Fruit Making Us Fat?
Eating fruit is one of the best ways to curb your appetite and moderate the number of calories you consume on a daily basis.
While many fruits are rich in micronutrients and beneficial for our health in the long term, they have large amounts of sugar, which can be a concern for individuals that have trouble managing their weight.
This has created many arguments in the medical community concerning recommended servings of fruit and whether consuming considerable quantities of fruit can have adverse effects.
This is a common misconception but this can easily be disclaimed when we take further look at some health and nutrition information.
Does Eating Too Much Fruit Make You Fat?
Fruits consist of high quantites of sugar, but more specifically fructose and glucose from the simple carbohydrates group.
Fructose in high enough concentrations can have negative side effects including high blood pressure, increased fat deposits in the muscles and liver, and even links to cancer in humans beings.
Fruits are composed of large quantities of water, some reaching up to 94% in content. The other parts of contents of fruit are minerals (iron, salt, magnesium, etc.), fiber, and acids (citric, malic, tartaric). In some fruits like olives and avocadoes there higher amounts of fats as well.
Misconception With Fructose in Fruits
The fallacy with fructose and fat gain originates from experiments with human subjects. When researchers added fructose to these subjects’ diets, they showed greater body fat deposition and higher cholesterol levels.
In the experiment, subjects received 3-4 grams of fructose per kilogram of body weight, which is 20-40 times the amount a regular person would get from eating fruit. This amount is comparable to consuming the equivalent of 50 or more bananas in one day.
In contrast, let’s analyze the fructose content of a peach. A single normal-sized peach has about 1.2 grams of fructose. To replicate the experiment’s effects at my body weight, I would have to eat about 260 peaches a day for weeks.
High fructose corn syrup has been prevalent over the past few years. It is often found prepared in many processed foods.
High-fructose corn syrup has a higher glucose-to-fructose ratio than regular fructose. Typically, fructose is 50:50, while high fructose corn syrup is 55:45.
Because high fructose corn syrup contains more fructose than glucose, it’s easier to exceed your daily sugar limit by consuming products with it compared to fruit. While fruit and soda may have similar sugar compositions, soda poses a greater risk because of its higher fructose content.
The Wrap Up
You won’t gain weight from the fruits you consume daily, but eating them in monstrous quantities will make you gain weight. Large amounts of fructose can harm your health, and high-fructose corn syrup presents a greater concern than any natural foods you eat. Don’t worry about gaining fat from a fruit-rich diet; just portion your fruits as you do with all your daily food.
What else do you want to know?
