Hi friends,
So I am in the process of refining my diet. Can someone explain to me the details of “fructose”. So apparently it cant be converted to glucose and stored in muscle tissue. So should I just avoid fruits? Is there any time when it is optimal to eat fruit?
For bonus marks, can someone explain to me the deal with lactose? I dont think I am lactose intolerant, but is there any reason why one should avoid lactose?
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Hey mate
Fructose, otherwise known as “fat-tose” is unfortunately one of the easiest sugars for the body to turn into fat and is usually quickly converted into blood trigylcerides (blood fats) by the liver shortly after eating it.
It’s been linked to a whole bunch of problems such as high cholesterol, excess inflammation, sore joints, fat gain and more.
That being said if you absolutely have to have a fruit fix, go for fruits that give you more nutritional bang for your buck such as berries which are packed with vitamin C and fibre but tend to not have too many carbs per serve, stone fruits such as fresh apricots aren’t too shabby either.
If you love the carb dense stuff like bananas then try to make it post workout only as at least you’ll have a chance of putting it to good use rather than storing it as fat.
And as for our buddy “Lactose”, he aint as bad as fructose but tends to cause adverse reactions in most people and usually results in excess mucus production which in turn lines your intestines and can prevent absorption of vital nutrients such as the vitamins and minerals from your food.
I personally leave the lactose for my cheat day only if I have some cheese pizza or ice cream etc. and tend to avoid all dairy on other days.
That being said, everyone’s body is different so play around and see how you feel.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Christian
[quote]MrChristianB wrote:
Hey mate
Fructose, otherwise known as “fat-tose” is unfortunately one of the easiest sugars for the body to turn into fat and is usually quickly converted into blood trigylcerides (blood fats) by the liver shortly after eating it.
It’s been linked to a whole bunch of problems such as high cholesterol, excess inflammation, sore joints, fat gain and more.
That being said if you absolutely have to have a fruit fix, go for fruits that give you more nutritional bang for your buck such as berries which are packed with vitamin C and fibre but tend to not have too many carbs per serve, stone fruits such as fresh apricots aren’t too shabby either.
If you love the carb dense stuff like bananas then try to make it post workout only as at least you’ll have a chance of putting it to good use rather than storing it as fat.
And as for our buddy “Lactose”, he aint as bad as fructose but tends to cause adverse reactions in most people and usually results in excess mucus production which in turn lines your intestines and can prevent absorption of vital nutrients such as the vitamins and minerals from your food.
I personally leave the lactose for my cheat day only if I have some cheese pizza or ice cream etc. and tend to avoid all dairy on other days.
That being said, everyone’s body is different so play around and see how you feel.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Christian[/quote]
Can someone validate what he just said? Im interested in this as well.
MrChristianB- good first post matey. Welcome to T-Nation.
Where in Oz-land are you?
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[quote]MangoMan305 wrote:
Can someone validate what he just said? Im interested in this as well.
[/quote]
Well, yes and no.
Fructose follows a different metabolic pathway than other sugars. However, it’s not the fructose in fruit that most of us need to be aware of. It’s the fructose added to processed foods.
Even Robert Lustig - the presenter in Sugar: The Bitter Truth - who blamed nearly all the world’s ills on fructose, said that fruit is not a problem. It has small amounts of fructose and is paired with fiber.
People aren’t becoming obese and suffering from NAFLD because they’re eating fruit.
Fructose is taken up by the liver and metabolized rapidly. It can be used in triglyceride synthesis, but it can also be used for glycogen synthesis. But the above also doesn’t cancel the fact that it can also be used for ATP synthesis.
So, in amounts consumed by people who care about themselves, even a little bit, it shouldn’t be doing any harm. Yes, there are studies which show negative effects, but most have used very high consumption (> 20 % of caloric intake). Also, the mechanism through which fructose exerts these effects are controversial. There is evidence through multiple pathways. Some would indicate that it is consuming bulk amounts in one go that causes the problems, others stipulate it is total consumption.
In the end, a reasonable amount isn’t going to have any ill effects; certainly not the amount one could consume from fruit.
Lactose is a di-saccharide or glucose and galactose (milk sugar equivalent of sucrose). So, as long as you are not lactose intolerant, your question is likely will galactose affect me. Galactose is converted to glucose to be used for fuel and so shouldn’t worry you at all.
NOt sure if it’s ever been addressed or discussed here, but let’s assume an individual has been in a carb depleted state for an extended period. Wouldn’t the consumption of ANY sugar be diverted into the depleted muscles?
My assumption would be yes, as the body is quite resilient.
[quote]theBird wrote:
Can someone explain to me the details of “fructose”. So apparently it cant be converted to glucose and stored in muscle tissue. So should I just avoid fruits? Is there any time when it is optimal to eat fruit?[/quote]
I thought you gave nutrition advice to diabetics for a living.
Isn’t this something you should already have an understanding of?
Yeah, fruit is not all fructose.
I still think fruit is 100% over-rated, but fructose is at its most “evil” when added to processed foods.
Thanks friends for all of your advice.
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
I thought you gave nutrition advice to diabetics for a living.
Isn’t this something you should already have an understanding of?[/quote]
^
Haters gonna hate.
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[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]theBird wrote:
Can someone explain to me the details of “fructose”. So apparently it cant be converted to glucose and stored in muscle tissue. So should I just avoid fruits? Is there any time when it is optimal to eat fruit?[/quote]
I thought you gave nutrition advice to diabetics for a living.
Isn’t this something you should already have an understanding of?[/quote]
That is scary.
Hey mate
@ theBird: Thanks a bunch I’m glad to be on here after hearing about it for so long
I’m from Sydney, what about yourself?
@ Dr. Pangloss: You make an excellent point regarding refined fructose VS fructose in its original form, I was in the USA late last year and was horrified to see how many foods contained the evil substance High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).
Lucky for us here down under we don’t have the same corruption in the corn industry you guys have but instead we have it in the wheat industry lol
This means we get a shitload of wheat-derived glucose syrup added to things rather than HFCS.
Great topic
[quote]MrChristianB wrote:
@ theBird: Thanks a bunch I’m glad to be on here after hearing about it for so long
I’m from Sydney, what about yourself?
@ Dr. Pangloss: You make an excellent point regarding refined fructose VS fructose in its original form, I was in the USA late last year and was horrified to see how many foods contained the evil substance High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).
Lucky for us here down under we don’t have the same corruption in the corn industry you guys have but instead we have it in the wheat industry lol
This means we get a shitload of wheat-derived glucose syrup added to things rather than HFCS.
[/quote]
Your welcome. Im in Western Australia, currently in Perth, but will be moving to the outback in a few weeks time.
So what foods are HCFS or wheat derived glucose hidden in?
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All other things being equal, refined fructose makes little difference metabolically to that found in food. HFCS doesn’t contain that much more fructose than sucrose and in some ways can be advantageous. While less sweet than the alternative invert sugar (an equivalent product sometimes used in Australia), it can improve the organoleptic properties of food more and at a lower concentration than sucrose.
The perversion comes when it is added to many foods; even those you wouldn’t expect it to be added to. These foods generally are highly processed and so lack the complex food matrix and/or fibre that normally co-exists with fructose in natural foods.
So, as Dr. Pangloss said, it is the abundance that can easily be consumed in concert with the rapid digestion. Blame the food manufacturers who will go to extreme lengths to make food the ‘ideal’ product.
Have a look in your pantry and see how many items contain variations of sugar. If you didn’t know, you will be surprised.
[quote]bcingu wrote:
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]theBird wrote:
Can someone explain to me the details of “fructose”. So apparently it cant be converted to glucose and stored in muscle tissue. So should I just avoid fruits? Is there any time when it is optimal to eat fruit?[/quote]
I thought you gave nutrition advice to diabetics for a living.
Isn’t this something you should already have an understanding of?[/quote]
That is scary.[/quote]
Quite.
And dude, believe me when I say that I have zero reason to “hate” on you. Ze-ro. I’m just confused at how you mentioned what you do for a living and yet you’re asking what I’d expect to be a common knowledge issue for that line of work.
If I started a thread asking about military press technique, that would make me look pretty incompetent, wouldn’t it?
But then again, you choose to play a character on this forum, so it really wouldn’t surprise me if you were “bending the truth” more than just a little bit when you made that statement in the first place.