Date: 2020-03-25 Author: Lin Yixuan

"Not eating enough vegetables today? Make up for it with some fruit." "Afraid of gaining weight while dieting? Just replace a meal with fruit." If you have these thoughts, you might be falling into an obesity trap! Weight-loss physician Song Yanren points out that commercially available fruits today have been modified to contain far more sugar than imagined. Eating just one apple could exceed your daily sugar intake. Using fruit as a substitute for meals or vegetables can more easily lead to fatty liver accumulation—definitely not advisable.

One Apple Can Exceed Daily Sugar Intake

Weight-loss physician Song Yanren explains that most of the nutrients and enzymes found in fruits can also be obtained from vegetables. However, unlike vegetables, fruits contain high concentrations of sucrose and fructose.

Especially in Taiwan, known as the "Fruit Kingdom," various modified varieties have emerged like bamboo shoots after rain, making fruits two to three times sweeter than before. "Even eating one apple could exceed the daily recommended sugar intake of 25 grams. At this point, you're not just consuming nutrients—you're eating sugar."

Excessive Fructose Intake Leads to Fatty Liver and High Blood Pressure

Most fructose is actually converted into very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) in the liver, which is then transported out of the liver and enters fat tissue through the bloodstream, turning into triglycerides (fat) for storage, leading to obesity. If large amounts of fructose are consumed, VLDL will be synthesized in excess, unable to be transported out of the liver in time, and will accumulate directly in the liver, forming fat particles. Over time, this can lead to fatty liver disease.

In addition to fat synthesis, fructose metabolism in the liver also produces uric acid. This uric acid can not only cause gout but also damage vascular endothelial cells, preventing them from producing the essential factors that relax vascular smooth muscles, leading to high blood pressure.

Research Confirms: Eating Fruit After Meals Is Better

However, a recent article in *Cell Metabolism* suggests that choosing the right time to eat fruit can reduce the chance of sugar turning into fatty liver.

Using isotope tracing, researchers studied fructose metabolism in the body and found that most fructose is broken down into glucose and organic acids in the small intestine, which then flow to the liver via the portal vein. When the small intestine is overloaded, unmetabolized fructose directly returns to the liver through the portal vein, tapping into the liver's reserve capacity and contributing to fatty liver.

Based on this discovery, researchers noted that consuming some sugar before eating fruit can activate the small intestine's fructose metabolism capacity. This increases the small intestine's ability to clear fructose, allowing more fructose to be directly converted into glucose and enter the bloodstream instead of accumulating in the liver.

Therefore, if you're a fruit lover, it’s recommended to follow these two principles to minimize the burden on your body when consuming fruit:

(1) If you must eat fruit, try to do so after meals. At this time, the small intestine's metabolic capacity is improved, offering protective benefits for the liver.

(2) Choose fruits with more fiber and less sugar: For example, opt for cherry tomatoes instead of bananas or longan. These not only have lower sugar content but also release fructose more slowly, avoiding overburdening the small intestine in terms of dosage and timing.

Reference: *The Small Intestine Converts Dietary Fructose into Glucose and Organic Acids.*

Source: https://heho. com. tw/ archives/ 75457