Fructose was once touted as a safe alternative to white sugars. It is actually a natural sweetener made from beet sugar and cane sugar. The problem is that many food manufacturers have synthesized the cane and beet sugar to make a commercially usable sweetener known as high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The over-consumption of HFCS has led to concerns regarding weight gain, diabetes and even heart disease. HFCS may be cheaper to process and give commercially manufactured foods longer shelf lives, but it is far from nutritious and will do nothing for your overall health.
Breakfast Cereals
Most prepackaged breakfast cereals have very high levels of fructose in every serving. These include Raisin Bran, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Golden Puffs, Corn Flakes, Post Grape-Nuts, Apple Jacks, Crispix and Cocoa Krispies. Kellogg's Raisin Bran has 9,584 mg of fructose per 200-calorie serving, whereas Fruit Loops only has 46 mg of fructose per 200-calorie serving.
Vegetables
There's no substitution for fresh vegetables. Most packaged and processed vegetable products contain some level of fructose. These include sweet pickles, ketchup, canned tomato juice and canned stewed tomatoes. Even some of your favorite fresh vegetables have naturally occurring levels of fructose. These include radishes, summer squash, cabbage, celery and even asparagus. The levels of fructose in fresh vegetables are much lower than the levels found in commercially processed vegetables, as HFCS is added during the manufacturing process.
Snack Foods
Snack foods are notorious for having high levels of fructose. Power Bars, granola bars and Snickers Marathon Energy Bars are all supposed to be healthy alternatives. A Power Bar, however, has 8,794 mg of fructose for every 200-calorie serving. Granola bars and Marathon bars do quite a bit better, coming in at 962 mg and 249 mg, respectively. Other high-fructose snacks include tortilla chips, Chex Mix, corn-based chips and potato chips.
Fast Food
The levels of fructose found in commercially manufactured fast food products may be shocking to some. A single serving of honey from McDonald's has 21,590 mg of fructose per 200-calorie serving. A serving of Apple Dippers, which comes with a side of caramel dipping sauce, has 20,834 mg of fructose per 200-calorie serving. The sauces, salad dressings and yogurt parfaits are all high in fructose as well. Those are just condiments and sides. The average fast-food hamburger has approximately 1,453 mg per 200-calorie serving, but the average hamburger is 400 to 800 calories, if not much higher.
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