The Hidden Dangers of Fructose
I hate to break it to you, but not all forms of sugar are created equal. Some people assert that bread is just as bad for you as cake because it all “turns to sugar.” While there are benefits to not eating flour, especially for those addicted to foods with flour/wheat, the cake is going to do more and different damage to your body.
Why? Fructose.
While there are many different sugars out there, I want to talk about three forms that are most commonly talked about.
- Glucose
- Fructose
- Sucrose
Glucose
You may remember hearing about glucose from science class. That is because pretty much every cell in your body can directly use glucose for energy. It is easy energy for your body. It can cause what we call a “spike” in blood sugar because it raises the level quickly, burns off pretty quickly, and causes blood sugar levels to crash, especially if eaten by itself. Glucose is a carbohydrate. You can eat glucose without anything tasting “sweet” per se – think rice and potatoes. Even meat contains some glucose, as it’s basically one of the “building blocks of life.” Make no mistake – consuming high levels of glucose, especially at one time, is NOT a recommended way of eating. Eating a ton of bread will hurt your health, but not in the same way as cake.
Fructose
This sweet form of sugar is naturally found in plants. Fructose is what gives the fruit its sweetness. When consumed as part of the whole plant (vs. not as just the juice), fructose is also accompanied by a lot of fiber and many nutrients. Fiber helps our body register that it has had enough – it helps us feel satiated. For example, it takes the juice of about three oranges to make an 8 oz glass of orange juice. It goes down super easily, and without even thinking about it, you’re having more – if you even only started with 8 oz to begin with! A lot of restaurants start you off with 12 oz or sometimes even 16 oz. It’s super easy to drink 16 oz of orange juice, but would you ever sit down and eat 6 oranges at one time? Probably not. AND – you probably drank that juice WITH a whole breakfast to go along with it. Would you eat 6 oranges AND 2 sausage links, 2 eggs, and 3 pancakes? Probably not. Cool. That right there is the dangers of juice. (Just wait until I get started on the “juices” with added sugar. )
When the juice and sweetness of the orange are consumed with the whole orange, it makes a healthy and delicious snack that I routinely turn to when I need something naturally sweet.
Unlike glucose, fructose cannot be easily converted by cells into energy. In fact, it can only be processed by the liver – similar to alcohol. Whatever the liver can’t process immediately basically just gets turned to fat – and a prime storage place for it is in and around the liver. When the body gets a rush of fructose it can’t handle, a lot of it gets turned directly to fat. Spoiler alert: excess fructose consumption very much can cause fatty liver disease – just like alcohol. Children who have never had an ounce of alcohol in their lives are getting Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). According to Children’s Health, this number is now at 1 in 10 children – reportedly double from 20 years ago. Like that is insane, you guys!. This NAFLD can go on and progress and cause long-term damage to the liver. It’s not good to get that condition at 55 years, but at 10? That’s horrible…but that’s another discussion for another time.
BUT JULIE – does that mean fruit is killing me???
No, it’s okay – calm down. Let’s go back to the orange. Do you know how many grams of sugar an orange has? Probably not, but that’s okay – I’ll tell you. A medium-sized orange has 9 grams of sugar. Let’s compare that to a can of Coke – how much sugar is in a can of Coke? 39 grams of sugar! That’s a huge difference – and there’s no fiber and no nutrients.
Fructose is not inherently bad, but nature has already provided the best way for us to consume it – in small amounts as part of a whole food.
Sucrose: This is a form of sugar that is also produced in plants – mainly sugar cane and sugar beet. Sucrose is unique because it is what science calls a “disaccharide,” which means that it is a combination of two monosaccharides. (“di” meaning “two” and “mono” meaning “one” and “Saccharide” meaning basically sugar.)
So Sucrose is two different types of sugar together – our friends glucose and fructose.
When this is extracted from the sugar cane/beet and refined, this is known as table sugar. The white granular stuff is what people put in their coffee or tea and their favorite baked goods – oftentimes, in high amounts. When something with sucrose is consumed, it simultaneously gives the body glucose and fructose. As we know, the body does fine with the glucose – sure, your blood sugar will spike, but everything can be processed pretty darn efficiently. But the fructose, on the other hand. Oh, the fructose…
The fructose is now taxing your liver, a lot of it getting turned to fat, bit by bit, contributing to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Frankenstein Sugar: High Fructose corn syrup
Unlike even refined sucrose, high fructose corn syrup is completely human-made. Some people claim it is worse for you than regular sugar, but there doesn’t seem to be a solid conclusion on that issue yet. Essentially, fructose is added to the glucose from corn starch, and you end up with something very similar to sucrose but with some water in it. Different HFCS variations have slightly different amounts of fructose – one is 45% fructose, and the other is 55% fructose. If you happen to be fascinated about this, the FDA has an FAQ type bit about HFCS. Given that fructose is what is bad for your liver, if that ratio is the same as sucrose, they would be equally bad for you. In the event fructose makes up a higher percentage of the ratio, logically, it would result in more fructose for your liver to process, and thus worse for your liver.
HFCS is tempting to use when manufacturing food for a specific reason: it’s cheap. It’s, of course, derived from corn, and corn is a subsidized crop in the United States. It is also relatively stable and easy to use. It is in many processed foods and drinks. While the scientists may not yet agree as to whether or not it is in and of itself is more dangerous than sucrose, it has given sugar a higher prevalence in our diet because it is so cheap and easy for food manufacturers to add to its products. Basically – it does more damage because it’s so easy to get us to eat more of it. That’s my theory. Who knows – maybe even without the cheap and easy sweetness that HFCS brings, our packaged food would be just as full of “regular” sugar, but I doubt it.
But that’s the problem – sugar is just so incredibly prevalent in our foods that it is in things that don’t equate with being “sweet.” Most prepackaged pasta sauces contain added sugar – usually, unless if it specifies it doesn’t have added sugar, it does. It is actually added to cut down on the bitterness, which is why (most) sauces don’t actually taste “sweet.” It is very frustrating if you are trying to avoid all traces of added sugar. It requires diligent and skillful label reading, as food manufacturers will even try to hide it from you on the label, too, trying to give the sugar a fancy name.
While we’re on the uncomfortable topic that sugar is hiding basically everywhere, you need to decide for yourself what works for you. Do you choose to eat food with some added forms of sugar in it but might not trigger that “sweet” craving – such as the pasta sauce mentioned? OR – are you going to avoid it in all forms no matter what? Ultimately, it is a matter of “know thyself.” I am not a fan of cutting out foods for the sake of cutting them out – cutting out all sweets and desserts is hard enough. However, triggers are extremely individual, and if it triggers you, it best be left out. Even if it doesn’t trigger you, it’s still not good for your health, so it’s still something to think about.
Fructose in and of itself is not evil – but through modern processing, we definitely have created a monster that our bodies and brains were not designed to process.
