938 replies to this topic

[LiliVG]

No pictures?

I never let anyone take my picture before, so I don't have any "before" pictures, but I'll try to find a picture that is closest to what I looked like.

**Edit** I'm trying to add an image and it's just showing up as text, but here ya go, I found this picture that looks a lot like what my skin looked like before on average: http://www.scienceofbeauty.co.uk/graphics/acne.jpg

[LiliVG]

I'm very excited to try this out. I've found, through plenty of experience, that I have a lot of problems with sugar and acne. I've cut out most refined sugars and I'm taking chromium and cinnamon, and that has helped tremendously.

I'm hoping that taurine can clear me up all the way.

LiliVG, what was your acne like when you started the taurine?

Thanks for your help

Getting to this point has been a series of small progressions for me, like first adding more meat to my diet and generally trying make sure I ate enough, then adding b vitamins, then trying to remove fructose, and then adding the taurine, so my skin did improve in increments over time, which has allowed me to pin down which factors were working and which weren't. Immediately before I added the taurine, my skin wasn't as bad as it has been in the past, but still not good by any definition.
At it's worst about a year ago, my jawline and neck were almost entirely covered in sore inflamed pimples that would sometimes turn cystic. My cheeks were scattered with pimples, I don't think there was a clear spot on my face anywhere, it was humiliating. I never left the house if I could avoid it. For a while I was taking enzymes and they really helped a lot, and my acne was mostly clear, I'd have maybe 2-4 major pimples at a time. But it got way too expensive to keep up, so I had to stop taking those, that was really depressing. But my diet had improved by then like mostly making sure I got enough calories from higher quality food, so then mostly it was red inflamed pustules on my cheeks and jawline, and not much on my forehead. In total, I'd probably have about 10-15 inflamed pustules at any given time. When I started the b-vitamins, it very effectively eliminated the jawline acne, so then it was mostly on my cheeks that was the stubborn part. Then I started actively avoiding any source of fructose that I could, and my acne went down quite a bit, so I'd have maybe 3-5 pimples at a time. Once I added the taurine, the pustules just started going away, and even those little white bumps under the surface that never really become inflamed, they just sit there forever doing nothing, those have started going away too. If I do start to get a pimple, it will be a sore spot that will turn slightly red, but never really turn into an actual pimple, and then it will go away, it's weird...lol So the overall texture is really evening out. I'm starting to feel like a normal looking person!

I know that was a long description, but hopefully that gives you an idea of where I'm coming from.

[williamp]

Aren't there sugars in Redbull/Monster/etc. ?

The Labels for MONSTER for example has 23 grams of SUGARS

When you drank the Redbull Did you get the light sugar free can?

Did the artifitial sweeteners effect you at all?

[LiliVG]

Aren't there sugars in Redbull/Monster/etc. ?

The Labels for MONSTER for example has 23 grams of SUGARS

When you drank the Redbull Did you get the light sugar free can?

Did the artifitial sweeteners effect you at all?

Red bull does have sugar in it, about the amount you said, 23 grams, and part of that is regular sugar and part of it is pure glucose, so I figure the fructose balance is better than if all the sugar came from sucrose. Somehow when I read the label the first time I didn't notice the sucrose, all I saw was the glucose listed. Only after I drank a few did I notice it also has sucrose listed. I absolutely avoid artificial sweeteners, they are evil! lol The other day I looked at the label on a single serving of yogurt and it had 45 grams of sugar! And it was promoted as a health food! lol So 23 isn't too bad, relatively speaking. Not great though, and not something I'd want to drink on a daily basis. Part of the reason I bought supplemental taurine instead of just drinking Red Bull everyday is because I wanted to reduce the sugar, and I don't want a caffeine addiction. Not to mention it's Much cheaper to buy taurine as a supplement than to drink red bull everyday!

[LivesInABox]

I'm so exited that it seems to be working for you so far!

How much apple pie did you have? I got scared about a week ago because one of my co-workers brought in some fudge, and I apparently lost all willpower and ate like half of it! lol. I was expecting all hell to break loose, but I only got 2 small pimples on one cheek that went away pretty quickly. Ordinarily, something like that would have given me huge painful cysts on my jawline. So it was an improvement from would have happened, but my skin isn't invincible yet...lol I think it will take a few weeks before the insulin resistance goes back to normal levels and the liver can handle things better. So I'm gonna wait a few weeks before trying anything like that again. I really want to give my liver a chance to clear and repair itself completely.

I think you are right about the b vitamins being different for everyone. The b-2 seems to be helping my lips heal up to normal again. I also found out b-2 repairs the gastrointestinal tract, so I figure that can't hurt.

Two full bowl sized helpings in two days - thats it for now though. The main problem is having it after a meal, which is always a bad thing (takes ages to digest cos of the rest of the mix in my stomach).

As for the B's i think aslong as you stay under the long term upper safe limit and split them up during the day (so you don't take it all at once and send most of it down the drain) i think you should be fine.

Hope some other people try this instead of eating a super healthy all meat diet!

[granolagurl]

Just wondering LiliVG, are you also avoiding meat, dairy and gluten? or just fructose?

[LiliVG]

I'm definitely not avoiding meat. My skin actually gets better the more meat I eat. However I don't recommend the pure meat diet some people are doing. It may work in the short term, but has some serious long term health implications. Dairy is mostly avoided but not 100%, and wheat is probably lower than average of most people, but it's not excluded. However, I found out yesterday that wheat contains fructans which are long chains of fructose molecules. I want to look into that some more, I may try to remove more wheat from my diet in the future.

[DeAntonio]

so you eat absolutely no fructose? not even fruit?



or you just balance out the fructose levels with the B vitamins and taurine?

[SweetJade1980]

I'm definitely not avoiding meat. My skin actually gets better the more meat I eat. However I don't recommend the pure meat diet some people are doing. It may work in the short term, but has some serious long term health implications. My dairy intake is pretty low but not 100% eliminated, and wheat is probably lower than average of most people, but it's not excluded completely either. However, I found out yesterday that wheat contains fructans which are long chains of fructose molecules. I want to look into that some more, I may try to remove more wheat from my diet in the future.

Kudos on acheiving much success on your journey! I started mine, diet-wise, almost 5.5 years ago and during my first year I remember how thrilled I was with what I had eliminated....only gluten, and the progress I had. Then I started to notice specific types of acne popping up that weren't there before (somewhere I've got a post about this), this became more obvious once I finally stopped taking Spiro. On Healthboards, there was someone that was adament that we MUST avoid quite a few things including sweetners, especially HFCS. I was like...."no I don't" LOL, it took a couple of months but I soon came to realize that I did.

Like many people in this thread and many others may have noticed, when you eliminate gluten from your diet, you automatically eliminate perhaps 90% of processed foods (in a regular grocery store). Thus, you are consuming less sugars, trans fats, and dairy.....all ingredients that some people have found can break them out.

So, once I realized that I started paying more attention to what happened when I ate more Dairy, more HFCS, etc and this is what I discovered for myself (I've posted this a few times over the years):


Sugar Pimples - occurs anywhere on the face or body but these are usually tiny pimples or pustules. On average appear within 2 - 3 days of consumption (some 24 hrs), and usually go away within 2 - 3 days. These are called sugar pimples because this is what I get after consuming table sugar (sucrose).

Basic Acne - These would be regular acne I guess and can appear anywhere on the body within 3 - 5 days time. A significant amount of my acne disappeared when I eliminated Gluten foods. HOWEVER, when I did this, I also eliminated a signficant amount of Sugar, Dairy, and Trans Fats since these ingredients where/are used in most processed and restuarant foods.

Ear Acne - Tiny cysts or nodules appearing near or burried within your ear tissue. You may not see them, but you can feel them. These appear within so many days of consuming dairy and/or some form of a sweetener. I'm not alone in getting this type of acne, but I personally never observed this type UNTIL I changed my diet for the better! Even though I was still on spironolactone (antiandrogen), I began developing this type of acne whenever I would eat cereal (plain rice or gluten free, sweetened with sugar/fructose & organic milk). However, I don't eat cereal anymore, but there are occassions (right now I have 2 in my left ear) where I must be exposing myself to a certain combination of ingredients and as such I will develop this. They last forever....if untreated as long as year. If treated maybe a few months.


Forehead Acne - For moi, this is usually peanuts & peanut oil. Without fail, if I ingest these I will get cystic acne. The more I ingest, the larger or more cysts I will have. That's another thing, sometimes your reaction is trigger-dose dependent

Between Eyebrows Acne - This is almost always dependent on my consumption of fructose based sweeteners. If I consume HFCS the acne will be (double) cystic or nodular. If I consume another type of fructose based sweetener, they may just be inflammed blackheads or some other form of acne. They appear within 5 - 7 days and can take anywhere from 2 - 4 weeks to go away!

Side Burn & Jawline Acne - Wow, lots of people experience this form right? Well for me, side-burn acne and toward the back of my jawline & cheek area I can get pimples from consuming pineapple (take about 2 weeks to disappear). I will also get double or triple cystic acne (cyst on top of cyst) from consuming dairy and/or HFCS. This type takes about 2 - 4 weeks or longer (yikes) to go away.

Underchin & Neck Acne - This occurs again HFCS, but specifcially the Underchin acne is from Almond (and Genus Prunus) consumption. Again we are talking nodular acne here and can take weeks to go away (hence why I try my darndest to avoid). There are a few other members that have noted that nuts also break them out on their neck and I have a former co-worker that said the same about pistachios.

Cystic or Nodular Acne - For moi this would also include Fructose Based Sweeteners, Dairy, Bananas, Nuts, Genus Prunus. For others it might be Trans Fats and Dairy or Seafood. The inflammatory response varies here but this is where you are more likely to come across foods that you are simply Hypersensitive to vs. it being simply about the Insulin Response of a food. This inflammatory response can develop within 1 - 2 weeks and last a few days or as long as several weeks. In fact, the longest it took for me to get rid of one was 6 weeks!

http://www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php?showtopic=112972


As for what affects my Pores and a small amount of unwanted hair growth... Trans Fat avoidance does the trick. My pores shrink down wonderfully. However, recovery time takes 2 weeks if I've eaten something with trans fats. The absolute smallest I've ever seen them was when I was doing experiements in class making gluten-free, dairy free, sugar free (xylitol and a tad of stevia) Buckwheat (look this up) muffins and my skin looked really great! I was eating two a day for 2 - 3 days each week, plus I recall a guy that PM'd me a few years back telling me how buckwheat cereal completely dried of up his oily skin. I've got a bag of the good stuff (Buckwheat Farinetta) just waiting for me to make some more blueberry muffins or pumpkin pancakes (the most bread I've had since going Gluten Free).


Also, regarding the types of sugar, here's something else I compiled:

Glucose Based - Glucose/Dextrose, Sucrose/Sugar/Table Sugar/Beet Sugar/Evap. Cane Sugar(Sucanat)/Juce (Rapadura)/Syrup, Brown Sugar/Muscovado,

--Higher Glycemic Response
--Less Inflammatory (compared to 100% Fructose)
--Acne may not be "as bad" ex: pimples, whiteheads, pustules
--Amount consumed in one serving may affect the amount & severity of acne

Fructose Based - Fructose/Levulose, Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup/HFCS, Fruit Concentrate/Juice (with no soluble fiber), Agave Nectar, Honey, Fruitrim (may be forgetting one or two other fructose-based sugars).

--Lower Glycemic Response
--More Inflammatory
--Acne may be more of the cystic or nodular type
--Amount consumed in one serving may affect the amount & severity of acne


Misc."Natural" Sweeteners - Brown Rice Syrup, Date Sugar

--May be metabolized much slower than the above
--Some people can quite happily & "safely" consume Brown Rice Syrup
--Acne may not be "as bad" as the other types, if it does develop
--Amount consumed in one serving may affect the amount & severity of acne


Articifial Sweeteners
Splenda/Sucralose - this was once "sugar" but was altered by adding Chlorine atoms and thus a chlorinated hydrocarbon was born....(cause of chloracne)

-- Supposedly no glycemic response

-- There are various reports on these boards and on the internet that this substance has brought about acne to those that NEVER had acne, or made those with acne break out more or worse.

--The Splenda symbol does not have to be put on the front label of any food or hygeneic product (toothpastes, mouthwash, gum) so read all "No sugar" "Sugar Free" "Diet" ingredient labels, among others, if this is a concern.

http://www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php?showtopic=55819

Personally, because acne is an Inflammatory Skin Disease or a Symptom of an Inflammatory Disease....or a Inflammatory Sign of a Hypersensitivity, such as food, bacteria, etc (we can debate about what caused it) everyone has different sensitivity or tolerance levels.

Me, for example...I can't even use lip balm that contains almond oil without getting....you guessed it under chin/neck acne!

When I eat out, try as I might, it's still a gamble. For the past few years, I've been generally 99% - 100% clear, depending on how much food I eat at home, since I can control what I eat. However, when I do breakout more than usual, they don't take as loooong to heal anymore. I've found that broccolli (gotta love sulfurous vegetables) really improves my healing time. Others have found blueberries do it. Of course, they all work in one way or another to....reduce/inhibit inflammation!

So what I love hearing about Taurine is that it attacks the problem of acne via inhibiting the inflammatory process found occuring in Delayed-Type Hypersensitivity reactions. There are very few studies that define acne as a hypersensitivity reaction (I've posted more indepth in other threads) but those that do have called it:

Type III - Immune Complex Reactions: there are IgG antibodies present for this type of reaction and an ELISA test may help.

Type IV - Cell Mediated Reactions/Delayed-Type: no antibodies, so essentially no "real" way to test for this using a traditional allergy test. The reaction involves your white blood cells, specifically Polymorphonuclear Cells (PMNCs).

We can have acne via both of these types of reactions AND....each type can react to different antigens. Thus one test may reveal that you are not sensitive to gluten, but the other test will say you are. Of course, this is because they are looking for entirely different modes of reaction.

Anyway, enough of all that. Just wanted to add, I can't eat certain fruits (see profile), but I can eat most and no problems. I've gone weeks without fruit just because, and saw no difference in my skin, it didn't get better or worse. So this is why I suspect/believe it's important to have a mixture of fiber and nutrients when consuming fruit juices or other sweeteners. Except....my body really really doesn't like Fructose-based and of course we know why...it's great at producing cholesterol, which is neccessary to produce hormones and inflammatory products.

As for Wheat (or gluten), there's only a few studies done that have it up against rice and, in terms of cholesterol, lower insulin levels, lower androgen levels (varies by gender) and other markers, rice always wins. So I'm still not certain we can throw it out just yet....well at least some of us may not be able to. Let us know what you personally find out.

Thanks for the post!


P.S. Xylitol lovers:

http://www.naturesflavors.com/
http://www.probstfarms.com/
http://www.emeraldforestxylitol.com/
and more...

[SoCold]

Wow, thanks for all the information SweetJade1980!

I always wanted to know what it meant when I got acne in my ear, between my eyebrows, jawline, etc.

Thanks so much!

[LiliVG]

so you eat absolutely no fructose? not even fruit?



or you just balance out the fructose levels with the B vitamins and taurine?

Overall, it's a combination of reduction and countering the effects of fructose. I am trying my best to reduce fructose/sugars from my diet, but it is impossible to remove 100% of fructose from the diet, it is in too many foods. Plus, fructose, in small amounts, does play a role in aiding glucose metabolism. I'm trying to return the glucose/fructose ratio and levels to more naturally occurring levels, closer to what a person would consume in a natural whole foods diet.

I supplement the b vitamins to correct the b vitamin deficiency that is caused by dietary sugar. B vitamins are really important for skin health, so a b vitamin deficiency caused by fructose would likely show up in the skin. Fructose also has a chelating tendency, which means it also removes several minerals too, like magnesium, zinc, calcium, copper, etc. I've noticed that many of the minerals that fructose causes a deficiency in have been supplemented by some members on this forum to help heal acne to varying levels of success. Everyone knows about taking zinc to heal acne, but ever wonder why we're deficient in the first place? Fructose chelates it, which means it binds to it so the body doesn't have access to it anymore, and it is carried out of the body usually through urination. Fortunately, minerals are stored in the body more efficiently than b vitamins, so you can recover lost minerals over a period of time once fructose is reduced, but b vitamins are water soluble and with the exception of b-12, are not stored in the body for any length of time. Once they are lost, they must be consumed again in order to be available to the body. But if we're eating something that is actively depleting these vitamins on a daily basis, we will be in a constant state of deficiency because of how quickly and efficiently they are lost due to the combination of fructose and their water solubility. I believe over a period of time of reduced fructose intake, mineral levels will return to normal on their own, but the b-vitamins should be supplemented to help the system recover and heal from such a long term deficiency of them. Mineral supplementation can speed the process of returning mineral levels to normal, but like b vitamins, they have specific proportions that they need to be consumed in so deficiencies aren't caused in others. The relationship between zinc and copper is one example of this, as well as magnesium and calcium. Because minerals have such strictly defined proportions to each other, and I don't have much information on that aspect of fructose-induced deficiency states yet, I'm not making a mineral supplementation recommendation yet. Plus, the b-vitamin supplementation on its own seems to be working sufficiently well on it's own, probably because the b vitamins are lost much faster than minerals are.
And the Taurine I use to help counter the effects of fructose on the body, such as fructose induced insulin resistance, and the production of inflammatory triglycerides as a result of fructose overload.

I think that's why this reduced fructose + b vitamins + Taurine combination works so well is because it handles the aspects of fructose on the body from several different angles.

[LiliVG]

One trend I'm noticing is an inclination toward natural sugars. This can be good and bad. Unprocessed sugars do contains small amounts of vitamins and minerals that purified sugars don't, but they are really minimal. Secondly, many "natural sugars" have high fructose levels, some even higher than table sugar or even HFCS! Agave nectar is one example of this. Agave nectar is almost 100% fructose! Honey has about as much fructose as HFCS. Concentrated fruit juice is also high in fructose, because the starches usually present in the whole fruit that would ordinarily balance out the fructose have been removed. "Natural" sweeteners are not necessarily better. I am not endorsing artificial sweeteners though, but I make this post so people won't be automatically swayed by "natural" claims on labels.

For a sweetener, I use xylitol. I'm also thinking of getting some pure dextrose and using that in place of table sugar because it's pure glucose, so it's fructose free and less expensive than xylitol.

[LivesInABox]

For a sweetener, I use xylitol. I'm also thinking of getting some pure dextrose and using that in place of table sugar because it's pure glucose, so it's fructose free and less expensive than xylitol.

I have a 5kg tub of pure dextrose that i was going to test for pwo shakes (it's like £2.95 a kg), but i never got around to it cos of the whole acne sugar thing - I may give it a go now though .

Whats really interesting is all the people i've seen say that all foods caused their acne. Well that could be pretty true if they have a problem with fructose - it's in everything (well nearly). Eat anything processed, flavoured, with sauce or gravy and your getting some fructose. Drink fruit juice? Eat fruits? Eat Vegetables? Eat potatoes? Eat rice?

It is observed that there were decreases in the sucrose and maltose contents, and increases in glucose and fructose contents in rice during storage.

Fructose malabsorption

Every time we've tried whole wheat bread with regular yeast, she hasn't seemed to tolerate it well. She does much better with unsweetened sourdough bread. But it may not have been an issue of the yeast being grown on corn after all. Whole wheat contains fructose, and the yeasted bread had a small amount of honey in it. Sourdough culturing breaks down the sugars and the fructans in the grains.

E digests unenriched white rice better than brown rice, and brown rice better than wild rice. White rice has the least fructose/fructan content of the three.

Remember the probiotics that made her so miserable, that contained FOS? FOS and inulin are fructans.

I was taking FOS to help with my digestion. DOH! Bread contains fructose! My low gi bread (which hasn't caused me to break out) has reduced sugar!!! And my "Gluten free" rubbish had no gluten but plenty of sugar! (probably one reason i was still getting odd white heads!) And it was made from potato, rice & tapioca flour! And white rice has the least fructose in it? But it's still refined and nutrtionally poor. So rice in general not so good (i'm sure some is fine though!). They have even made a gm potato to make fructose even cheaper to stuff in everything. 19 times more fructose in each potato! Look forward to potato based fructose fizzy drinks coming to you soon! Nice! Evil potato

Fructose Allergy

Anyone who has problems eating foods with good medical cover care to take a fructose hydrogen breath test and report back?

This is all starting to come together. Taurine seems to do the trick for me, i did gain one new white head (from all the sugar badness i reckon) but it's already come, and gone and thats one in 6 days. No more bad stuff for the next 2 weeks and i'll see how it goes.

I award LiliVG an acne symptom relief gold star

[img]http://aycu09.webshots.com/image/35608/200...75684690_rs.jpg[/img]

[LivesInABox]

Posting over myself but i don't care Check out a strict anti fructose diets. Remind you of anything LiliVG?

OK in any quantity
Milk/cheese if not allergic
beef, veal, lamb, pork, chicken, turkey, fish
Eggs
Asparagus, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, green beans, green peppers, lettuce, spinach, wax beans.
Butter, Marge, oil.
Dietetic desserts

OK in small quantities
vegetable juice
coffee, rea, salt, pepper etc
broth, soups from allowed veg, sugar subsitute (non fructose)
dietetic beverages
macaroni, noodles, spahetti, rice, some potatoes (specific kinds of these, not just standard kinds)
sugar free cereals


Avoid totally
Ham, bacon, lunch meats, processed meat
All other vegetables (and tomato juice)
sweet potatoes
All fruits (yes, ALL fruits) and fruit juices.
All bread and crackers.
Sugar coated cereals
Mayonnaise, salad dressings with sugar
All other deserts
All sauces that contain sugar, carbonated drinks, sugar, honey, maple syrup, jam, jellies, preserves

Pretty much everything else is excluded even every other veg than those specified. Sounds almost like a meat diet eh? And you said no fruit way up this thread. I'm gonna follow this and see how it goes (been eating fruit & naughty veg). The suggest stopping fructose almost completely, then re-introducing fructose slowly with low sugar fruits. Sounds reasonable

[SweetJade1980]

OK, for those experiencing Fructose Malabsorption, or some version of this, you should visit NutritionData.com It contains nutrition information to help you pick foods that have a better balance of glucose and fructose, search for high fructose foods, etc. Of course, what I really like is that it also gives an Inflammation Rating. So Apples are mildly inflammatory and Honey is Strongly Inflammatory. My guess is for those that are extremely sensitive or have a lower tolerance rather, perhaps even "mildly inflammatory" foods will result in (minor) acne production or some other sign of inflammation.

For example, the below link is a list of foods that are high in fructose, although I would read each one, if you are particularly fond of a food, just to see how much fructose there is over glucose, as it may not be that much of a difference.

http://www.nutritiondata.com/foods-0000110...0000000000.html

Furthermore, a more simplified explanation of Fructose Malabsorption can be found here (hey, the references looked good): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose_malabsorption with a section of the article listed below:

Treatment
There is no known cure, but an appropriate diet will help. However, it is very difficult for undiagnosed sufferers to see any relationship between the foods they eat and the symptoms they suffer, even if they keep a daily diet diary. This is because most foods contain a mixture of fructose and glucose. Foods with more fructose than glucose are a problem. However, depending upon the sufferer's sensitivity to fructose, small amounts of problem foods could be eaten (especially when they are not the main ingredient of a meal).

Foods with a high glucose content actually help sufferers absorb fructose.[7]


Symptoms
This condition is common in patients with symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome and most patients with fructose malabsorption fit the profile of those with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.[8] A small proportion of patients with both fructose malabsorption and lactose intolerance also suffer from celiac disease. Dr. De Meirlier has found that 45% of his patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome suffer from fructose malabsorption and 10% suffer from lactose intolerance.

Typical symptoms of fructose malabsorption include:

Bloating (because of fermentation in the small and large intestine)
Diarrhea and / or constipation
Flatulence
Stomach pain (due to muscle spasms, which can vary from mild and chronic to acute but erratic)

Other possible symptoms of fructose malabsorption include:

Aching eyes
Fuzzy head
Fatigue
Depression[9] as a result of absorption disorders in the small and large intestines, other substances such as amino acids are not absorbed. Because of missing substances (among others tryptophan), hormones and neurotransmitters cannot be synthesized.


Foods with high fructose content
According to the USDA database,[10] foods with more fructose than glucose include:

_______________Fructose (grams / 100 grams) Glucose (grams / 100 grams)
Apples ____________________ 5.9 _____________________ 2.4
Fruit juice e.g. Apples, Pears __ 5 to 7___________________ 2 to 3
High fructose corn syrup _____ 55 to 90 ________________ 45 to 10
Sucrose_____________________ 50 ______________________50
Honey ______________________40.9 ____________________35.7
Watermelon _________________ 3.4 _____________________ 1.6
Pears ______________________ 6.2 _____________________ 2.8
Raisins _____________________ 29.8 ____________________ 27.8

There is a lot of misinformation and misconception about fruit sugar content. A common belief is that fruits contain mainly, or only, fructose sugar. The USDA food database reveals that many common fruits contain nearly equal amounts of the fructose and glucose.[11] There is a tendency within plants to keep these sugars 50/50. The only aberrantly high fructose fruits are apple and pear, which have twice as much fructose as glucose. Fructose levels in grapes varies with ripeness and variety, with unripe grapes containing more glucose.


Foods with high fructan content
Chains of fructose molecules, known as fructans occur naturally in many foods. The following foods have a high fructan content:

Artichokes
Asparagus
Leeks
Onions including spring onion
Wheat including most beers, breads, cakes, biscuits, breakfast cereals, pies, pastas, pizzas, and some noodles
The role that fructans play in fructose malabsorption is still under investigation. However, it is recommended that fructan intake for fructose malabsorber should be kept to less than 0.5 grams/serving[12] and supplements with inulin and fructooligosaccharide (FOS), fructans, intake should be avoided.[12]


Other problem foods
In addition, the following foods can cause symptoms of fructose malabsorption:

Sodas and other beverages containing high fructose corn syrup
Dried fruit (including "health" bars containing dried fruit)
Tinned fruit in "natural" juice (which is often pear juice)
Sorbitol (present in some diet drinks and foods, and occurring naturally in some stone fruits)
Sweet wines
Too much fruit of any kind in a short timeframe

Dietary Guidelines for the Management of Fructose Malabsorption
Dietary guidelines[12] have been developed for managing fructose malabsorption particularly for individuals with IBS.


Unfavorable foods (i.e. more fructose than glucose)
Fruit - Apple, pear, guava, honeydew melon, nashi fruit, pawpaw/papaya, quince, star fruit, watermelon
Dried fruit - Apple, apricot, currant, date, fig, pear, prune, raisin, sultana
Fruit juices
Fruit pastes - chutney, relish, plum sauce, sweet & sour sauce, BBQ sauce.
Coconut
Dried fruit bars
Honey
Fortified wines
HFCS
Corn syrup solids
Fruit juice concentrates

Favorable foods (i.e. fructose equal to or less than glucose)
Stone fruit: apricot, nectarine, peach, plum (caution - these fruit contain sorbitol)
Berry fruit: blueberry, blackberry, boysenberry, cranberry, raspberry, strawberry
Citrus fruit: kumquat, grapefruit, lemon, lime, mandarin, orange, tangelo
Other fruits: ripe banana, jackfruit, kiwi fruit, passion fruit, pineapple, rhubarb, tamarillo

It would be interesting to see if there are members that are truly suffering from this disorder. I tried comparing the above foods and using NutrtionData.com Inflammation Rating to see if my diet falls within this disorder, and it just doesn't quite add up for moi. I guess that's because I experience other food hypersensitivities. Anyway, below are the ratings, and my skin's response:

Mildly Anti-Inflammatory = Oranges (nothing), Leeks (nothing)

Moderately Anti-Inflammatory = Asparagus (nothing)

Mildly Inflammatory = Sucrose (sugar pimples), Apples (nothing), Pears (nothing), Grapes/Raisins (nothing), Canteloupes (nothing), Pineapples (jawline acne), Watermelon (nothing), Blueberries (nothing), Peaches (cysts), Artichokes (nothing)

Moderately Inflamamtory = Bananas (cysts, nodules)

Strongly Inflammatory - Corn Syrup (cysts), HFCS (cysts, nodules), Honey (cysts), Apricots (cysts), Plums (cysts), Wheat (various acne)


Has anyone else been able to narrow down as to whether it's specific fruits (or vegetables) for them vs all fruits?

[shavingwoes]

Thank you SO MUCH for posting this; I just got around to reading it all today, wow, I think it's a big part of my previous and current acne. I remembered getting so frustrated at the cystic acne I was getting and never had before when I was having these fruit shakes every day sometimes 2x a day (I would blend 2 golden delicious apples, berries, pears, bananas, honey ). I was getting cysts on my neck/jawline which I'd never had before and I couldn't reason why this was happening, I thought it might be a detox symptom but it didn't let up and once I stopped the fruit shakes the cysts slowly disappeared. I also recently added back in an apple and a banana a day into my diet and guess what.. cysts 1 new one on my jawline and 2 on my neck (they're never red or inflamed, just bumps that you can feel). I know too it was from the whole liver overload thing you talked about b/c for a while (sorry for the detail I'm about to go into..) my stool was tan-colored which I was told is indicative of your liver either struggling or detoxing. Ever since cutting out gluten and dairy my acne is a lot less inflammatory, but I still get the occasional one which could be caused by some fructose sources in my diet.

Again, thanks for posting this. I finally understand what these cysts I was getting when I ate lots of fruit were caused by .

[SoCold]

Wow! I never knew apples had so much fructose! I always thought they would have the least amount! I eat 3-4 apples a day. Hmm, sounds like I have a new project.

[kaleidoscope]

Hmm..... I'd never heard of Fructose Malabsorption before, but now I wonder if I might have it. About 8 or 9 months ago, I went on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and that initially really helped me. My skin cleared up a lot, my digestion was better, etc. But then after several months, things started going downhill even though I stuck to the diet. I started breaking out again, and having digestion problems even worse than before I started the SCD. Well, the SCD allows a lot of fruit and HONEY! I was using quite a lot of honey, and eating plenty of fruit too. So I think this is definitely a possibility... I'm going to try a very low fructose diet and see what happens.

[LivesInABox]

The role that fructans play in fructose malabsorption is still under investigation. However, it is recommended that fructan intake for fructose malabsorber should be kept to less than 0.5 grams/serving[12] and supplements with inulin and fructooligosaccharide (FOS), fructans, intake should be avoided.[12]

Your right that Nutritional data is a great place to start, but while i've been looking around theres a lot of foods that have a tendancy to break down during storage (as the food ages) that increases the fructose (like they say theres 0 fructose in rice, which i've found is incorrect). It's handy to know about the 0.5 grams per serving, but i wonder if that counts for everyone - i wonder if getting rid of it totally then gradual re-introduction is the key.

Mildly Anti-Inflammatory = Oranges (nothing), Leeks (nothing)

Moderately Anti-Inflammatory = Asparagus (nothing)

Mildly Inflammatory = Sucrose (sugar pimples), Apples (nothing), Pears (nothing), Grapes/Raisins (nothing), Canteloupes (nothing), Pineapples (jawline acne), Watermelon (nothing), Blueberries (nothing), Peaches (cysts), Artichokes (nothing)

Moderately Inflamamtory = Bananas (cysts, nodules)

Strongly Inflammatory - Corn Syrup (cysts), HFCS (cysts, nodules), Honey (cysts), Apricots (cysts), Plums (cysts), Wheat (various acne)


Has anyone else been able to narrow down as to whether it's specific fruits (or vegetables) for them vs all fruits?

I don't think it's a simple as that. Free fructose (in monosaccharide form) is only available in a small number of fruits and not a lot else - almost everything else is. I've scoured a fair number of fructose sites and some research, is all this data from the wiki? Because the people that have fructose intolerance and have made their own blog/list struggle with far more foods than specified on the wiki (i even saw one guy working out fructose content / weight of food). I'm fairly sure like every intolerance/malabsorption problem is going to be something fairly individual, in that you may get internal stress but no external symptoms like acne. Also in the studies i've seen, everyone has a different capacity for fructose, so it may just be that you have an upper tolerance per serving in any one time period - which might account for the different foods you can have.

Digestible carbohydrate consists of disaccharides and polysaccharides
(starch). Free monosaccharides are rarely found in food. Dietary
carbohydrates are absorbed as mono- or disaccharides only. Therefore,
polysaccharides (starch) are broken down into glucose, maltose, or
dextrins prior to absorption.

Fructose is a main component of human diets. Free fructose, in the monosaccharide form, is found naturally in honey and some fruits (figs, dates, grapes, apples and berries). In food products, fructose is present as a constituent of sucrose (Park and Yetley 1993). Concurrent advances in refining, isomerization, separation and crystallization technologies in the 1960s made possible the production of crystalline fructose and high fructose syrup (HFS),5 derived primarily from corn, and with sweetness equivalent to sucrose (Hanover and White 1993). HFS and crystalline fructose are used extensively as sweeteners in pharmaceuticals and in mainstream food application such as carbonated beverages, baked goods, canned fruits, jams, jellies and dairy products.

In humans and rats, fructose is absorbed in the small intestine. The absorptive capacity for fructose is less than that for glucose or sucrose, and the addition of glucose facilitates the absorption of fructose (Truswell et al. 1988). Absorbed fructose is metabolized primarily by the liver. Although both the small intestinal mucous and the kidney contain the enzymes necessary for the metabolism of the ketohexose (Van den Berghe 1986), the utilization of fructose in extrahepatic tissues is minimal (Hallfrisch 1987). Fructose metabolism is unique in that it bypasses the need of insulin and the phosphofructokinase regulation step, and enters glycolysis or gluconeogenesis at the triphosphate level. At first, fructose is phosphorylated by ATP to fructose 1-phosphate, catalyzed by fructokinase (Hers 1952). Fructose 1-phosphate is then split by hepatic aldolase B into glyceraldehyde and dihydroxyacetone phosphate. These two metabolites are at the center of metabolic crossroads that lead to glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, glyconeogenesis and lipogenesis.

Dietary fructose has adverse effects on certain segments of the population. The rapid hepatic fructose utilization leads to far-reaching consequences for carbohydrate, lipid and purine metabolism. Fructose elevates triglycerides, cholesterol, uric acid, urea nitrogen and carnitine in blood (Hallfrisch 1990). It also increases hepatic pyruvate and lactate production, decreases glucose tolerance, increases insulin resistance and causes a shift in balance from oxidation to esterification of nonesterified fatty acids, resulting in elevated secretion of VLDL (Mayes 1993).

I imagine they mean raw honey, as processed honey will have different properties. Notice decreases glucose tolerance & increases insulin resistance - where have i heard about that before - how many acne related threads have mentioned those?

Small-intestinal absorption of fructose was investigated in healthy human subjects by sequential breath-hydrogen measurements. Fifty-eight percent of 103 subjects produced greater than 20 microL H2/L after consuming 50 g pure fructose in water. About half of those who absorbed fructose incompletely (incomplete absorbers) had abdominal symptoms. Malabsorption of medium doses of pure fructose may therefore be common in man. When 25 g pure fructose was consumed, only 19% of 21 poor absorbers (of 50 g fructose) still produced excess breath H2. When glucose was taken with fructose, the frequency and amount of excessive breath H2 was substantially reduced. This facilitating phenomenon is not generally known but is important because in natural foods fructose occurs in association or in combination (as sucrose) with glucose. Plasma fructose responses were not lower in poor absorbers presumably because these responses depend more on how much fructose passes through the liver than on how much is absorbed.

So 60 people out of 103 produced high readings with 50g of fructose and half of those had abdominal symptoms, and out of the 21 poor absorbers 12 of those still produced high results with 25g of fructose. So intolerance to it could be fairly common, and depending on amount absorbed and type could depend on symptoms (long term fructose induced problems?). This means i'm going to have to change my avatar . I still think digestion - no, i know digestion played a part with my acne but it's not the main problem! Maybe i just improved my digestive system vs fructose & reduce some of the problem by avoiding processed foods, bread etc.

I was so close to going to a long term unhealthy very high meat diet - and it would have worked too. It would have seemed like my body needed an all meat diet to function correctly and be healthy - when that wouldnt have been the case at all! Just goes to show self diagnosis isn't always the best plan .

[SoCold]

It would have seemed like my body needed an all meat diet to function correctly and be healthy - when that wouldnt have been the case at all!

So then what have you concluded? You lost me a bit at this point.