Fructose in any form can lead to weight gain and higher triglycerides, a type of fat that can accumulate in your arteries and increase your risk for cardiovascular disease. But fructose in natural sources, such as fruits and vegetables, provides important vitamins, minerals and fiber to your diet. Some foods with added fructose – regular soda and commercial baked goods, for example – provide mostly empty calories.
Recommended Fructose Intake
The American Heart Association recommends you reduce your fructose consumption from both natural and artificial sources if your triglycerides measure higher than 150 mg/dl – milligrams per deciliter of blood. If your triglycerides measure between 150 mg/dl and 200 mg/dl, limit fructose to 50 g to 100 g a day. If your triglycerides measure higher than 200 mg/dl, putting you at high risk of heart attacks and strokes, limit fructose to 50 g daily. If your triglycerides measure more than 500 mg/dl, putting you at high risk for cardiovascular problems, keep your fructose intake below 50 g a day.
Natural Sweeteners and Dried Fruit
Fruit and honey provide rich sources of fructose. Honey contains 8.6 g of fructose per tablespoon – up to 17 percent of your daily quota. Two other natural sweeteners – agave nectar and molasses – also contain fructose. Agave nectar contains 8.9 g per tablespoon and molasses contains 2.6 g. Dried fruit generally contains more fructose than fresh fruit. A 1-1/2 oz. box of raisins contains 13 g of fructose, compared to a plum, which contains 2 g.
Fructose in Fruit
You can easily meet your daily need for fruit – 1-½ cups to 2 cups daily -- without exceeding guidelines for fructose consumption. If you need to limit fructose, choose low-sugar fruits such as cantaloupe and grapefruit and keep your intake of super-sweet fruits such as pineapple and watermelon to a minimum. Some examples of fresh fruit and the fructose content per 1-cup serving include these: grapefruit, 4 g; apple, 10.7 g; banana, 7.3 g; raspberries, 2.9 g, and honeydew melon, 5 g.
Considerations
Some vegetables also contain fructose, although generally in much smaller amounts than you’ll find in fruit. A cup of summer squash, for example, contains 1 g of fructose, and 1 cup of peas contains 0.57 g. Fruits contain forms of sugar other than fructose. They may also contain glucose or sucrose, which will also affect your blood sugar levels and your triglycerides. Avoid unnatural forms of fructose such as high fructose corn syrup – 42 percent to 55 percent fructose – and table syrup, which contains 50 percent fructose.
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