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Sugar is bad. Plain and simple. If you didn’t know that, then you do now, and it should be something that you remember ad infinitm. However, we’re under the impression that fructose is good for us. It’s not. And here, I’m going to explain why and back that up with some science. I completely understand why we believe that fructose could be a “good” sugar. The name says it all. “Fructus” is latin for fruit and “-ose” is a suffix for “having a specific quality”. So Fruct-ose is something having the quality of fruit; that something is sugar.
But fruit is good for us! Yes, the vitamins, minerals, and fiber in fruit is good for us, but the sugar? Eh, not so much. Especially in large quantities. Which as a population in the 21st century, we are quite proficient in getting (large quantities that is). More is better, right?.
I’d like to dispel one thing right off the bat: fruitarians. “So-and-so is a fruitarian and is skinny and healthy.” First, skinny does NOT mean healthy. By any means. Secondly, how do you know that he or she is healthy? Because they can live, breathe, and function normally? If you haven’t forgotten, normal nowadays seems to be a big mac, a diet coke, deep heaving, and fat. Our normal, as a society is NOT healthy. I’d like to see the blood panel and hormonal profile of said fruitarian. Fruit doesn’t contain essential fats nor protein, which are essential to human life and are our building blocks. Sure as hell isn’t getting any dietary cholesterol, which we need to produce hormones and does NOT contribute to atherosclerosis (but that is another rabbit hole). He or she probably is as frail as a 5 day old potato chip. Hail falling out, nails chipping, wounds not healing. Also, every person is unique! Perhaps you can live off of apples and oranges, but most people cannot and should notattempt to do so.
Now that my quick rant/spiel is done, we can get back to the belief that fructose is the “better” sugar. Fructose has been given the pedestal for valid reasons. It is considered low glycemic (does not spike directly blood glucose thus insulin levels), however, this is in the presence of a fair amount of fiber with vitamins and minerals when consumed in fruit. A big point that MUST be addressed is that it is considered to be low glycemic is because fructose is NOT glucose. They are different molecules, thus they are metabolised differently when ingested. Some studies have found that roughly 50% of fructose is converted to glucose (via gluconeogenesis). Obviously, if only 50% is converted to glucose, then what happens to the other 50%? A few things, depending on what else is eaten with the fructose there are three other pathways; oxidation to carbon dioxide (CO2), conversion to lactic acid (although only with isolated fructose consumption), and de novo lipogenesis. This, de novolipogenesis, is a large concern about the ingestion of large quantities of fructose. A large portion of the remaining 50% is generally involved in de novo lipogenesis (DNL). DNL is the conversion of fructose into fatty acids, which are generally stored as adipose tissue (fat), because fats are a more efficient form of energy storage (fats = 9
calories/gram, carbs = 4 calories/gram). This exact same thing happens with the consumption of EXCESS amounts of glucose, sucrose, or any form of carbohydrate.
It should be said that fructose is primarily metabolised by the liver and does NOT enter the bloodstream in as high concentrations as glucose. However, excess consumption leads to the conversion to glucose. Excess glucose is also converted to fatty acids via DNL. So we a storm of fatty acids from fructose and/or glucose, there is a lot of fatty acids rummaging around the bloodstream.
This. This right here is the big problem. Those fatty acids have two options:
You wanna combat me? Go ahead. I love a good discussion or debate. I don’t have a fragile ego. I listen to what others have to say and might even change my mind! It’s happened, and happens quite often. I’m all about learning and opening myself to new experiences, and I encourage you to do them same. =)
Questions, comments, or concerns can be don’t here or sent to
Here’s the Holy Grail of scientific research on sugar (at the moment), published in June 2015:
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