It has been awhile back when i accidentally came across an advertisement for a pre-packed coffee which stated that it's pre-packed coffee product is suitable for diabetes patients because it uses "gula buah"...
I am still not convinced that it can be consumed by diabetic patients... Thus starting my journey to read more on "gula buah"... When i googled it, I found that fructose is the most common type of sugar present in most fruits... Assuming that the company is referring to fructose, this is what i summarized from wikipedia:
Fructose is often recommended for diabetics because it does not trigger the production of insulin by pancreatic ß cells, probably because ß cells have low levels of GLUT-5 (Fructose-only Transporter).
Fructose has a very low glycemic index of 19 ± 2, compared with 100 for glucose and 68 ± 5 for sucrose. Fructose is also seventy-three percent sweeter than sucrose at room temperature, so diabetics can use less of it.
Studies show that fructose consumed before a meal may even lessen the glycemic response of the meal. Its sweetness changes at higher temperatures, so its effects in recipes are not equivalent to those of sucrose (i.e., table sugar)
However, all fruits have different contents of fructose, glucose and sucrose, some have more glucose, and some have more fructose... Here are the examples i found comparing sugar content in different fruits:
| Fruits | Total Carbohydrates | Total Sugars | Free Fructose | Free Glucose | Sucrose | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | 13.8 | 10.4 | 5.9 | 2.4 | 2.1 | ||
| Apricot | 11.1 | 9.2 | 0.9 | 2.4 | 5.9 | ||
| Banana | 22.8 | 12.2 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 2.4 | ||
| Grapes | 18.1 | 15.5 | 8.1 | 7.2 | 0.2 | ||
| Peach | 9.5 | 8.4 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 4.8 | ||
| Pineapple | 13.1 | 9.9 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 6.0 | ||
| Pear | 15.5 | 9.8 | 6.2 | 2.8 | 0.8 |
The downside is that fructose can only be metabolized in liver (compared to glucose which can be metabolized by almost all types of cells) thus causing liver stress when taken in excess... Other side effects of excess consumption of fructose are diarrhoea, metabolic syndromes, gout etc (read on your own)...
In conclusion, I have found out that fructose is suitable for diabetic patients compared to glucose, however, there are side effects when taken in excess... Therefore, the best solution is not to have diabetes... :)
ps:This article is written in the assumption that the product I stated earlier contains fructose only... If the product contains glucose and sucrose as well, it should be avoided by diabetes patients...
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