Is fructose the same as sugar in fruit? What is the difference?

National Public Radio reported that if vegetables are regarded as the king of nutritious diet, then fruits have always been a part of the royal family. Although they are not so important, they are still respected. But now, nutrition guidelines are belittling sugar and questioning the role of fruit in a healthy diet.

All you have to do is turn on Twitter and watch the scuffle. One of them wrote on Twitter, "Coach Pilates said that fruit has a high sugar content, and a banana has the same sugar content as a Snickers." Other users tried to defend the fruit: "Sugar in processed food is different from sugar in fruit."

Laurie, a spokesperson for the School of Nutrition and Health and a public health expert? Lauri Wright said that the sugar in fruit is different from the artificially added sugar. "And now there are so many arguments, I think it is because we always think that all carbohydrates are bad, but this is not the case. We need carbohydrates to get energy. "

Actually there are many kinds of sugar. Fruit contains fructose, glucose and their combinations, which we call "sucrose".

Elvira, a pediatric endocrinologist at Geisling Diabetes Center and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School? Elvira Isganaitis believes that the sugar content in fruit is lower than that in candy. This difference is very important for diabetics. Diabetes is a physical disorder, and it is difficult to regulate the sugar content in the blood. Usually, when people eat sweets, their blood sugar levels usually rise, but in the end, the increased blood sugar levels and the sugar content in the blood will return to normal. However, the sugar of diabetics can't be recovered normally.

Isgantis said that compared with eating candy, the sugar content in the body will not be greatly improved after eating fruit, so the risk value of fruit to diabetic patients is relatively low.

Nutritionist Wright said that even for people without diabetes, sugar in fruits is healthier than sugar from other sources. For example, a can of soda coffee contains about 40 grams of sugar. "What else can you get from it? No protein, no minerals, no fiber, only sugar and calories. " In contrast, the sugar in a fruit usually does not exceed 20 grams, and it also contains nutrients such as fiber and vitamin C.

But that doesn't mean that fruit won't get into trouble. Wright said that dried fruit contains more sugar because of its high concentration. She advised diabetics to be careful when eating dried fruits.

In addition, Wright and Isgantis also warned that smoothies may destroy sugar, as do fruit juices. Esganti advises people to eat whole fruit and try not to use processed foods, especially high fructose corn syrup and concentrated apple juice.