Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

That is a very good question. Perhaps you can get more IF from vegetables and focus on minimizing the fructose you get from fruit. Let me explain how I determine how much fruit to eat.

A review of the research shows that the tolerance for fructose ranges from less than 5 grams to more than 50 grams. Non-IBS individuals tend to be near the high end of the range while IBS suffers tend to be near the low end. The research also shows that when fructose and glucose occur in equal amounts the small intestine can absorb both nearly as well. Usually only foods containing more fructose than glucose are a problem. The excess fructose can cause bloating, gas, D, etc.

The general method I use is to determine the amount of sugar (sucrose, fructose and glucose) contained in the fruit.

For example, using the Fineli database I see that an average medium sized apple that weighs about 100 grams contains about 50 grams of sugar composed of 8 grams of sucrose, 29 grams of fructose and 14 grams of glucose. The apple contains twice as much fructose compared to glucose.

Now consider 100 grams of papaya. It contains about 11 grams of sugar composed of 8 grams of sucrose, 1.3 grams of fructose and 1.4 grams of glucose. The amount of fructose and glucose are nearly equal.

So assume you are fructose intolerant and you think you can absorb 5 grams of fructose. If you ate 100 grams of papaya you would have consumed less than 5 grams of fructose with an equal amount of glucose. On the other hand, 1/2 of a medium sized apple contains about 12 grams of fructose and half as much glucose. The apple could act as a trigger.

A point of information. The database provides guidelines. Different varieties of apples, papayas, etc contain different amounts of the various sugars. You have to experiment to determine what varieties of fruits you can and cannot eat. For example, there is one variety of mango that I seem to be able to eat while most of the others give me D.

Good luck

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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS

The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
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The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS

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