Is Fruit Good or Bad for Your Health? The Sweet Truth
Eat more fruits and vegetables.”
This is probably the world’s most common health recommendation.
Everyone knows that fruits are healthy — they are real, whole foods.
Most of them are also very convenient. Some people call them “nature’s fast food” because they are so easy to carry and prepare.
However, fruits are relatively high in sugar compared to other whole foods.
For this reason, you might wonder whether they are truly healthy after all. This article sheds some light on the subject.
A lot of evidence has shown that excessive intake of added sugar is harmful (
This includes table sugar (sucrose) and high-fructose corn syrup, both of which are about half glucose, half fructose.
One reason that excessive added sugar intake is harmful is 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.
However, this is a misconception. Fructose is only harmful in large amounts, and it’s difficult to get excessive amounts of fructose from fruit.
SUMMARYEvidence suggests that fructose can cause harm when consumed in excess. However, there is not enough fructose in fruit to cause concern.
Eating whole fruit, it is almost impossible to consume enough fructose to cause harm.
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 filling. Most people will feel satisfied after eating one large apple, which contains 23 grams of sugar, 13 of which are fructose (4).
Compare that to a 16-ounce bottle of Coke, which contains 52 grams of sugar, 30 of which are fructose, and has no nutritional value (5).
A single apple would make you feel quite full and less inclined to eat more food. Conversely, a bottle of soda has remarkably poor satiety and people don’t compensate for the sugar by eating less food (
When fructose hits your liver fast and in large amounts, as is the case when you drink soda, it can have adverse health effects over time.
However, when it hits your liver slowly and in small amounts, as is the case when you eat an apple, your body is well adapted to easily metabolize the fructose.
While eating large amounts of added sugar is harmful to most people, the same does not apply to fruit.
SUMMARYWhole fruits take time to chew and digest. Because of this, you feel fuller and your body can easily tolerate the small amounts of fructose.