Fructose

What is Fructose?

When your body needs any energy, one of its sources is simple sugars. One of these simple sugars, also called monosaccharide, is fructose. Fructose has a low glycemic index and as such does not cause blood sugar to rise tremendously.

Fruits and vegetables have relatively small, "normal" amounts of fructose that most bodies can handle quite well. These amounts are safe for your body and they can help the body process glucose properly.

There is a lot of debate going on the use of fructose as a dietary supplement considering that we only need it in small amounts and it is now found in nearly all processed foods as an artificial sweetener.

Fructose is loved by food manufacturers since it can enhance food flavour, it acts as a natural food preservative and it is cheap to use compared to other sweeteners.

Side Effects and Warnings of Fructose

There is a great need to talk to your medical practitioner before taking any fructose based dietary supplement.

Fructose in low amounts can be good for your body. However, too much of it can cause serious health issues. This is because too much fructose cannot be processed fast enough by the liver. This leads to the liver releasing fats from fructose to the bloodstream as triglycerides.

Too much fructose in your body is not good since:

• High blood triglycerides are a risk factor for heart disease.
• Fructose ends up circumventing the normal appetite signalling system. This leaves you feeling hungry and eating more. This is probably at least part of the reason why excess fructose consumption is associated with weight gain. 
• There is growing evidence that excess fructose consumption may facilitate insulin resistance, and eventually type-2 diabetes.
  

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