Is Too Much Fruit Unhealthy?

Whether too much fruit is unhealthy is a legitimate question given the high natural sugar content. Here’s what science says on the subject.

An apple a day is healthy, two are better. How about three, five or ten apples? Can the calculation be continued indefinitely or is excessive fruit consumption harmful to health?

In the following article we explain whether too much fruit is unhealthy.

Too much fruit unhealthy? That’s what the DGE says

Fruit provides plenty of vitamins, minerals, secondary plant substances, fiber and at the same time low in energy and fat. A high consumption of fruit (and vegetables) lowers the risk of high blood pressure, coronary heart disease and stroke, according to the German Society for Nutrition (DGE).

In general, it can be said that people in Germany are more likely to eat too little fruit than too much. The DGE recommends the 5-a-day rule: Two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables are absolutely harmless and the minimum for a healthy diet.

So why could too much fruit be unhealthy? The keyword fruit sugar falls here. Fruit sugar or fructose occurs naturally in fruits and vegetables and is used in many foods as a sweetener, according to the consumer advice center. Fruit contains a particularly large amount of fructose. That’s why fruit is so sweet.

Excess fructose: is fruit the culprit?

Due to its natural occurrence in fruit and vegetables, fructose has a rather positive image. However, a persistent excess of fructose can actually be harmful to your health.

According to the consumer advice center, an intake of more than 35 grams of fructose per meal is already considered questionable. This amount is in about two glasses of apple juice (550 milliliters) or a pack of grapes (500 grams). Depending on its size, an apple contains around eight to ten grams of fructose.

However, an excess of fructose is rarely caused by excessive fruit consumption, but rather by fruit juices and processed foods. Nevertheless, it is still possible to far exceed the daily recommended amount of fructose with fruit. If you like fruit but would like to consume less fructose, you can find out more in this article: Low-sugar fruit: an overview.

Is too much fruit unhealthy? The consequences of too much fructose

Too much fruit is particularly unhealthy if your body is not able to process the fructose well. One in three people suffers from such a fructose intolerance. This means that these people cannot tolerate more than 25 grams of fructose per day. The consequences of exceeding this limit are stomach and intestinal problems. However, an excess of fructose can also trigger the symptoms in healthy people. This is because the small intestine can only absorb the fructose to a limited extent.

The liver processes the fructose. Permanent fructose excess therefore damages the liver and can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver.

It is unlikely that the high fructose content in fruit will have a negative impact on your own body weight. Due to its low calorie density, fruit would have to be consumed in very extreme amounts to have a significant impact on body weight. Again, the culprits tend to be the convenience foods and soft drinks.

Eating too much fruit can also damage your teeth. Because fruit contains fruit acid, which attacks tooth enamel. One speaks then of a so-called tooth enamel reduction, a tooth erosion. The saliva normally neutralizes the ingested food and maintains a neutral pH value of 7 in the mouth. The saliva can no longer compensate for a permanent excess of acid intake and the tooth enamel is deprived of minerals. As a preventive measure, it is therefore recommended to drink a glass of water after eating fruit.

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