Nutrition Myth #4 - Fruit is good for you

Well….yes. It is.    But so is red meat.   And wine.  And fat.    They all provide energy and nutrients but none of them are promoted as ‘essential’ as fruit.  We’re not told to eat 5 portions of protein a day but we are told to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables.

And incidentally, the 5 A Day promotion is largely based on marketing, rather than science.

Why vegetables?   Probably because we generally don’t eat enough and we need a certain amount of dietary fibre and nutrients that we can’t get anywhere else.  Why fruit?   Because it is generally sweeter and easier to get people – especially children – to snack on.

So what is the issue with fruit? The reason fruit is so sweet is that it is full of sugar – fructose – a very simple sugar that is quickly and easily broken down into glucose. And excess sugar is most easily converted into fat.

A 400g punnet of cherries will contain 252 calories, 0.8g of fat, 64g of carbs, of which 51.2g are sugars.

A 50g Mars Bar will provide 229 calories, 6.6g of saturated fat, 52g of carbs, of which 35.7g are sugars.

Obviously, the Mars Bar is much higher in fat, but 7g of fat is not going to kill you. Current recommendations are that no more than 10% of your intake should come from saturated fat, equivalent to 22g for a 2,000 calorie diet. If that is your treat for the day, you have consumed fewer calories and 40% less sugars and still within recommendations. Because of the higher fat content you will feel fuller for longer.

4 squares (40g) of 85% dark chocolate is 233 cal, only 6g of sugars, 11g saturated fat but also 5g protein.

Fruits are good for you in the same way that all food is good for you in moderation, but they are essentially sugar bombs and don’t actually provide a huge amount of nutrients that you cannot get from a varied, vegetable-rich diet.

If you are looking for healthy snacks think about raw vegetables and mushrooms, nuts, dark chocolate, cured meats, jerky, biltong, tinned fish, hard cheese or hard-boiled eggs, otherwise you are just snacking on sugar. And 'natural sugar’ is still sugar.

References

  1. Roberts SB.  (2003)  “Glycemic index and satiety”.  Nutrition in Clinical Care.  Jan-Apr;6(1):20-6.

  2. Anderson GH, Woodend D.  (2003)  “Effect of glycemic carbohydrates on short-term satiety and food intake”. Nutrition Reviews.  May;61(5 Pt 2):S17-26.

  3. Lennerz BS, Alsop DC, Holsen LM, Stern E, Rojas R, Ebbeling CB, Goldstein JM, Ludwig DS.  (2013)  “Effects of dietary glycemic index on brain regions related to reward and craving in men”.  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.  Sep;98(3):641-7

  4. Ludwig DS, Majzoub JA, Al-Zahrani A, Dallal GE, Blanco I, Roberts SB.  (1999)  “High glycemic index foods, overeating, and obesity”.  Pediatrics.  Mar;103(3):E26.