Fruit sugar: is fructose bad for your health?

Fruits contain vitamins, minerals and bioactive compounds essential for the proper functioning of the organism. In addition, they have a carbohydrate called fructose, which is their sugar. In this sense, a common question is whether fructose is bad for health, but it depends on the amount ingested. See the explanation now.

Read more: Baked apples in the microwave: A healthy and practical dessert!

Composition of fruits

First of all, it is important to point out that the composition of the fruits, as mentioned initially, has vitamins, minerals, fibers, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds that are extremely important for our body, as they prevent and fight illnesses.

In addition to these components, fruits also have carbohydrates, which are nutrients responsible for providing energy to our cells, and for that reason, they are also important.

The carbohydrate present in fruits and that the body absorbs is fructose, popularly known as fruit sugar. However, the amount of fructose varies greatly from one food to another. Avocado, for example, has little fructose, while banana has a higher amount.

After all, is fructose bad for health?

First, know that fructose is the carbohydrate with the greatest capacity to sweeten food. She is sweeter than glucose itself. For this reason, its use is very common in the food industry, in order to lower the cost of production.

In this sense, large amounts of fructose are used in industrialized products, in much higher concentrations than what is commonly found in fruits. Therefore, fructose can cause health damage, such as liver disease and obesity, when consumed in excessive amounts.

If you consume about three fruits a day, which is the general recommendation for a healthy diet, the concentration of fructose present in these foods will not cause any illness.

On the other hand, if you are in the habit of consuming ice cream, industrialized sweets, sugary drinks and the like, it is possible that you will have problems triggered not only due to the excess of fructose, but also due to other components of these food products that are harmful to health, such as vegetable fat and additives chemicals.

Don't stop consuming fruits because of fructose

Now you have seen that fructose is only harmful if its consumption is excessive. Therefore, be sure to consume fruits for fear of that sugar, since they are natural foods, sources of various nutrients and should be part of the daily diet.

Anyway, avoid industrialized foods, especially those with a long list of ingredients, because these are harmful to health and should not be consumed frequently.

If you liked this content then Click here to read more articles like this one!