Half of your plate should include fruits and vegetables. That’s the latest recommendation for consuming fruits and vegetables. Why do you think it is recommended? It’s because they are bad. Of course not!
Everyone knows that fruits are healthy… they are the default “health foods.”
Most of them are also very convenient… some people call them “nature’s fast food” because they are so easily portable and easy to prepare.
However… many people have challenged that stating that they have lot of sugar!
“Sugar” is Bad… But it Depends on The Context. There is a lot of evidence that added sugar is harmful (1, 2, 3).
This includes table sugar (sucrose) and high fructose corn syrup, which are both about half glucose, half fructose.
The main reason they are harmful, is because of the negative metabolic effects of fructose when consumed in large amounts.
Many people now believe that because added sugars are bad, the same must apply to fruits, which also contain fructose.
This is where we need some clarification. Although fructose is only harmful in large amounts but it is almost impossible to overeat fructose by eating fruit.
Essential Point: There is a lot of evidence that large amounts of fructose can cause harm when consumed in excess. However, this depends on the dosage and context and does not apply to fruit.
Fruits are loaded with fiber, water and have significant chewing resistance.
For this reason, most fruits (like apples) take a while to eat and digest, meaning that the fructose hits the liver slowly.
Plus, fruit is incredibly fulfilling. Most people will feel satisfied after one large apple, which contains 23 grams of sugar, 13 of which are fructose (4).
Compare that to a 16oz bottle of Coke… which contains 52 grams of sugar, 30 of which are fructose (5).
A single apple would make you feel quite full, automatically making you eat less of other foods. However, a bottle of soda has remarkably poor effects on satiety and people don’t compensate for the sugar in sodas by eating less of other foods (6).
When fructose hits your liver fast and in large amounts (soda and a candy bar) then that can have disastrous consequences… but when it hits your liver slowly and in small amounts (an apple) then your body can easily take care of the fructose.
SUMMARY: Sugars in fruits are not bad because you just can not eat too much all at once and you also get water,fiber, phytonutrients in a fruit that you won’t get from muffin or coke or donuts. Fruits can fill you up and helps you not eat other higher calorie food and helps you control calorie intake.
