Benefits of using fructose for diabetes | Negative aspects of consuming fructose
Fructose is used as a sweetener. It is a monosaccharide, which can be of dual origin. It occurs both naturally (sweet berries, fruits, and also honey), and synthetic (created in a laboratory). With its help, you can get a sweet taste, but without resorting to the use of sugar in its pure form.
By the way, ordinary food sugar, or sucrose, consists of glucose and fructose in equal proportions. After sucrose is ingested, it breaks down to these simple carbohydrates. Their further use by the body goes in different ways. One of them implies the presence of insulin to facilitate entry into the cell, and the other pathway does not depend on insulin.
The benefits of using fructose for diabetes – are there any?
Why did fructose begin to be used for diabetes? This is because it does not require the presence of insulin for its assimilation. Almost all tissues in the human body as a source of energy consume glucose as the main substance, which, when oxidized, produces ATP molecules. However, there are exceptions. Fructose is actively used for the energy supply of sperm, so if it is lacking, male infertility can develop. In this regard, it is necessary to consume a sufficient amount of fruit or a spoonful of honey per day for all people.
The main place in the body where fructose metabolism occurs is the liver. The formation of glycogen from fructose occurs in the liver. And glycogen is the main energy reserve, which is then consumed to meet the needs of the human body. In other organs, fructose cannot be metabolized, therefore, with liver disease, it is recommended to limit the amount of fructose entering the body.
Fructose does not require the presence of insulin for its assimilation.
Fructose hardly turns into glucose, since the ability of hepatocytes (liver cells) in this process is very limited (a reservation should be made here – only in healthy people, this is discussed below). However, fructose is easily metabolized to triglycerides. Associated with this are the negative consequences that lead to a craze for products containing fructose.
Another advantage of this monosaccharide is that fructose is much sweeter than sugar. You can make the dish about two times sweeter with an equal amount of sugar and fructose used. However, many consumers do not reduce its consumption, but rather get used to sweeter foods. In this regard, their calorie content is not reduced, but increased. Therefore, one of the advantages of fructose automatically turns into its disadvantage, which can lead to the development of obesity and all the ensuing consequences.
Fructose is much sweeter than sugar.
As you know, the main cause of cavities is the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria, which is not possible without the presence of glucose. Therefore, by restricting the amount of glucose in the diet you can reduce the incidence of dental caries. Scientific studies have shown that by consuming fructose, the incidence of caries decreased by 20-30%. The incidence of inflammatory processes in the oral cavity also decreased.
Thus, consuming fructose has a limited number of benefits. They consist only in a lesser need for insulin, as well as in the ability to reduce the incidence of certain dental diseases.
The negative aspects of consuming fructose in diabetes
Fructose products for diabetes should not be consumed immensely. The need for such a restriction is associated with the metabolic transformations that fructose undergoes in the liver. The most important thing is the phosphorylation process, after which the fructose splits into trioses. Fatty acids and triglycerides are formed from them. This leads to an increase in the amount of adipose tissue and, as a result, to obesity. Triglycerides also increase the level of low and very low-density lipoproteins, which leads to the development of atherosclerosis. And as you know, atherosclerosis is the main cause of strokes, heart attacks and other serious complications. In addition, it should be remembered that diabetes also leads to atherosclerotic vascular damage. It is with this process that the development of diabetic foot syndrome and the listed complications is associated.
Thus, the question of whether fructose can be used in diabetes has been studied very thoroughly lately. The prerequisites for this are not only the metabolic changes listed above, but also other facts. Firstly, with diabetes mellitus, fructose is very actively converted into glucose, which already requires the presence of insulin and the normal perception of this hormone by target cells (for example, in type two diabetes mellitus, insulin is produced normally, and there is a receptor defect, therefore it cannot realize his action). Only in people without impaired carbohydrate metabolism, fructose practically does not turn into glucose. Therefore, diabetics are not likely to benefit from consuming fructose-containing foods.
Fructose products for diabetes should not be consumed immensely. This leads to obesity.
Secondly, cells in a state of energy hunger begin to oxidize fats. This process is accompanied by the release of energy. In order to replenish the reserves of adipose tissue, fructose is usually used, which comes with various foods. The formation of fat from fructose proceeds without the participation of insulin, so the amount of fat deposits increases very much, exceeding their initial content.
Among the scientific community there is such an opinion that fructose is the cause of the obesity epidemic. This is not without merit. This is due to the following facts:
- fat easily forms from fructose, since this process does not require the participation of insulin;
- fat deposits, which are formed during the consumption of fructose, are very difficult to burn, so the amount of subcutaneous fat layer is constantly increasing;
- fructose and fats do not provide a feeling of fullness. It is associated solely with blood glucose levels. This creates a kind of vicious circle – the amount of food consumed is growing steadily, and the feeling of hunger does not decrease.
It should be borne in mind that in diabetes mellitus, obesity is the main causative factor that leads to insulin resistance, that is, a decrease in the sensitivity of insulin receptors. It turns out that the use of fructose leads to obesity, against which the course of diabetes mellitus worsens significantly.
Fructose can disrupt normal intestinal motility. This leads to the development of irritable bowel syndrome.
American gastroenterologists have been able to prove that fructose can disrupt normal intestinal motility. This leads to the development of irritable bowel syndrome, which is manifested either by diarrhea or constipation. Also, this pathological condition can lead to the appearance of pain in the abdomen, bloating. All this leaves an imprint on the process of assimilation of nutrients, dramatically disrupting it. The use of additional research methods allows you to make a final diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome. The diagnostic search does not reveal any pathology of the gastrointestinal tract.
In conclusion, it should be noted that fructose as a sugar substitute for diabetes has a huge number of disadvantages. Therefore, it is not recommended for use by people, especially diabetics. It leads to various metabolic shifts in the body that undermine the already poor health of diabetics. All these conclusions are made on the basis of serious scientific research conducted all over the world. They demonstrated the negative effects of fructose on humans, especially synthetic ones. Therefore, after a person is diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, the intake of sweets, including fructose, should be limited. Diabetes mellitus is a lifestyle that involves giving up sweets, so you should not replace it with other products with similar tastes. The body cannot be fooled!