Tomatoes = Fructose?

[ex_banana-eater]

Since they are a fruit, do they contain fructose? Just wondering...

[YellowJacket]

The Facts About Sugar


Think about the foods you most enjoy eating. Chances are they contain some form of sugar. It could be the sugars in peaches fresh from the orchard, or the sugars contributing to the taste of your favourite ice cream. Most people enjoy the sweet taste of sugars.

But taste is only one of the important roles sugars play in food. For example, sugars help preserve jams, cereals, cakes, lollies and biscuits. Sugars also help produce the tender, moist texture of cakes and the golden-brown crispness of many biscuits.

As part of a balanced plan for healthy eating, you can enjoy sugars in moderation.

What are sugars?

Sugars are carbohydrates, which serve as the main energy source for the body. There are many types of sugars. They occur both in fresh foods and are added as ingredients to many foods.

Sugars include sucrose, glucose, fructose, lactose, galactose and maltose and are found in foods such as fruits, vegetables and flour, cereal and milk products. The most familiar sugar is sucrose (table sugar). It is made of two simple sugars, fructose and glucose. Other sugars used in foods include corn syrup, honey (a mixture of sugars), lactose (milk sugar) and other syrups. During digestion, all of these sugars except lactose break down into fructose and glucose. Lactose breaks down into glucose and galactose.

Sugars used in foods

Different sugars perform different functions in foods. These sugars often appear on food label ingredient lists.

Fructose: a monosaccharide or single sugar. In nature, it combines with glucose to form sucrose. About 1 1/2 times sweeter than sucrose.

Glucose: a monosaccharide or single sugar. In nature, it combines with fructose to form sucrose. It can also combine with glucose to form maltose, and with galactose to form lactose. Slightly less sweet than sucrose.

Sucrose: a disaccharide or double sugar made of equal parts of glucose and fructose. Known as table or white sugar, sucrose is found naturally in sugar cane and sugar beets and in small amounts in some fruits. It comes from these foods for commercial use.

Other sugars often used in foods may include lactose, dextrose and maltose.

Why are sugars added to foods?

Sugars play important roles in foods for many reasons that go beyond the sweet taste they impart. They add taste, texture and colour to baked goods and provide energy for yeast used in baking bread. They add body to yoghurt, help balance acidity in tomato sauces and salad dressings and act as preservatives. They increase the boiling point or reduce the freezing point of foods, and add bulk and density.

Different sugars have varying properties that affect how they work. Manufacturers use different sugars to achieve desired results. For example, invert sugar helps keep sucrose from crystallizing in lollies.

How does the body use sugars?

As carbohydrates, sugars provide the main energy source for the body.

There are no significant nutritional differences between sugars. During digestion, sugars such as sucrose and lactose and other carbohydrates such as starches break down into simple (or single) sugars. Simple sugars then travel through the blood stream to body cells. There they provide energy or are stored for future use.

The brain and red blood cells can use only glucose for energy. During pregnancy, glucose also helps form cells and produce milk. The body can make its own glucose or get it from foods.

How do sugars fit into a healthy diet?

A healthy daily diet includes foods from five groups: breads, cereal, rice and pasta; vegetables; fruits; milk, yoghurt and cheese; meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs and nuts.

Some foods in these groups naturally contain sugars, such as fruit or milk. Other foods in these groups may have added sugars, such as cakes, biscuits or fruit canned in syrup. A healthy diet can include both types of food. When attempting to lose weight, however, the amount of high-fat foods needs to be reduced, and the relative amount of foods rich in vitamins and minerals increased. This helps ensure an adequate intake of essential nutrients.

Some foods primarily contain fats or sugars and few other nutrients such as vitamins and minerals. A healthy diet can usually include these foods in moderation.

Unlike other nutrients, the National Health and Medical Research Council sets no recommended dietary intake for sugar. Australian dietary guidelines recommend that sugars be consumed in moderation.

What is meant by the term "sugars" on a food label?

The nutrition panel on a food label lists the total amount of sugars in a serving of the food. This amount includes sugars found naturally in foods such as the sugars in sultanas. It also includes added sugars. The ingredient list must name added sugars, which may include glucose, lactose, malt or corn syrup.

What does "no added sugar" mean on the labels of food packages?

The Australian Food Standards Code prescribes the use of this term on food labels. A food labelled as "no added sugar", "without added sugar" or "no sugar added" must not contain any added sugars, honey, malt, malt extract or maltose. Processing also must not increase the amount of sugars in the food.

Do sugars cause hyperactivity?

In the 1970s, some anecdotal reports suggested sugars cause hyperactivity in children. Research, however, failed to confirm this theory. Hyperactivity was not seen in children after consistent high intakes or single large doses of sugars.

There are no significant nutritional differences between sugars. During digestion, sugars such as sucrose and lactose and other carbohydrates such as starches break down into simple (or single) sugars. Simple sugars then travel through the blood stream to body cells. There they provide energy or are stored for future use.

In a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine into the effects of sugars on behaviour and cognitive performance, researchers examined the effect of eating sucrose on the behaviour of children aged 6 to 10 years. The children were chosen for the study because their parents believed the children reacted negatively to sucrose.

Preschool children were also studied as they are often considered sensitive to some foods. The researchers found no differences in the behaviour of the children when they ate higher-than-normal amounts of sucrose compared to when they ate diets low in sucrose.

Do sugars cause diabetes?

Researchers do not know why diabetes occurs, but they know sugars do not cause it. Diabetes is a disorder in the way the body handles sugars. People with diabetes do not make any, or enough, insulin. Or they cannot properly use the insulin their bodies do make. The body needs insulin to use most sugars.

Diabetes treatment includes a balanced diet, regular exercise and medication when prescribed. Dietitians suggest that most people with well-controlled diabetes can enjoy sugars if included as part of well-balanced meals.

Given their pleasant taste, sugars in the diets of people who must restrict fat intake, such as those with diabetes, may help satisfy the taste for such foods and ultimately make it easier for such people to stick to prescribed diets.

Do sugars cause weight gain?

Sugars themselves do not cause weight gain. Excess body fat results when a person eats more calories than needed.

Extra calories may come from any caloric nutrient (proteins, fats, carbohydrates or alcohol). Lack of physical activity plays a significant role in obesity.

As carbohydrates, sugars actually contain fewer calories than most other calorie-containing nutrients:

fats contain 37 kilojoules per gram
alcohol contains 29 kilojoules per gram
proteins contain 17 kilojoules per gram
carbohydrates contain 17 kilojoules per gram.
Do sugars cause hypoglycaemia?

The medical condition "hypoglycaemia" is very rare. It results from an underlying illness that affects the body’s ability to maintain its blood sugar level. In hypoglycaemia, blood sugar levels fall below normal. Symptoms such as shakiness and headaches may occur.

Sugars do not usually affect blood sugar levels in healthy people. Low blood sugar levels occur most often in people with diabetes who are not managing their condition optimally. The treatment in this case is to eat sugars such as those found in fruit juices, sugar cubes, hard lollies or soft drinks.

Do sugars cause tooth decay?

Tooth decay is the result of many factors, including heredity and the make-up and flow of saliva. Sugars and other carbohydrates such as starchy foods also play a part.

Bacteria on the teeth (dental plaque) feed on carbohydrates and make acids. The acids then break down the tooth to form a cavity.

Frequent snacks of foods that contain any carbohydrates, especially those that stick to the teeth, may increase chances of decay.

Experts advise a balanced diet and brushing teeth after meals and snacks. The use of fluoride and better dental care has led to a decline of tooth decay in recent years.

"Baby bottle mouth syndrome" is a significant cause of tooth decay in young children. Infants should not sleep with bottles in their mouths filled with any carbohydrate-containing liquid. This includes milk, formula and fruit juice

[ex_banana-eater]

Do tomatoes, and peppers contain fructose? I know they are both fruits... Also do pumpkins?

[sage]

ummm....arent tomatoes a veg? (love how im not sure bout this) Sage

[Andy2k]

I'll have a scout around to see what the sugar actually is.
In the meantime,
Tomatoes are a Fruit

Oh yes.......

Tomatoes are a vegetable.


Biologically, tomatoes are a fruit - end of story.
Legally (at least in the US) tomatoes are a vegetable - I'll try to find the link for this, but it is basically because of a law suit that was brought in a US court (taxes or something) and the judge ruled that as tomatoes are eaten as part of a main course, they are legally a vegetable.
Personally I think that the judge is as well

[Redeemer]

Biologically anything with seeds is a fruit. Not all fructose is bad expecially when you consider the ammount of fiber that goes along with your piece of fruit.

[Rodja]

Why did you bump a 4 1/2 year old thread?

[Jayhawkk]

Because he felt like adding to the last post of the thread. We tell people to search and then bash them for adding to a conversation because it was too old? Obviously he found this by searching threads.

[John Smeton]

Biologically anything with seeds is a fruit. Not all fructose is bad expecially when you consider the ammount of fiber that goes along with your piece of fruit.

how much ffiver is in a tomatoe?

My gradfather has grown them since I was a young lad and Ive eating a lot of tomaotes. I eat them with protein bars at work, in salads, or just as a veggie with my chicken and brown rice.

[kraftkid]

type "calorie counter" into google and you will find fifty websites that give you the nutrient count in all foods.

Redeemer is right, seeds = fruit, and you def have to factor in fiber when looking at sugar content.