PROBLEMS WITH FRUCTOSE?

“From reading your e-zine it seems that you advocate a fairly high fruit intake as a way of meeting caloric needs without consuming large quantities of fat. There seems to be a lot of information "out there" these days from reputable health professionals that discuss the unsuitability of fructose (i.e. fruit sugar) for human consumption. Their consensus seems to be that consuming fructose is very hard on the liver, that it is immediately converted to fat and overtime will lead to the condition known as fatty liver. These health people specify that no more than 2 pieces of fruit should be eaten per day as eating fruit, in addition to readily converting to fat, will also cause insulin levels to spike leading to a whole host of other problems associated with unbalanced hormones. How would you respond to this issue?”

ANSWER: I really question the “reputability” of the authors who claim that fructose, as it occurs naturally in fruit, could cause health problems, when these authors recommend cheese and red meat that they sell on their websites.

In many articles published on Mercola's website (one of the most popular websites on alternative health), the studies cited on the “harms” of fructose were done using refined fructose, such as in the form of high-fructose corn syrup. Mercola incorrectly applies the same conclusions to the fructose naturally occurring in fruit.

Eating a low-fat, high-fruit diet will not cause insulin levels to spike, will not cause unneeded weight gain and will not cause a fatty liver. People condemning a fruit-based diet have obviously no experience with it.