Crystalline fructose is often used as a natural sweetener for foods and beverages. It is a basic sugar that is almost entirely made up of pure fructose. The trace elements of fructose are water and sometimes minerals.
Crystalline fructose is commonly used in juices, yogurts, nutrition and energy supplement drinks, and other products as an alternative to sucrose. Crystalline fructose is derived from corn starch. Processed corn starch naturally yields high concentrations of glucose.
If the glucose is prompted to undergo an enzymatic reaction, it is changed into fructose. Once the yield crystallizes, it becomes crystalline fructose. This is often consumed as an ingredient in a variety of food.
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Crystalline Fructose Benefits Choosing crystalline fructose over most processed sugars may help you achieve an overall healthier lifestyle. Crystalline fructose is actually sweeter in terms of taste. In fact, crystalline fructose is sweeter than high fructose corn syrup, which is commo... more
Choosing crystalline fructose over most processed sugars may help you achieve an overall healthier lifestyle. Crystalline fructose is actually sweeter in terms of taste.
In fact, crystalline fructose is sweeter than high fructose corn syrup, which is commonly included in ingredient lists as glucose-fructose. High fructose corn syrup is often used in soft drinks, and to preserve canned fruit.
This attribute means that you will enjoy a couple nice advantages from choosing crystalline fructose over the others. Because it is sweeter than other sweeteners, less crystalline fructose can be used to achieve the same taste as greater quantities of sucrose, or high fructose corn syrup.
For one, this means that if you eat a cookie sweetened with crystalline fructose, you will actually be absorbing fewer calories than if you ate a cookie sweetened with sucrose. Secondly, because less is required, products made from crystalline fructose are less damaging to your teeth than those that use other types of sweeteners.
Another benefit that crystalline fructose wields over other sweeteners is that it produces energy in the body much in the same way that glucose does. Consequently, the same level of energy can be reached with less damage to your blood-glucose level.
These benefits, as well as others, are explained at the Lance Armstrong Foundation website, Livestrong. Check out the database there for some good articles regarding the pros and cons of crystalline fructose.
In spite of the benefits that crystalline fructose maintains over other sweeteners, it is still a sugar, and therefore should be consumed in moderation. In terms of health considerations, crystalline fructose is often grouped with high fructose corn syrup, which is generally regarded as safe by the FDA. This grouping is erroneous.
If you research crystalline fructose for yourself, it is likely that you will come across a number of warnings that suggest the product can lead to high blood-glucose levels, liver damage, and even heart disease. These are the side effects of high fructose corn syrup.
Though the inclusion of crystalline fructose under the umbrella of high fructose corn syrup is faulty, it is likely that the former can cause similar harm. However, even if the two produced identical side effects, crystalline fructose would still be a healthier option because you naturally consume less of it.
In turn, the threat of a rising blood-glucose level would be blunted, and the health issues deriving from it would be subdued to a degree.
Even better is the news that crystalline fructose is not as potentially harmful as sucrose, or HFCS, even in identical amounts. When consumed, crystalline fructose is slower to release glucose into the blood, and therefore has a less severe effect on your blood pressure.
As a general rule, crystalline fructose can simply be used as a replacement for sugar. It is more than likely that you already consume it on a regular basis without even being aware of it, given that it is present as a sweetener in a handful of everyday drinks and foods.
There are many opportunities to decrease your intake of high fructose corn syrup and sucrose. Crystalline fructose can be substituted for other sweeteners in almost any drink mix or recipe, excepting some baked goods.
You need to remember that if you swap out sugar for this healthier option, you do not need to use as much of the crystalline fructose as you would sugar because of its exceptional sweetness. As a ballpark figure, you should use between 60 to 80 percent as much crystalline fructose as you would normal sugar in most recipes.
Try it out in tea, or coffee, or on grapefruit. Get creative with it, and see in which dishes you can make use of crystalline fructose as a substitute for sugar.
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| Heart Disease |
| Liver Damage |
| Raise Blood Sugar Level |
| Energy |
| Food Additive |
| Sweetener |