Many nutritional online sources fail to treat sucrose as a combination of fructose and glucose. (read more about the difference between fructose and glucose) When discussing the effects of simple sugars on the body, statements such as “product X has 60% of sucrose and only 1% of fructose” are completely misleading.
This confusion usually comes by misinterpreting how the nutrients are listed in the nutrient databases and the scientific research publications. Basically, it fails to understand that:
- Sucrose = 50% fructose + 50% glucose;
- Fructose = Free fructose + 50% of sucrose;
- The effects on the body of fructose and glucose combined into sucrose is the same as fructose and glucose separately. (1)
Nutrient Databases
The amounts of nutrients are usually taken from official government run databases such as USDA’s.
These databases correctly show sucrose, fructose and glucose amounts separately, as they appear in food. Fructose and glucose can be found in foods on their own or/and as part of sucrose.
Here are two examples:
- Table sugar has 99.8% sucrose, 0% fructose and 0% glucose. This means that there are no fructose or glucose on they own but paired together in glucose. (2)
- Honey fructose contents are 40.94%, glucose 35.75% and sucrose only 0.89%. What it means is that only 0.89% of fructose and glucose is combined in sucrose pairs and the rest is separated. (3)
Scientific papers
Some nutrient lab studies show sucrose, glucose and fructose contents of some foods as separate amounts. This is correct, depending on the purpose of the studies.
For instance, the purpose of this study (4) on maple syrup sugar composition is, as stated in the beginning of the paper, to learn more about the chemical composition of maple syrup for non-nutritional purposes, such as determining the levels of artificial de-colorization. Hence, it shows the amount of sucrose (65.1%), of fructose (0.7%) and of glucose (0.6%).
Using the results of this study for nutritional purposes, without re-calculating fructose and glucose contents, is incorrect and misleading.
This study was referred to in some online discussions on the topic of harmful effects of high fructose consumption.
It was incorrectly concluded by some that maple syrup is mainly sucrose so there is no reason to worry about fructose.
For nutritional purposes, sucrose should be treated as half fructose and half glucose.
If using nutrient databases or scientific papers, it is necessary to re-calculate the components in order to obtain the actual glucose/fructose amount.
NUTRITION FACTS VS NUTRITION MYTHS
You will find a summary of the most common nutrition myths and evidence-based nutrition facts here.