Ingredient Information

Function

Fructose is a simple sugar, which occurs in nature in fruits and honey. As a food sweetener, fructose is found in the form of crystalline fructose. Crystalline fructose is produced from corn starch by treating it with enzymes to break it down into fructose. Fructose is used as a sweetener in carbonated soft drinks and many other processed foods. Food manufacturers use fructose in place of sugar because it is less expensive. It also has the useful property of increasing the sweetness of other sweeteners when used together. As fructose works, it can increase viscosity, making granola bars chewy; it also can prevent crystallization in ice cream . Fructose is prized for imparting an appealing caramelized color to baked goods.

Because fructose initially comes from corn, it can be listed as a "natural sweetener" even though it is a highly refined product. It may also be called, "fruit sugar".

Other Use and Industries

NONE KNOWN

Health Effects

Consuming fructose in processed food or juice floods the body with free fructose, which metabolizes differently from sucrose (table sugar). Free fructose enters the bloodstream rapidly and causes disruptions in the system. When lab animals consumed high-fructose corn syrup at normal levels, it caused obesity, high triglyceride levels, and an accumulation of abdominal fat. This trio of symptoms in people indicates risk factors for atherosclerosis, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer. There is also evidence that consuming fructose leads to the development of dementia.

Free fructose has been shown to cause insulin resistance, which means that cells fail to respond to insulin in its role of lowering the amount of glucose in the blood. Free fructose also causes leptin resistance. Leptin is the hormone that signals the body to stop eating when full. Free fructose in the blood disrupts this process and prevents leptin from getting to the brain, so no "stop-eating" signal is sent. A person consuming food or beverages containing fructose will not feel full and is likely to continue eating those foods.

Since the introduction of high-fructose corn syrup in the 1970s, the rate of obesity in the United States has doubled to the current level of 33% of adults. As far back as 2004, the consumption of fructose was statistically linked with this increase in obesity. Carbonated soft drinks were identified in 2006 as the number one cause of obesity in the United States, and have been identified as the leading cause of obesity in children. Soft drinks are made with high fructose corn syrup, which contains 55% fructose. A can of soda contains up to 40 grams of high-fructose corn syrup.

Origins

Fructose is commercially produced from corn, beetroot and sugarcane. Commercially, it comes in three forms: crystalline fructose, high-fructose corn syrup, and sucrose. Crystalline fructose is a monosaccharide that is dried and ground, and is of high purity. High-fructose corn syrup is part glucose, part fructose. Fructose also is present in free form in most fruits and berries, with concentrations ranging from 1% to 22% of the total sugars in the fruits. It is found in nature in honey, flowers, and root vegetables.

Fructose was discovered by the French chemist Augustin-Pierre Dubrunfaut in 1847. More than 240,000 tons of fructose are produced annually.