http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/david-gilllespie—big-fat-lies/3906630
Fascinating listening to the points in this discussion that relate to fructose. The high levels of fructose in our food now are very recent and our body has little way of dealing with it.
Fructose isn’t even classified in the Hi/Lo Glycaemic Index so something that is pure fructose can be on the shop shelves with a 0 Glycaemic Index. They even add fructose to products to LOWER the Glycaemic Index. Yet fructose is the ultimate sugar that our body can’t handle. The worst!
Fructose is probably the cause of much of the gut aches that we are now getting in epidemic proportions.
Our fruit has been bred to be much sweeter and larger than the wild varieties. With our abundant very cheap supply of fruit in Queensland it is only too easy for us to fill up with heaps of fructose and run ourselves into gut and weight problems.
The list of foods that are highest in fructose is:
Here is the list of high fructose foods to avoid:
Fruit: pear figs (also high glucose so is balanced) apple mango lychee (also high glucose so is balanced) nashi star fruit peach mandarin pawpaw watermelon honeydew melon guava star fruit quince papaya apricots cherries plums nectarines grapes persimmon
Dried fruit
Fruit juice canned packing juice orange juice(restrict quantity to 1/3 glass – it has quite a lot of glucose but is not fully balanced)
Dried fruit bars
Fruit pastes and sauces: tomato paste chutney relish plum sauce sweet and sour sauce barbecue sauce (no doubt sweet chilli sauce)
Fruit juice concentrate
Fructose as an added sweetener
High fructose corn syrup or corn syrup solids including: Fruit drinks carbonated drinks pancake syrups catsup jams jellies pickle relish etc. and/or liquid cough remedies and liquid pain relievers etc
Honey
Coconut: milk cream
Fortified wines: sherry port etc
Vegetables: onion leek asparagus artichokes cabbage Brussel sprouts beans
Legumes: baked beans kidney beans lentils black eye peas chickpeas butter beans (no doubt lima beans which I love!)
Wheat or white bread
Wheat pasta noodles
Wheat-based breakfast cereals
Wheat-based cakes cookies crackers
Chicory-based coffee-substitute beverages
Artificial sweeteners: sorbitol mannitol isomalt xylitol
If lactose malabsorption: milk ice-cream yoghurt. (butter & harder cheeses and lactose free cow’s milk ok)
Avoiding these foods is called the FODMAP diet.
Foods that have glucose in them can balance out the worst problems of the fructose (not sure about the problem of them making us fat though).
This is not so much a ‘don’t have any at all’ but restrict daily intake to under 2 pieces of fruit a day and choose low-fructose fruits rather than high-fructose fruits. The body has a limited ability to digest fructose so don’t overload it or the undigested fructose goes into the bowel to ferment into a dangerous brew.
There is a lot more about this on the Guts Tummies & Gastroenterology Forum