Fruit- good or bad?

[Jebus]

During the last few years I have reduced my fruit and fruit juice consumption to zero because of the high fructose content. However, this Michael Greger clip has given me doubts: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/if-fructose-is-bad-what-about-fruit/

[brimstoneSalad]

It's mostly an issue of not eating too much at once to overwhelm your liver. You have to look at your liver's total burden (including alcohol). Fruit, rather than juice, has the advantage of having the fructose absorbed a bit more slowly.

That said, I'm not a huge fan of most fruit, aside from berries (which are high in antioxidants, and I'm not sure if you can get too much of those from diet). Once you have your vitamin C for the day, sweet fruits are mostly empty calories. They have water in them too, which is good, and can prevent overeating due to the bulk, but the sugar probably isn't beneficial for anything but energy. Nothing wrong with that if you're into endurance sports, but for most people overeating sweet fruit can lead to weight gain and tooth decay.

[Jebus]

sweet fruits are mostly empty calories. They have water in them too

They seem like empty calories because of the high water content, but the nutrient per calorie ratio is similar to that of vegetables.

[brimstoneSalad]

They seem like empty calories because of the high water content,

How would high water content make them seem like empty calories? I'm just looking at the nutrient to calorie ratio.

but the nutrient per calorie ratio is similar to that of vegetables.

What fruit? What vegetables?

applenutrition.jpg

broccolinutrition.jpg

icebergnutrition.jpg

It's true that some berries are decent, but most typical sweet fruits are more comparable to candy than vegetables.

[Jebus]

True. Veggies nearly almost have more. I am still working on this project. I will let you know which fruits beat some vegetables.

[brimstoneSalad]

There are some botanical fruits that are culinary vegetables that probably have more nutrients, like tomatoes and some squash; those may beat some starchy vegetables (like root vegetables). The main thing is the large amount of sugar which increases calories drastically without adding to nutrition.

[Jamie in Chile]

That's interesting. My kids eat a moderate amount of fruit and vegetables, but that's mostly due to fruit. I'd say they get about 7-15% of their calories from fruit and about 2-4% from vegetables. Does that sound bad to you? Do we need to try and push up the vegetable amount? Most health guidelines are for fruit and veg together, they don't specify the ratio of the two...

[brimstoneSalad]

That's interesting. My kids eat a moderate amount of fruit and vegetables, but that's mostly due to fruit. I'd say they get about 7-15% of their calories from fruit and about 2-4% from vegetables. Does that sound bad to you?

It's probably more than most people.
Sometimes you can hide more veggies in things. You could also favor berries over sweeter fruit and that could help too.

Do we need to try and push up the vegetable amount? Most health guidelines are for fruit and veg together, they don't specify the ratio of the two...

For simplicity's sake, probably. Even from fruit to fruit, and veggie to veggie, nutritional differences can be pretty large.

[DarlBundren]

Do you know if veggies have the same antiplatalet effect, though? https://nutritionfacts.org/2016/02/02/the-number-one-global-diet-risk/

[brimstoneSalad]

Do you know if veggies have the same antiplatalet effect, though? https://nutritionfacts.org/2016/02/02/the-number-one-global-diet-risk/

I don't know, but he's talking about berries which are nutritionally a little more similar to vegetables in density and lower sugar content.
Plug in 2,000 calories of blackberries into cronometer and watch most of your vitamins and minerals light up green.