Daily targets sucrose glucose fructose

beaniebye

I don't really include added sugars in my diet other than natural sugars. I have set a target for fructose of 20-40 grams per day. I would like to set targets for glucose and sucrose too, but can't find any recommendations online. Is there a recommendation by Cronometer somewhere or can someone make a suggestion for me? I am just trying to be healthy and maintain my weight, and I would like to analyze these categories.

jefmcg

Glucose and fructose are monosaccharides (sugars that can't be further broken down). Sucrose is a disaccharide, made of fructose and glucose, which will be broken down into it's components in digestion. Lactose is another disaccharide, made from galactose and glucose, which is also broken down unless you are lactose intolerant.

Most other carbohydrates are made up of chains of glucose. They will also be broken down into glucose in digestion. So there is no need to eat any pure glucose, your body will get it anyway from starches. There is no need to consume fructose at all. You can even live without consuming any carbs, your liver can create what you need from fat or protein.

So there is no need for targets of any of these sugars.

beaniebye

I meant maximum targets because I tend to eat quite a bit a fruit and natural sugars. I was going to start analyzing it a bit more.

p0wer_lifter

@jefmcg ”So there is no need to eat any pure glucose, your body will get it anyway from starches”

I add pure dextrose to whey after heavy lifting when I want it to do it’s thing quickly.

beaniebye

Ok. I'm getting a little frustrated. Maybe my question is confusing. I obviously don't want to add glucose or sucrose to my diet. My point is I want to limit it. I eat quite a bit of fruit and wanted to see the breakdown of these 3 sugars on the foods I am eating/logging. Maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe I just need to look at fructose and then total carbs. If anyone can help me with this I would appreciate it.

jefmcg

Ah! "Limit" might be a better word. Target implies something you aim for.

I think you are over thinking this; you can safely put them all under one banner, sugar.

Does cronometer even show individual sugars?

Most sweet things are roughly 50/50 glucose/fructose - subtract the dairy sugars from your total sugar, and your fructose and glucose will each be about half the number left over.

This made me look up the RDI for total sugar in the UK. It's 90g. Protein is only 50g 🤪

beaniebye

Thanks! CM does break out individual sugars. You have to set it up that way under carbs. I don't really do dairy so lactose isn't really an issue. I don't eat any added sugar. Only natural sugars. But I tend to eat quite a bit of fruit. I don't eat any grains and very little dairy so I only eat a few food groups. That is why I end up eating so much fruit. I looked all over online and most health professionals say don't worry about natural sugars. I have read that limiting fructose is a good idea.

jefmcg

Ah! I hadn't looked at those settings. I have only had two modes while using cronometer; 1) not caring about sugar 2) trying to remove sugars entirely from my diet

So I hadn't found those settings.

I think you are right about fructose. We can't use it for metabolic purposes, so it ends up in the liver.

https://youtu.be/dBnniua6-oM

beaniebye

There are a few benefits of eating fruit. The fiber, and also there are some fruits like cantaloupe that provide many benefits for the calories. You can eat some sugar with fat at the same time to counter the impact on your system.

jefmcg

I eat plenty of fruit. Avocado, tomato, eggplant, zucchini etc etc

So there is some fructose in my diet too.

Thought I would compare the amount of fructose in my fruits with some more conventional ones. 100g of each....

🤔 apricot and cantaloupe are quite low

Susan_RD_101

@beaniebye

Because most of the food we eat contains a mix of sugars, it's difficult to set limits on one type.

Monosaccharides are single units of sugar (final breakdown products), while disaccharides refer to two units of sugar joined together. Table sugar = sucrose and fructose and is the type of sugar that most people refer to when they are speaking about sugar.

In general, the source of your sugar matters most. The World Health Organization suggests that we consume no more than 10% of calories from added sugars per day. The way I would account for this in Cronometer is to hover my mouse over my sources of sugar and add up only those that came from processed foods/added sugar (i.e. chocolate, sweets, maple syrup, etc.).

Take this total (in grams) multiple it by 4, then divide it by your total kcal intake. This will be the % of calories you get from added sugar in your diet.

Kind regards,