do have a cookie and eat 20 more.

[charlesdidonato]

I am 65 and have been eating fruits all my life. I have no intention of avoiding fruit. Common sense must rule your diet. Too much of anything is usually not good for you. Stay away from fried foods, fast foods, tobacco and alcohol and you will be fine. Exercise, especially strength training is key. Stay safe!

[cryogen]

The day we can look at what an average American consumes over a week and say, honestly, "The best way to improve your diet would be to eat fewer apples, " we'll be a much healthier country.

[AntonioCabarr]

Telling people that natural sugar from fruits a whole source of food is equally as bad as refine sugar is just wrong.

[craigzilla]

If you replace ALL processed sugars with fruit as your dessert every time and avoid soft drinks and juices, you'll feel so much better. I go for berries mostly, but also bananas sometimes.

[jamesedward]

eat fruit, red meat, pasta and or sauce, fried chicken, pizza, burgers, bar-b-que, chinese food, salt, french fries. Don't drink beer, wine, whiskey, soda. Don't smoke weed or tobacco. Don't spend a lot of time in the sun. Routinely fast and on days that you do eat, eat only one small meal. Don't sit. Make sure to exert yourself with exercise on most days. Don't stay up late or sleep too late, don't watch TV or look at a computer screen. Stay off your cell phone. 

Then you can live to be 150.

Q. Why would you want to?

[paulira]

As others have already mentioned, the fiber content of fruits is one of the reasons why the sugar in natural fruits can have a different impact on blood sugar levels after eating them. The other reason, and maybe just as important as the fiber content, are the specific secondary metabolites present in fruits such as phenolic acids, flavonoids and other potent polyphenols.

[thewordistruth]

I'm overweight by a lot. I'm working on losing the weight, and I am cutting out added sugars: ice-cream, cakes, cookies, chocolate, chips, etc. I am removing multiple pieces of fruit a day, but I do still plan on eating at least one piece of fruit a day, maybe two if it's fresh berries, but honestly my weight gain has never been because of apples, bananas, mangos, pears, grapes, cherries or any fruit. It's because I freaking eat a ton of ice-cream, cookies, and candies. I've been known to put fruit on my ice-cream. I think God meant fruit to be our dessert in life. When in doubt between Ben & Jerry's ice-cream and an apple: I think I should eat the apple cause no joke, I'll never want to eat broccoli in place of ice-cream!

[cr-itlh]

my grandfather is 87 years old ...his fav food is fruits he eats fruits everyday...i made him watch this video...he laughed his ass off

[watcherworld]

I eat a reasonable amount of fruits not because they are good or bad for me, but because after going on a low carb diet, I was finally able to taste the fruits, and they taste pretty good.

[dadevi]

I can't take anyone seriously who says grapes are fake fruits. The history of growing grapes is far older than most of the fruits on the market today.

[eriksau]

My understsnding of this is that one important difference between sugars in fruit and refined sugars is that the former contains fibers also. Which is why refined sugar is so much more deteimental to our health. Sugar was added into foods in order to maintain/enhance flavour while at the same time making the food cheaper, so that more people could afford to eat sufficiently. And that sugar was refined sugar. We're eating infinitely more sugar overall than we ever did, and most of it is refined, so without fibers. That is supposedly the main reason for the widespread obesity in society.

[rugby_jtizzle]

As much as I get this I will never give up my mangoes!! I also firmly believe that natural foods even if high in fructose (like the mango and fig) are not detrimental to your health if you don't over do it and don't have a sensitivity to it (like an allergy, etc). If I eat a lot of fruit, I still feel the need to stop. Between fiber, chewing, water content, etc, my brain goes "no more" after a certain point. If I try to eat a lot of cookies, brain will ask for more cookies (dopamine, lack of satiety, little to no chewing, etc), and it feels like a craving (which is still dopamine response). My body does not adversely react to fruit but it will to overconsuming processed sugar in any form or anything else processed that I enjoy like chips. I feel great eating fruits and feel like crap if I have more than 1-2 cookies (small cookies). As much as I believe this research is good work, I also feel that if people are going to take this info to bastardize fruit to create more fear around healthy and whole food due to "fructose content" vs solving the real problem of all the processed BS on our shelves and being chronically over stressed, we still have a huge problem. I have never heard of anyone becoming obese from eating too many mangoes or any fruit vs someone becoming obese eating too much processed food of any type. I know many people in my industry (sports and fitness, performance) who learn a small thing about metabolism or nutrition, then spin it all out of whack to promote their extreme dietary BS and I HATE it. I've had other trainers tell me this same crap about "not eating fruit because it contains fructose, and fructose is sugar, blah blah blah." In fact, these same trainers made such extreme dietary recs that barked up this exact tree that sent one of their clients to the ER with kidney issues if I remember correctly. Not saying that's what you're doing here, but just making a point.

[edisongjoni]

80% of my diet is fruit, I look half of my age, and I haven't been sick in 20 years

[lazarus]

I see a few takeaways here:

- Don't drink fruit beverages
- Don't eat foods with high fructose corn syrup / lots of added sugar (sucrose)
- Don't eat dried fruit
- Consume fruit in moderation, because too much of any one thing can be bad

[jimivey]

I had arthritis for 30 years. Four years ago, I gave up added sugars and my pain greatly diminished. Two years ago I gave up grains and my pain disappeared.

[pinkqueenscookie]

Please do not get scared of fruits. We all know very well no one out here is getting freaking fat and diabetic from unprocessed fruits. 😂 I’m going to enjoy dates, mangoes, apples, and continue to thrive. Stay away from those cupcakes, cookies, and fake candies. Fruit isn’t going to hurt you unless you are having something like dried fruit w/more sugar.

[RK-cyny]

Dates and Figs are some of the best foods out there. They literally have all the vitamins and minerals the body needs and fibre.

[mdjak]

50 to 60 years ago I attended Weight Watcher meetings with my dad. I was about 10 years old, he 45, 6’, 250. As the lady leading the meeting was speaking she asked if there were any questions. My father raised his hand and asked if it was okay to chew gum. She said (fictitious name), Mr. Smith, I don’t think chewing a pack or two a day of gum is what caused you to weigh 250 pounds. Yes, you can chew gum, just not by the case. I don’t worry about eating fruit.

[Desh_bhakt]

Misleading information, I have fixed my insulin resistance just by eating 4-5 types of fruits everyday in my breakfast.
The fructose in fruits is not similar to the processed or artificial sugar, owing to high amount of fiber in the fruits, this fructose actually does not spike the insulin, rather it is not absorbed by the liver, the fiber prevents this. Rather the fructose in it becomes the food of good bacterias in our gut.
Long story short - If consumed in moderate quantities and if you don't have issues with digesting the fibre, the fruits can be extremely beneficial for us. Also don't forget the higher amounts of anti-oxidants in them.
P. S. - Pls don't consume fruits juices as they are devoid of fibre and can spike your insulin like anything!!