Ask a Dietitian- Is Sugar in Fruit Bad?

If Sug­ar is Bad- Should I Lim­it My Fruit Intake?

This is a ques­tion that can be con­fus­ing right? We all know too much sug­ar is bad, but this is less of an issue when we are talk­ing about whole fruits. Sug­ar by itself is not nutri­tious, mean­ing it adds ​“emp­ty calo­ries” to a lot of prod­ucts we enjoy. Foods like mochas, ice cream, break­fast cere­als, pas­tries, or sports drinks are com­mon offend­ers. Since sug­ary foods pro­vide lit­tle nutri­tion but do con­tain calo­ries, these added sug­ars can eas­i­ly lead to weight gain. How­ev­er, nat­u­ral­ly occur­ring sug­ars are a lit­tle different.

What Makes Fruit So Special

Fruits con­tain nat­ur­al sug­ars, mean­ing the sug­ar was nev­er added and occurs in nature. Fruit also con­tains valu­able nutri­ents that we WANT to con­sume and that are nec­es­sary for sup­port­ing prop­er health. Despite the fact that fruits have nat­u­ral­ly occur­ring sug­ar, our bod­ies thrive when we eat fruit. The key is that fruits (as well as veg­eta­bles and grains) con­tain fiber. Fiber is anoth­er type of car­bo­hy­drate that is not bro­ken down, but instead adds to stool bulk and slows diges­tion. Even though fruits con­tain sug­ar fiber slows diges­tion, makes us feel full and pre­vents blood sug­ar spikes. If you remove the fiber, how­ev­er; you lose many of those ben­e­fits. So while fruit juices con­tain the same nat­ur­al sug­ars, we want to lim­it those because they lack the fiber to pre­vent blood sug­ar spikes and slow digestion.

Fiber is a huge part of nutri­tion that does not get enough pub­lic­i­ty. Fiber is why the nat­ur­al sug­ars found in fruit are okay for most peo­ple, and the lack of fiber is why fruit juices are not as good of a choice as whole fruits. Along those same lines, foods that con­tain ADDED sug­ars should be lim­it­ed, even if the added sug­ar is from a nat­ur­al ori­gin. Foods like hon­ey, maple syrup, or agave nec­tar may be nat­ur­al, but they are not found nat­u­ral­ly in most foods. Since added sug­ars were not orig­i­nal­ly in the prod­uct and are not adding any nutri­tion those extra calo­ries are some­times called ​“emp­ty”. So if you have the choice between some­thing like unsweet­ened or sweet­ened apple­sauce, the best choice would be unsweetened.

Bot­tom Line

For the gen­er­al pub­lic, sug­ar in fruit is not bad as long as you con­sume the whole fruit and not just fruit juice or prod­ucts that con­tain sweet­ened fruit pieces. When we are seek­ing to lim­it sug­ars, added sug­ars are more of a con­cern. Sweet­ened foods using both nat­ur­al and man-made sweet­en­ers should be lim­it­ed or eat­en in moderation.

If you have a med­ical con­di­tion such as dia­betes it is best to speak with your Physi­cian or Reg­is­tered Dietit­ian about how dietary choic­es can effect your lab val­ues and health goals.