To Your Health

Fruit isn't too much sugar

Caitlin Mellendorf
Two apples and two bananas on a wood table with a gray brick background. Sugar cubes sit in front of fruit

"Bananas are too high in sugar, right?" asked a class participant last week. A few years before, a class participant asked if her teenager could have two kiwifruit with breakfast. Wasn't that too much sugar? 

They're not the only ones who have asked. After years of teaching community classes, I'm noticing many people are afraid of fruit. Let's explore why fruit isn't too much sugar - and how you can (and should) include it in your meals and snacks each day.

What is the Sugar in Fruit?

Fruits contain a mix of sugar, starch, and fiber. These are all types of carbohydrates, your body's preferred energy or fuel source.  

  • Sugars are often only one or two sugar molecules long, such as glucose and fructose (single-molecule sugars) and sucrose (a two-molecule sugar). Sugars are digested and absorbed quickly by the body and provide quick energy. Most of the carbohydrates in fruits are sugars.
  • Starches are long chains of sugars that take more time for the body to digest than sugars. Slower digestion of carbohydrates provides longer-lasting energy. Most fruits contain a small amount of starch. (Grains and beans are examples of foods with more starches and less sugar.)
  • Fibers are also found in fruit. Like starches, fibers are long chains of sugars. But the arrangement of the sugars prevents the body from easily breaking the chains into smaller sugars. So, while fibers do not offer much energy like sugars or starches, they offer other benefits. For example, foods with fiber are digested slowly and support blood sugar management. They also interact with how fats are digested and absorbed in ways that can help lower blood cholesterol. As well, some fibers are prebiotic, meaning they act as food to beneficial gut microbes to support gut health and biodiversity.

What Else is in Fruit?

Yes, fruit has sugar, but that's not all it has. Fruits' other nutrients - water, vitamins, and minerals - are also important for your body's needs. Plus, fruits have phytonutrients.

  • Water. Fruits have a high percentage of water, usually above 80%, which can help you stay hydrated.
  • Vitamin and minerals. These micronutrients are used all over the body to help produce energy, build hormones, coordinate muscle movement, and more! Every fruit contains a different mix of vitamins and minerals, but vitamins common to many fruits include vitamin A, vitamin C, and folate (a B vitamin) and common minerals include potassium and magnesium.  
  • Phytonutrients. Phytonutrients - or phytochemicals or "plant nutrients" - are compounds that plants make, often giving them vibrant colors. Anthocyanidins are in the class of flavonoid phytonutrients that give some fruits and vegetables their red, purple, and blue colors. Phytonutrients are not required by human bodies the way that nutrients are, but phytonutrients act on our bodies in ways that help prevent cell damage and may reduce disease risk over time. For example, some studies show that eating foods with flavonoids - including fruits - was related to reduced blood cholesterol, a risk factor in heart disease. 

Is Sugar a Problem?

One role of eating is to get enough of different nutrients - water, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals - to supply your body what it needs to grow, repair, and thrive. Sugar is an important energy source for the body and eating foods with sugar - including fruit - are not a problem on their own.

Eating a lot of sugar, primarily from foods with added sugars, may increase the risk of chronic diseases. Plus, it can be hard to make space for higher nutrients foods when eating lots of added sugars. This could lead to nutrient deficiencies over time, since foods with added sugars often have few vitamins or minerals. Whole fruit has no added sugar, nor do unsweetened frozen fruits, canned fruit in 100% juice, or 100% fruit juices. 

How Can (and Should) I Eat Fruit?

  • Learn How Much. Find your daily fruit recommendations from MyPlate guidelines. The recommendations for children over age 8 and adults range from 1½ to 2½ cups of fruit per day. For toddlers and children up to age 8, the recommendations range between ½ cup and 2 cups. There might be days you go over or under this amount. That's okay. Practice mindfulness to notice how you feel when you eat a lot or a little fruit.
  • Visualize the Amount. No one has to eat the entire amount of fruit all at once. (That might make your stomach hurt.) For a 40-year old women, the fruit recommendation is 1½ to 2 cups of fruit daily. Eating 1½ cups of fruit could look like 1 small apple (a 1-cup amount) with lunch and ¼ cup dried fruit (a 1/2-cup amount) as part of a trail mix with a snack.
  • Eat All Forms. Fresh, canned, frozen, and dried fruits all count towards your daily goal. This gives you flexibility to eat a fresh peach when it's tastiest in summer or add frozen peaches to a smoothie in winter. Individually-packed fruit cups and dried fruit are great for travel. Check out our Recipes page for inspiration.
  • Pair Fruit with Fat and Protein. Since fruits are mostly carbohydrates - specifically sugars - you might feel hungry again soon if you ate fruit by itself. Foods with fat and protein are digested slower than carbohydrates and can increase your satisfaction after eating. If you eat fruit with a meal, you are likely already pairing it with other foods that have fat and protein. If you eat fruit at a snack, you might not. Easy fruit snack pairings might be berries and cottage cheese, pear slices with peanut butter, or a jerky stick and fruit cup.
  • Challenge Your Fears. If you are worried that fruit is too much sugar or too many carbs, or you feel guilty when you eat the whole banana, practice challenging your fears by eating fruit anyway. Remember that fruits are full of nutrition and your body uses carbohydrates - and sugar - for energy. No need to be low on fuel and hangry! 

 

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To Your Health

Keywords
Fruits
Healthy Eating
Nutrition
Food Access

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