Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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is fructose inherently bad for health? please do not answer by saying that the amount in fruit is ok for it misses the point but is generally the only answer i seem to be able to get from google searches.

but what i wish to inquire about is the nature of fructose itself is it inherently disadvantages to human health for some reason outside of an artificially high dose found in commercial food products?

thanks

flag	asked Apr 6 2012 at 9:20 Lucas 409●5●14

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Yes. No. Yes. No. Wait... Maybe? AAAAAAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!! – Dave S. Apr 6 2012 at 17:24

Its poison, but like many poisons it takes a while for the effects to be realized. – Bill1102inf Apr 7 2012 at 2:14

what about fruitarians, Bill? – Korion Apr 7 2012 at 5:31

Beth-WeightMaven · Answer 1 · 2012-04-06 12:01:50Z UTC

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You need to either watch Mat Lalonde's all day seminar by the OPT folks or watch Lustig's TED video. Basically fructose is not "inherently disadvantageous" to human health until it overwhelms the liver's capacity to metabolize it.

And thus, like so many things (including water), the dose makes the poison.

answered Apr 6 2012 at 12:01

Beth-WeightMaven
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	Beth is correct, yet again. (I tire of saying this.) – Dave S. Apr 6 2012 at 17:26
	Ha! I'll see what I can do about that Dave :). – Beth-WeightMaven Apr 6 2012 at 18:42
	Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup. – Bill1102inf Apr 7 2012 at 2:15
	1/4 c. blueberries or 1/2 a mandarin orange are fine. Fructose is a problem when you're slurping down 32 oz. Super Gulps of soda every day. Yes, there are people who buy one of those and then drink them all afternoon, the whole afternoon, by themselves, every day. . . that's the problem, really. – Wowza Apr 7 2012 at 2:38
	so is it beneficial to health before it is permitted to become "overwhelming to the liver" – Lucas Apr 8 2012 at 19:05

show 1 more comment

Sheila · Answer 2 · 2012-04-06 12:28:00Z UTC

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See Sugar: The Bitter Truth on you tube with Dr. Lustig; It explains the whole process of metabolizing fructose and the impact on the body. It's pretty bad when consumed in quantity; hence an orange is okay and fruit juice is not.

answered Apr 6 2012 at 12:28

Sheila
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how does that explain me doing great with pineapple and grape juice? – Korion Apr 6 2012 at 14:15

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM I recently watched Dr. Lustig's lecture and it cemented some thoughts on fructose for me. "Bad" is probably not the appropriate word for fructose. "Toxic" might be better. – BJ Apr 6 2012 at 16:30

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Lots of folks can do great with fructose, especially active folks or athletes. – Beth-WeightMaven Apr 6 2012 at 18:45

@Korion, just because you are not drinking your pineapple and grape with your liver already full, after eating a 6000 calorie pizza, and 2 liters of cola, doesn't mean others do not need to educate themselves regarding fructose – Bill1102inf Apr 7 2012 at 2:17

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Why do you bring pizza and cola into this? I'm drinking 2 litres of fruit juice, 3 plates of fruit and I don't gain any fat. Lustig says fructose is the cause of all evil. Easy for people to understand, but the theory doesn't work for me. If obesity was as simple as "cut out the fructose", Jimmy Moore would be lean as hell. – Bruno Apr 7 2012 at 10:50

cliff · Answer 3 · 2012-04-06 23:12:32Z UTC

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http://co2factor.blogspot.com/2012/04/benefits-of-fructose.html

answered Apr 6 2012 at 23:12

cliff
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Dan Wich · Answer 4 · 2012-04-06 20:58:47Z UTC

If you'd like to dig into the anti-Lustig side of the fructose debate, Alan Aragon critiques his anti-fructose arguments in the following articles (with responses by Lustig in the comments section):

Bill1102inf · Answer 5 · 2012-04-07 02:21:23Z UTC

Id like to remind you of a study. It was conducted while visiting Any Mall USA, go ahead, sit down at the mall and observe. Guess what the extremely large humans typically have in common. Oh, you don't need to guess? They are carrying around big gulps and cinnabons you say??

Wake up human beings, you can't consume massive amounts of sugar in the USA WITHOUT consuming massive amounts of Fructose, its simply IMPOSSIBLE. At least 40% of all 'sugar' consumed in the usa is Fructose. Since 'sugar' is fructose-glucse, and HFCS is a little higher, if your eating sugar, its got fructose.

foreveryoung · Answer 6 · 2012-04-07 03:07:23Z UTC

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Seems odd but I thought I read somewhere that it was necessary for healthy sperm motility.

answered Apr 7 2012 at 3:07

foreveryoung
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It's good in that fruit may provide valuable antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, but it's bad from a body composition stand point. I lean out as soon as I remove all fruit/sugar from my diet and replace those lost carbs with safe starch. – foreveryoung Apr 7 2012 at 3:16

is fructose bad?

6 Answers