Scientists concur that we consume excessive amounts of sugar, which contributes to obesity and other health issues. But many low-carb dieters and others are skipping fruits in their haste to avoid sugar. But a lot of nutritionists believe that fresh fruit shouldn’t lose out in the battle against sugar. No matter how much you eat, according to Dr. David Ludwig, head of the Boston Children’s Hospital’s New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center, eating fruit’s sugar is not associated with any negative health impacts.
He referenced observational research that demonstrated that more fruit consumption is connected with lower body weight and a lower risk of obesity-related disorders in a recent perspective article in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
He noted that whole fruits are rich in antioxidants and other nutrients, and that the fiber that makes up their cellular structure contributes to satiety and other metabolic advantages. For instance, when you bite into an apple, the fiber in the fruit helps to reduce how quickly you absorb fructose, which is the primary sugar in most fruits. Yet, fiber is not the whole picture.
He noted that whole fruits are rich in antioxidants and other nutrients, and that the fiber that makes up their cellular structure contributes to satiety and other metabolic advantages. For instance, when you bite into an apple, the fiber in the fruit helps to reduce how quickly you absorb fructose, which is the primary sugar in most fruits. Yet, fiber is not the whole picture“You can’t just take an 8-ounce glass of cola and add a serving of Metamucil and create a health food,” Dr. Ludwig said. “Even though the fructose-to-fiber ratio might be the same as an apple, the biological effects would be much different.”
Fruit can also help keep us from overeating, Dr. Ludwig said, by making us feel fuller. Unlike processed foods, which are usually digested in the first few feet of our intestines, fiber-rich fruit breaks down more slowly so it travels far longer through the digestive tract, triggering the satiety hormones that tend to cluster further down the small intestines.
Another nutrition expert, Dr. Robert Lustig, a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, who has called sugar “toxic” at high doses and fructose the most “actionable” problem in our diet, is still a fan of fruit. “As far as I’m concerned, fiber is the reason to eat fruit,” since it promotes satiety and the slow release of sugar. He adds a third benefit from fiber: it changes our “intestinal flora,” or microbiome, by helping different species of healthy bacteria thrive.
