You may be concerned about the fructose levels in foods because you have a fructose intolerance, or out of concern about blood sugar levels or carbohydrate counts. Foods like fruits, honey and a few vegetables contain natural fructose, while sweetened foods and drinks may artificial fructose additives. If fructose levels are an issue, talk to your doctor or nutritionist about the levels you can tolerate. Learn to be a label reader, and watch for ingredients or phrases such as artificial sweeteners, fructose and high-fructose corn syrup.
Dried and Canned Fruits
Because drying concentrates their natural sugars, dates, plums and raisins are among the highest in fructose. Raisins contain about 50 g fructose per cup, for example. Canned fruits often contain heavy syrups, which raise the fructose levels considerably when combined with the fruits' own natural sugars. Additionally, check the labels of "sugar free" jams and jellies, which may use fructose or high fructose corn syrups as alternative sweeteners, notes the University of Virginia Health System.
Juices
The concentrated sugars in fruit juices make even citrus-based drinks relatively high in fructose, especially when compared to the solid fruit. The University of Virginia Health System singles out apple juice, apple cider and pear juice as especially high in fructose.
Fresh Fruit
While it's virtually impossible to find fruits which don't contain the natural sugar known as fructose, you can avoid the fruits which are highest in fructose. The University of Virginia suggests avoiding pears, cherries, peaches, plums, grapes, apples and applesauce. Pears and apples, two of the highest of high-fructose fruits, contain about 11 g fructose per serving. The University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences notes that watermelon, blueberries and bananas each contain at least 5 g fructose per serving. Opt for lower-fructose fruits like bananas, citrus fruits, rhubarb, blackberries, raspberries and pineapples.
Sweeteners and Sweetened Products
Honey is naturally rich in fructose, and contains about 9 g per tbsp. In addition, products like soda, cereals, and artificially-sweetened desserts and dairy products may contain high-fructose corn syrup. Ingredients like sorbitol and sucrose convert to fructose in the body, and should be avoided for people with a fructose intolerance. Check the labels. While you may not be able to determine exactly how much fructose is in a product, noting terms like fructose, high fructose corn syrup, sorbitol, sucrose or table sugar in the list of ingredients, as well as the total grams of sugar in the product, should give you some idea of how high in fructose the product is.
Vegetables
While most vegetables are naturally low in fructose, a few contain small amounts. Tomatoes and cucumbers contain 2 g to 3 g per serving, while corn, carrots and sweet potatoes also carry some fructose. The University of Virginia notes that cooking these foods may help lower the fructose content.
