by Lawrence Wilson, MD

FRUCTOSE AND WHY AVOID IT

Fructose is a simple sugar, also called a simple carbohydrate. It is found in many fruits, and even in a few vegetables as well. It is composed of a molecule of glucose and a molecule of galactose.

Fructose is also produced commercially, usually from corn. Here is often goes by the name of high-fructose corn syrup or HFCS. Its production involves the use of mercury in some cases, and it is reported that eating HFCS will contaminate you with some mercury, although I have not checked this claim for myself.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH EATING FRUCTOSE?

While I am not sure of the scientific reasons for it, fructose is very upsetting to the body. The reasons for this appear to be:

1. It seems to be able to bypass the liver upon eating it. This means that it is not processed in quite the same way as most other nutrients and foods. The liver tends to slow down the absorption of most foods and nutrients, and it tends to modify them so they are less upsetting to the body.

However, fructose seems to bypass the liver and is just poured directly into the bloodstream. This causes a severe adrenal and insulin reaction in the body.

2. Related to reason #1 in the paragraph above, fructose causes a powerful adrenal and insulin reaction in the body because it quickly raises the blood sugar level. This forces the body to secrete more insulin to bring the blood sugar back down to normal. Often, the body overcompensates, which causes an adrenal reaction as the adrenal glands then must secrete more cortisone and cortisol to raise and stabilize the blood sugar. This is extremely disruptive to the glandular system of the body, and perhaps to other body systems as well, since cortisol and cortisone are powerful anti-stress hormones that affect almost all body systems.

3. More weight gain than other sugars and other foods. This is related to the paragraph above. By causing more insulin and perhaps cortisone and cortisol secretion, the entire sugar-handling mechanism of the body is further upset and unbalanced. It is known that both insulin and cortisol can cause weight gain by many mechanisms.

For example, insulin appears to convert some sugars to fat in the body as a way to store it for future use. Cortisone and cortisol, while they convert fat to sugar, they also cause water retention and are directly related to the accumulation of belly fat. There may be other reasons why these hormones cause excessive weight gain as well.

4. Hypoglycemia and diabetes. Eating fruit and fructose in any form always tends to result in hypoglycemia. This means that it tends to cause a kind of rollercoaster effect on the level of glucose and other sugars in the bloodstream. This is particularly distressing to the glandular and nervous system of the body, and is a precursor or very early stage of diabetes.

5. Candida albicans, or other yeast or fungal overgrowth in the intestines, and later in all tissues of the body. Eating fructose in any form and in any quantity seems to contribute to yeast overgrowth in the body. Possible reasons for this are that sugar is the natural food for yeasts and fungi. Also, the yin quality of all sugars seems to promote fungal overgrowth.

Also, sugar-eating may upset the balance of copper and zinc in the body, which is directly related to the Krebs energy cycle in which these and other minerals are required for aerobic metabolism. Without them, the body tends to revert to an anerobic metabolism, which favors the growth of yeast, fungi.

6. A link with cancer. Any substance that upsets copper metabolism and energy production, and favors the growth of yeasts and fungi will tend to favor the growth of trophoblast. This is a primitive cell type found in association with cancer in the body. To read more about this interesting topic, read Trophoblasts And Their Relation To Cancer and Cancer And Alternative Therapies on this website.

7. Fructose is a very yin molecule. Yin refers to a physics quality that is found in Chinese medicine, and in various writings in Oriental literature. It means cold, expanded, more female in nature.

Fructose appears to be more yin than other common sugars such as dextrose (usually made from sugar cane or sugar beets), maltose (milk sugar), and others. This may be the other reasons that it seems to be more harmful than other sugars.

Today, excessive yin is associated with many illnesses including cancer, diabetes, other blood sugar imbalances, obesity, hypothyroidism, adrenal insufficiency and many others. For much more on this exciting topic, read Yin Disease and Yin And Yang Healing on this website.

8. Fructose seems to upset the nervous system in many ways. This is probably due to all of the reasons above. That is, it is too yin, it is upsetting to the glandular system, and it upsets the sugar-handling mechanism of the body as well in severe ways.

9. Upsetting copper metabolism. This was a contention of Dr. Paul Eck, the founder of nutritional balancing science. Possible reasons for this may be its effect on the adrenal glands, or its yin quality, or perhaps some other aspect of fructose metabolism in the body.

CONDITIONS ASSOCIATED WITH EATING FRUCTOSE

In fact, these are too numerous to list. However, among the most important are hypoglycemia, diabetes, cancer, obesity, high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis, other heart disease, fatigue, adrenal burnout, skin, hair and nail problems, varicose veins and many others. Fructose, along with chlorine and fluoride in the water, refining of wheat into white flour, refining of rice into white rice, and the general degradation of the food supply may be considered the major causes of the modern “diseases of civilization”.

HOW TO AVOID FRUCTOSE

The single easiest way to avoid eating fructose is to avoid eating most fruit, honey, syrups including rice syrup, barley malt and barley syrup. Also, one must avoid all sweetened beverages and foods, since high-fructose corn syrup is now the cheapest and most widely used sweetener.

Some of the most common sources are most baked goods, sodas, fruit juices, vegetable juices, sports drinks, protein drinks and powders, food bars, prepared soups, even vitamin pills and lozenges, and literally thousands of other common supermarket and health food store products. For a more complete list, google fructose-containing foods.

FRUCTOSE AND FRUIT-EATING

Unfortunately, anyone who eats a lot of fruit, which means some fruit each day or so, is consuming a lot of fructose. This is just one of the harmful aspects of eating fruit, and one reason that eating fruit is not recommended on nutritional balancing programs.

Also, anyone who eats a lot of fruit is not getting the right balance of minerals. This is a deadly combination, in my experience. This is why the common advice to “eat more fruits and vegetables” is not good nutritional advice. Far better advise is to avoid fruit altogether, and eat many more cooked vegetables, not raw ones, which human beings do not digest well enough to extract most of the minerals from them.

For much more information about this topic, read Fruit – Its Benefits and Problems on this website.

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