Fructose malabsorption

[Sherrie]

I thought this was interesting because it doesn't just apply to fruit, it applies to wheat, onions and even green beans which is my staple as its not a goitrogen:

Fructose malabsorption

[Sherrie]

I thought this was interesting. Its a quote where someone describes what happens to them with an accidental overdose on fructose:

This is what happens to me when I accidently “overdose” on fructose:
Say for instance I am given a pickle or relish that, the maker assures me is thickened with cornflour, not wheat flour. I have asked them “Now, is that corn cornflour or wheaten cornflour”. If they say corn cornflour and indeed it isn't or the condiment (or whatever kind of mixed food it may be) contains another kind of contaminant, like apple juice or anything else that is high in fructose, and I eat the foodstuff this is what occurs:

Firstly I'll have an anxiety attack. It's like my nerves go to pieces and it brings on depression. Next, I'll suffer sore gut and bloating with lots of gas. This will continue usually for about 2 days or until the contaminant passes from my system. If I do accidently o.d. on fructose I will eat 'safe' foods, increase glucose intake and drink lots of water. The other big side effect of o.d. on fructose is excessive fatigue. I will have to sleep and rest, currently more than what I usually now do. I will have fm all my life, as like someone with Coeliacs disease who has to stick with their special diet for life.

Also I found this study linking it with depression through folic acid deficiency:

Fructose Malabsorption Is Associated with Lower Plasma Folic Acid Concentrations in Middle-Aged Subjects

[Sherrie]

Fructose Malabsorption Flyer

Fructose malabsorption is associated with early signs of mental depression.

The effect of reduction of poorly absorbed, highly fermentable short-chain carbohydrates (FODMAPs) on the symptoms of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

Fructose Malabsorption is Associated with Decreased Plasma Tryptophan

Decreased Serum Zinc in Fructose Malabsorbers

Fructose Malabsorption Is Associated with Lower Plasma Folic Acid Concentrations in Middle-Aged Subjects

Fructose- and sorbitol-reduced diet improves mood and gastrointestinal disturbances in fructose malabsorbers.

Malabsorption of carbohydrates and depression in children and adolescents.

[JTQ]

Just a quick basic background on fructose malabsorption, for those not familiar with it... when the body doesn't have the enzymes to break down fructose sugars, it creates severe (depending on sensitivity) gastric upsets and increased levels of hydrogen in the breath. But, if foods contain fructose with equal or more amounts of glucose, there is no problems caused. Simply put, glucose neutralises the fructose and breaks down the sugars.

So, with that in mind - let's say I have a bottle of water that contains fructose, no glucose. That would cause a major problem for me. But if I was to get glucose and add it into the water.... besides making it increasingly sweet, would this -

1) cause any problems, chemically (stability?)

and 2) neutralise the fructose, remembering that the glucose isn't put in at the time of manufacturing, but at the time of consumption?

[Sherrie]

Welcome JTQ

I am not sure, this is something I am still exploring myself so it is still pretty new to me. I did experiment with it last week but I think she (my daughter) may have been reacting to it.

[Moonie]

Have no idea on that one...when you find out, let us know!!!

[Sherrie]

Irritable Bowel - Can diet make a difference?: with nutritionist Caroline Salisbury

[Sherrie]

Snez just showed me this, I thought I'd already posted it but I can't find it, I think I must've blogged it instead, anyway here it is:

Diet may remedy bowel illnesses

[LC_Dave]

Originally Posted by Sherrie

Snez just showed me this, I thought I'd already posted it but I can't find it, I think I must've blogged it instead, anyway here it is:

Diet may remedy bowel illnesses

It's an NZ Uni study, but down at Box Hill (Just down the road from me LOL).

Very interesting. I used to have 'issues' prior to low carb.

[Sherrie]

I wanted to add this tidbit which I thought was interesting, they mention that certain bacteria produce fructans:

Fructans in bacteria
Some species from a number of bacterial genera have been reported to produce fructans. In the following genera fructan producing species are found: Tolypothrix, Pseudomonas, Xanthomonas, Azotobacter, Erwinia, Streptocuccus, Bacillus, Actinomyces, Rothia and Arthrobacter. (Hendry and Wallace, 1993) Bacterial fructans are often much larger than fructans produced by plants. They can achieve a degree of polymerization of 100.000 or more fructose units (Lieberman et al., 1976). The structure of most of the fructans produced by bacteria is of the levan type, consisting of beta(2->6) linkages with an occacional beta(2->1) branch. In contradiction to the plant genes of enzymes involved in fructan metabolism, bacterial genes for the enzymes are cloned and their sequence defined. In bacteria only one enzyme is responsible for the synthesis of trisaccharides and the further elongation of fructans, in contradiction to the SST/FFT model in plants. Examples of two enzymes that have been studied extensively, are levansucrase (LS) and fructosyltransferase (FTF). Levansucrase which produces levans was isolated from Bacillus subtilus (Dedonder, 1966) and fructosyltransferase, which produces inulins was isolated from f (Carlsson, 1970). The levansucrase enzyme catalyzes the following reaction:

GF +G(F)n -> G + G(F)n+1
sucrose + levan(n) -> glucose + levan(n+1)

Levansucrase also has invertase (hydrolase) activity, in which it catalyzes the following reaction:

GF + H2O -> G + F
sucrose + water -> glucose + fructose

Site directed mutagenesis experiments have showed that the hydrolysing and polymerizing activities can be modulated seperately (Chambert and Petit-Glatron, 1991). It has also been shown that the hydrolizing activity of levansucrase can be diminished in the presence of high concentrations of non-aqueous solvents (Chambert and Petit-Glatron, 1989). In Bacillus subtilis the enzyme is synthesized in the cytoplasm and excreted into the extracellular space, where it catalyses the reactions described above. A two step process has been proposed for the maturation of levansucrase (Petit-Glatron et al., 1987). The maturation involves the removal of a signalpeptide and the proper folding of the enzyme catalyzed by iron ions (Petit-Glatron et al., 1987). The molecular weight of the mature levansucrase is 50 kDa (Steinmetz et al., 1985), the Km for sucrose is 27 mM and the enzyme is active between pH 3,0 and pH 8,5 with an optimum at pH 6,0 (Dedonder, 1966).

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/4409/fructan.htm

[Sherrie]

Thought I should add this article here: Low carb diet now extends benefits to IBD