Should we start talking about “Low Fructose” instead of “Low Carb”……

ringi

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,365
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Dr Jason Fung claims:

What this means practically is that fructose is likely 20 times more likely to cause fatty liver (the key problem of insulin resistance) compared to glucose alone. This explains how many primitive societies could tolerate extremely high carbohydrate diets without developing hyperinsulinemia or insulin resistance.

https://medium.com/@drjasonfung/the-deadly-effects-of-fructose-b4d0128f3b39
https://medium.com/@drjasonfung/the-deadly-effects-of-fructose-part-2-aab046146fb7

My undoing was that I started to do more exercise and when I got home hot and thirsty I would drink a mix of orange juice and sparkling water. Then my thirst increased that I assumed was due to the exercise and the cycle repeated….
 
  • Like
Reactions: TIANDB and Guzzler
D

Deleted Account

Guest
I am not sure about fructose.
However, I feel your hypothesis that the orange juice was the cause of your diabetes seems flawed to me.
If you were feeling thirsty after consuming carbs, you already had diabetes. The symptoms may have been more pronounced because you were drinking something sugary rather than, say, a glass of malted milk. If you did not have diabetes, your body would have been able to convert the sugar from the orange juice into energy by producing enough of its own insulin.
 

ringi

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,365
Type of diabetes
Type 2
While converting a lot of the fructose into liver fat so increasing insulin resistance and maybe taking me over the "tipping point". To begin with just having 1pt of orange juice and sparking water after exercise stopped me feeling thirsty.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TIANDB

donnellysdogs

Master
Messages
13,233
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
People that can't listen to other people's opinions.
People that can't say sorry.
I think thats interesting because the Oncologist talk I went to last week was talking more about fructose and oveloading body with it first thing in morning after effectively fasting it for hours. His talk was to eat less carbs basically from cereals and breads but a lot was talking about not too much fruit due to natural fructose etc...

Trouble is average people only directly relate to "sugar" they do not think even of cards, let alone fructose!
 

DavidGrahamJones

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,263
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
Newspapers
Dr Jason Fung claims:

What this means practically is that fructose is likely 20 times more likely to cause fatty liver (the key problem of insulin resistance) compared to glucose alone. This explains how many primitive societies could tolerate extremely high carbohydrate diets without developing hyperinsulinemia or insulin resistance.

https://medium.com/@drjasonfung/the-deadly-effects-of-fructose-b4d0128f3b39
https://medium.com/@drjasonfung/the-deadly-effects-of-fructose-part-2-aab046146fb7

My undoing was that I started to do more exercise and when I got home hot and thirsty I would drink a mix of orange juice and sparkling water. Then my thirst increased that I assumed was due to the exercise and the cycle repeated….

No, they're different. Should we be concerned about fructose rather than carbs? No, I don't have a history of eating or drinking stuff with fructose in it, can't say the same about carbs. Just me perhaps.
 

Bluetit1802

Legend
Messages
25,216
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
The only time I have overdosed on fruit was when I was on chemo. Admittedly I also increased my carbs in that time, but I really did overdo the fruit. Sometime during that 12 months I "caught" Type 2. I didn't even pass through a pre-diabetes stage. It certainly contributed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TIANDB

ringi

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,365
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Remember that normal sugar is half fructose by the time it gets into our bodies and fructose is often added to ready meals as it does not get listed as sugar in the ingredients.

Our bodies were designed to cope with eating a LOT of fruit for a short time each year when it was in season, but have the rest of the year to burn it off. Also fruit has got sweater due to breading, just look at what types of apples sell the best.....
 

Fleegle

Well-Known Member
Messages
775
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
No expert but doesn't fructose go straight to the liver and stored?
I certainly did eat a lot of fruit and had a really good slug of OJ every morning before work. I would overdose on fruit because I wanted to stick to at least 5 a day and felt that Vegtables were riskier to rely on. I could put fruit in my bag and munch on it anytime any place. I am convinced that fructose has played a major part in my DB, but sadly so has carbs and fizzy sugary drinks too.
The hardest thing by far for me hasn't been carbs as such (bread, rice, potatoes) but boy I miss my orange juice, apples, pears, mangos etc.
 

VioletViolet

Well-Known Member
Messages
408
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
No expert but doesn't fructose go straight to the liver and stored?
I certainly did eat a lot of fruit and had a really good slug of OJ every morning before work. I would overdose on fruit because I wanted to stick to at least 5 a day and felt that Vegtables were riskier to rely on. I could put fruit in my bag and munch on it anytime any place. I am convinced that fructose has played a major part in my DB, but sadly so has carbs and fizzy sugary drinks too.
The hardest thing by far for me hasn't been carbs as such (bread, rice, potatoes) but boy I miss my orange juice, apples, pears, mangos etc.
I agree. Papaya.... oh how I miss papaya...
 

Robbity

Expert
Messages
6,687
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I've been getting the impression that the villain of the piece is high fructose corn syrup that's been snuck into everything rather than actual fruit, both from part 1 of the above article (prevented from seeing 2nd part unless I jump through hoops and login :mad:) and from other stuff I've seen in passing??? So that to me is a big difference...

Robbity
 

bulkbiker

BANNED
Messages
19,575
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I've been getting the impression that the villain of the piece is high fructose corn syrup that's been snuck into everything rather than actual fruit, both from part 1 of the above article (prevented from seeing 2nd part unless I jump through hoops and login :mad:) and from other stuff I've seen in passing??? So that to me is a big difference...

Robbity

Yes but in the UK its not used that much (at all?).. so you'd have to blame the stupid "5 a day" advice which most people take to mean stuff your face with fruit and you'll be fine.
 

Sue_Cyprus_

Member
Messages
15
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Morning everyone I was diagnosed with type 2 in May .I am completely convinced the very large amount of grapes and and other fruits I ate on a daily basis contributed to my diabetes and the dn thinks this too. My numbers are back to normal now Hba1c 39 last month and my metformin has been halved .I only eat a few berries and the odd Apple now.
 

ickihun

Master
Messages
13,698
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Bullies
ringi said:
Dr Jason Fung claims:

What this means practically is that fructose is likely 20 times more likely to cause fatty liver (the key problem of insulin resistance) compared to glucose alone. This explains how many primitive societies could tolerate extremely high carbohydrate diets without developing hyperinsulinemia or insulin resistance.

https://medium.com/@drjasonfung/the-deadly-effects-of-fructose-b4d0128f3b39
https://medium.com/@drjasonfung/the-deadly-effects-of-fructose-part-2-aab046146fb7

My undoing was that I started to do more exercise and when I got home hot and thirsty I would drink a mix of orange juice and sparkling water. Then my thirst increased that I assumed was due to the exercise and the cycle repeated….
I tagged useful as it's always useful to look back at our old habits which contribute to added weight or higher bgs.
 

ickihun

Master
Messages
13,698
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Bullies
Morning everyone I was diagnosed with type 2 in May .I am completely convinced the very large amount of grapes and and other fruits I ate on a daily basis contributed to my diabetes and the dn thinks this too. My numbers are back to normal now Hba1c 39 last month and my metformin has been halved .I only eat a few berries and the odd Apple now.
I don't eat fruit now. I supplement instead. My liver enzyme output is much lower as a result. In my last scan I still had fatty liver thou.
 

CherryAA

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,171
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
In my opinion,
Of course ingesting too much fructose in the form of fruits -with juiced fruit being far worse ( because they have no fibre- which helps slow the ingestion ) will not assist in the quest for low fructose. However as far as I understand it , yes it probably IS mainly fructose that is the problem but not in the way we generally understand fructose.

If the theory set out in the video below is correct then it explains a few things about both the problem of too much insulin and why diabetic people have a much worse time eating carbs than others. I posted the video in my blog around the theory of why its the insulin that matters.

The theory in a nutshell is that the body converts ingested carbohyrdrates into what it needs and generally speaking about 3% of the carbohydrates one consumes get converted into fructose to feed the liver and too much leads to fatty liver with all the consequent problems. . However in the presence of HIGH INSULIN instead of converting 3% into fructose it converts 30% into fructose, so once levels of insulin are high if you feed the body carbohydrates the effect is to create the fatty liver even if you don't actually consume fructose as a natural product.

This is a vicious cycle and this is why a very low carb diet helps so dramatically because now you are not only not triggering the high glucose, and with it your insulin levels but you are not giving your gradually lowering insulin levels anything to convert into fructose and that helps clear your liver.

This is part of why my theory is that the way to recover health has to be to try to bring down insulin -first and foremost
effectively by using foods low on the FII index ( i.e. effectively ketogenic -very low carb) and leaving long gaps between meals ( plus fasting if you can ) and that is what helps clear the organs as quickly as possible to free them up to to do the job they were originally intended for.

https://www.ketogenicforums.com/t/low-carb-breckenridge-gary-fettke-nutrition-inflammation/14471

What this theory also tells us is that whilst fruits are currently pretty toxic to us, that's not really because of the level of natural fructose they contain but because they, like all other carbs, they are being converted into way more fructose than is being ingested.

If we can bring down our insulin levels ( which is a long slow process - from the data I've seen I would suggest probably at least 2 years) then our sensitivity to carbs including fruit should decrease.

Thus if the theory is right then eventually it may be possible to get insulin back to low levels, then clear the liver ( which might take even longer than just getting the insulin down - because you not only have to stop the insulin putting too much new fructose in, but also have to get rid of all the fructose it already has. )

At the same time that this is all happening, refined carbs cooked in the presence of omega 6 oils cause a much bigger spike in insulin than real foods such that the level of omega 6 oils in human body fat has gone up by 300% since the 1960's , Over time the build up of the omega 6 leads to the inflammation that causes so much of the " side effects" of obesity.

What the above says to me is that there is a long term vicious cycle that leads to diabetes and disease that is the ingestion of refined carbohydrates and omega 6 oils , which increase reactions to glucose ingested and insulin volume as a result. The insulin then increases fructose production on consumption of carbohydrates leading to the fatty liver -and the omega 6 leads to inflammation and these combined can take many years to manifest as diabetes or other diseases -

Overall therefore the last 30 years have been a kind of perfect storm of bad nutritional advice by focusing people on refined carbs and omega 6 oils in preference to red meat and saturated fats .

However on the plus side there is then probably a similar long term virtuous cycle that might lead to "complete" recovery if one can get rid of these toxic constituents - that would be first stage - get the glucose down, second get the omega 6 gone. Omega 6 as a proportion of body fat will go down if one stops putting much in , and will probably go away in volume terms if you also lose extraneous body fat. Third stage get the insulin down. The order of 2 and 3 will depend on just how high either omega 6 fat or insulin got into your body before you start tackling it.

For me the $60m question would be - if you can get rid of the omega 6 fat ( which promotes the inflammation ) by reducing weight and if you can get insulin back down to proper levels can you also flip the switch back to it no longer producing too much fructose , or are you stuck with that happening forever and therefore needing to follow a " low carb" diet forever. I am not too sure that matters too much because if its the refined products and omega 6 oils which start the whole thing off, why would anyone ever go back to putting them into your body once you know ?

Instead I think that if you want to remain as healthy as possible the answer must be to eat a nutrient dense real foods diet which will inherently be low carb and higher natural fat. Within that it should be possible eventually to eat small amounts of any fruit within the confines of a very high fibre meal and not have one's glucose meter go through the roof.

@Kentoldlady1 effectively tried this with a national trust scone :) i.e. by taking fibrogel first she had a much smaller reaction to a national trust scone than she had had the previous day without the fibre. I am also experiencing this effect by deliberately adding doses of fibre to my meals ( through Japanese nori and konjac noodles and celery) .My guess is that it probably works in a similar fashion for fruits if anyone wants to try a specific fruit. That is something I will be checking out on my own diet thread eventually.
 

ringi

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,365
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Morning everyone I was diagnosed with type 2 in May .I am completely convinced the very large amount of grapes and and other fruits I ate on a daily basis contributed to my diabetes and the dn thinks this too. My numbers are back to normal now Hba1c 39 last month and my metformin has been halved .I only eat a few berries and the odd Apple now.

I was drinking a lot of fruit juice, maybe as much as 1 litre a day. I now back down to normal BG due to low carb, however I quesion if just stopping drinking the juice would have been enough of a change....
 

ringi

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,365
Type of diabetes
Type 2
@CherryAA You seem to be a bit mixed up, but with the correct recommended actions...

Firstly our body can't make fructose, and does not need fructose. But our body was designed to use fructose to quickly build up fat so we could cope with little food in winter.

When we eat table sugar, it is broken down into fructose and glucose before it enters our blood. Pure fructose as in fruit comes into our blood as floccose. Fiber slows down the process, so giving our body longer to cope with the fructose.

ONLY our liver can use fructose, if the insulin level is low, the lever converts fructose into glucose, if the insulin level is high, the fructose is converted into triglycerides. If the insulin level is VERY low, the liver can convert triglycerides into glucose.

If the rate the liver makes triglycerides is faster than they can be used by the rest of the body, then they build up as fat in the liver cells.
 

Robbieswan

Well-Known Member
Messages
405
Gender
Male
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
My meeting with my HCP yesterday concluded that fruit is not your friend, BUT, like everything, you can have it but in small amounts. She said it was a trade of between your 5 a day and BG levels. I personally have made a decision not to touch fruit anymore, and not only that, the Lantus is giving me a slightly sick feeling and have no desire for my stomach to be any more acidy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bluetit1802

ringi

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,365
Type of diabetes
Type 2
The only fruit I now have are low carb berries, mostly blue berries.

There is no good research backing up the concept of "5 a day", just have as many different colours of above ground veg each day is all we need.

Fruit (not fruit juice) is OK for most people, I am not most people as I have Type2.