Can't Eat FRUITS? Get Bloating and Diarrhea? Please Contribute.

[boron]

Hi to all. I'm doing an online investigation about DIETARY FRUCTOSE INTOLERANCE (DFI). In this condition most fruits (apples, pears, prunes...), honey, some vegetables (tomatoes, artichoke...), products with added High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), sorbitol (in "low calorie" foods or "sugar free" chewing gum) and often wheat and onions cause BLOATING and DIARRHEA (also headache or depression). For more info click on my username and check "journals".

If someone thinks, he/she might have this condition (often misdiagnosed as IBS), I want to discuss with you in this thread about which exact fruits, vegetables, cereals and sugars you can/can't tolerate.

[boron]

Copy paste below list in your post and add "Y" if you can tolerate and "N", if you can't tolerate that food.

FRUITS:
- mango
- oranges
- raspberries
- strawberries
- watermelon
- kiwi
VEGETABLES:
- onions
- leek
- carrots
- garlic
- parsley
CEREALS:
- wheat
- barley
LEGUMES:
- beans
- green peas
- soy
- lentils
NUTS:
- pistachios
- peanuts (peanut butter)
- hazelnuts
- almonds
- cashews
- chestnuts
- walnuts
- coconut
SUGARS/SWEETENERS:
- sucrose
- splenda
- maple syrup
- molasses
- brown sugar
- raw sugar (Turbinado, Demerara)
- sorghum syrup
- caramel
- stevia

[crystalfresh]

FRUITS:
added
50/50% apples
BAD- prunes
BAD- appricot
BAD- rasins
BAD- banana

SALADS
mostly all salad

x mango (MAKES ME FEEL SICK)
BAD- oranges
np- raspberries
np- strawberries
BAD- watermelon
x kiwi  (MAKES ME FEEL SICK)
VEGETABLES:
BAD- onions
x leek ?
np- carrots
x garlic  (MAKES ME FEEL SICK)
x parsley
CEREALS:
- wheat NO SURE, THIS IS NEW NEWS TO ME?
BAD- barley
LEGUMES:
BAD- beans
BAD- green peas
BAD- soy  (gas starts with in 15 min, will vomit)
x lentils
NUTS:
x pistachios (MAKES ME FEEL SICK)
x peanuts (peanut butter)  (doc said I was allergic but never noticed gas)
x hazelnuts
x almonds (MAKES ME FEEL SICK)
x cashews (MAKES ME FEEL SICK)
np chestnuts
x walnuts (MAKES ME FEEL SICK)
x coconut (MAKES ME FEEL SICK)
SUGARS/SWEETENERS:
x sucrose (MAKES ME FEEL SICK)
- splenda ??
x maple syrup (Real stuff - MAKES ME FEEL SICK)
- molasses ??
np brown sugar
np raw sugar (Turbinado, Demerara)
- sorghum syrup ??
np corn syrup
- caramel  (MAKES ME FEEL SICK)
- stevia

[crystalfresh]

np = no problem
x = don't eat
- = not sure
BAD - LOTS OF GAS

Too much sugar causes mild stomach discomfort like if I were swallowing sand.

[crystalfresh]

np grapefruits white, red. (can eat them all day just can't touch an orange)
np lemons
np limes
upset stomach from mellons

np - corn I think
50/50% tomato
BAD peppers

[boron]

OK, crystalfresh, some thoughts:
Foods you've mentioned are high in fructose and/or sorbitol. Especially apples, raisins, and prunes contain a lot of sorbitol. Oranges contain more fructose than glucose, and this is why they cause problems.
Onions (and wheat) contain FRUCTANS.

It is possible that you're fructose intolerant. I think you should avoid fructose, sorbitol, and also fructans (onions, try with eliminating wheat). Link to LOW FRUCTOSE DIET is in my journals.

Question for you: What is your reaction to HONEY and to High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), which is used as sweetener in several commercial foods (yoghurts, chocolates, drinks, any packaged food...)?
-------------------------------------------------
Anyone, who have problems with fruits, invited to answer to above questionaire.

[crystalfresh]

Too much honey or corn syrup(fake pancake syrup) makes me feel nausea for a short while. I don't think I ever had gas from it. But I only have about 2 tbsp of either with a meal if I do. I seem to do fine with that little amount. Never had more.

My stomach is feeling a bit gassy now some burping and the only difference tonight was 2 small pieces of green pepper and 5 chicago rools with some jelly (I love bread).

My bad just checked the jelly label. It said 100% fruit, berry flavor but the ingredients on the back had grapes. Great, allergic to grapes. I had about 3 tbsp of jelly, enough to cause upper intestinal gas trouble for a good 5-6 hours if it was mostly grapes. :(
BRB going to take antihistamine.

Last night however no gas at all. But I felt my food digesting/cramping from right to left to right backwards and forwards for 10 hours starting from the stomach until it reached my colon. Once in the colon my small intestine settled down and the whole colon started to burn like an upside down U shape for another few hours. I had my same pasta(made of DRUM SEMOLINA boiled to mush), tomato paste (allergic to tomatoes there ya go), white potato, brown rice, baked chicken. I bet the tomato caused the cramping. I thought if I microwaved and boiled the tomato paste I might not be allergic to it. But then again maybe it was the pasta.

Grapes don't cause cramping just lots of gas and burning. So if I cramp tonight the only constant would be the pasta.

[crystalfresh]

To add
There was also pears in my jelly too. I'm really doing a job on my self.

[boron]

Honey, corn syrup (but only high fructose corn syrup), pears and tomatoes all contain fructose.
Pasta, if from wheat, contains fructans, these are moleculles made from more fructoses.

It's possible you are fructose intolerant. If you find out that this is the case, you shouls avoid
- fructose (fruits and fruit products, especially apples, prunes, pears, dates, agave, raisins, peaches, sweet cherry)
- honey
- some vegetables like tomatoes, and usually beans.
- fructans (wheat, onions, leek, Jerusalem artichoke and maybe asparagus)
- sorbitol (sugar free chewing gum, diet soda, low calorie foods)

Fructose intolerance is NOT an allergy, so a fructose intolerant person can have small amount of fructose, according to his/her tolerance threshold.

-------------------------
Anyone who has problems with fruits, invited to fulfil the questionaire from the 2nd post above.

[crystalfresh]

Ironically I am allergic to most of those fruits but not all. You listed.
fruits and fruit products, especially apples, prunes, pears, dates, agave, raisins, peaches, sweet cherry. So yes to all of them cause gas. Raisins and peaches very bad for me. Brb going to check my allergy list. Yep not allergic at all to peach, so there ya go. I stopped eating peaches years ago because gas and irritations was not easily tolerated.

Lets not even talk about something called fruit punch. Especially the fake kind which is all syrup and grape juice mix. Gas in 15 minutes. That was years ago before my allergies were a problem. Just as bad now.

I'd compare it to lactose intolerance. Ok this is me. I have a fructose intolerance too then. :( But glad I identified it. I would not have know it existed if you hadn't educated me to it on my other posts. :)

I do eat dairy with a product called lactaid. Do they make something similar for fructose ?

[crystalfresh]

I went to the web sites listed in your profile and pulled the list of foods that I am not allergic to. For the next 3 days I am sticking to this list to see what happens.

List of safe foods for me.
Bread: Rye bread pita (allergy-No- yeast, soy, vegi-olive-canola-flax oils, barley)
                                 maybe add poppy or sesame on the bread
           Rice bread made from white rice flower and buckwheat noodles
Pasta: Rice noodles from white rice if I can find it.
Corn: Corn flakes no sugar, hot air pop corn.
Meats: chicken, turkey, fish, pork, egg whites-(but wonder if they are a problem)
Dairy: Mozzarella cheese from part skim-(with lactaid product), no sugar added.
Fruit: strawberry, blueberry, cranberry, lemon, lime, maybe oranges...
Celery, cooked spinach, white potatoes

I am going to try and buy as much of these foods as I can. If I can't get them I'll just eliminate them from the list but not supplement. I am now a guinea pig. I will be very strict on my eating and post results after test. I'm excited. I want to be better. Thank you.

[boron]

It helps, if you ingest some pure glucose (available as dextrose or glucodin, or glucose syrup) along with the food high in fructose. This won't help with foods high in sorbitol though.

Glucose helps in absorption of fructose.

And, crystalfresh, its important to remember that fructose, sorbitol and wheat can all irritate you. Some are tolerant to wheat others are not, so you have to find this out.

Also: Fructose malabsorption is NOT an allergy. In allergy you get reaction to even tiny amount of culprit food, but in fructose malabsorption you can often eat small amount of problematic foods.

Next: fructose malabsorption can be officially tested with hydrogen breth test with fructose.

[crystalfresh]

Thanks, I am scheduling the test for fructose and bacteria too. :) I learned for sure last night that greasy foods like my chips cause gas in my colon. Very different because this is lower down and doesn't cause nausea. But even just today I am feeling a bit better. I used to think that when my intestine was irritated I should eat lots of fruit to help move things through thus thinking it would fix the problem.

[crystalfresh]

What about Jello? I know its sugar, but I can eat Jello and be ok. Fruit will destroy me. What is the difference? How bad is the sugar in Jello?

[boron]

If there's more glucose than fructose in Jello, or if pure sucrose is in it, then this is just like table sugar...which is OK in moderation.

Beside fructose, sorbitol, xylitol, maltitol, mannitol and other sugar alcohols are problematic. On labels they are often referred as polyols or sugar alcohols.

[RebeccaJean]

Copy paste below list in your post and add "Y" if you can tolerate and "N", if you can't tolerate that food.

FRUITS:
- mango N
- oranges N
- raspberries N
- strawberries Y
- watermelon N
- kiwi N
VEGETABLES:
- onions No No No!
- leek N
- carrots Yes, but only raw.
- garlic NNN
- parsley N
CEREALS:
- wheat N
- barley N
LEGUMES:
- beans N
- green peas N
- soy Y
- lentils N
NUTS:
- pistachios Y
- peanuts (peanut butter) N
- hazelnuts N
- almonds N
- cashews N
- chestnuts N
- walnuts N
- coconut N
SUGARS/SWEETENERS:
- sucrose N
- splenda N
- maple syrup N
- molasses N
- brown sugar N
- raw sugar (Turbinado, Demerara) N
- sorghum syrup N
- caramel N
- stevia Y

[solsonmedhelp]

I have a brutal headache right now - garlic, Chinese food??
Some of the foods on the list I don't know so I only marked the ones I know for sure.  
This week I am going on a fructose free diet.  One week of headache was too much.
My mom laughed when I told her I should eat oatmeal - I haven't eaten that since I moved out 25 years ago.  I will eat it this week for breakfast.
I find that rhubarb is an excellent fruit for me.
I use a diabetic aid - glucose tablets - when I think I am getting too much fructose but it doesn't seem to touch onions or garlic.
My dad has celiac disease and I am lactose intolerant.

Copy paste below list in your post and add "Y" if you can tolerate and "N", if you can't tolerate that food.

FRUITS:
- mango
- oranges
- raspberries Y
- strawberries Y
- watermelon Y
- kiwi
VEGETABLES:
- onions N
- leek
- carrots
- garlic N
- parsley
CEREALS:
- wheat I eat it...but not in great quantities
- barley
LEGUMES:
- beans N
- green peas
- soy
- lentils
NUTS:
- pistachios
- peanuts (peanut butter) Y
- hazelnuts
- almonds N
- cashews
- chestnuts
- walnuts
- coconut
SUGARS/SWEETENERS:
- sucrose Y
- splenda
- maple syrup N
- molasses
- brown sugar SOME
- raw sugar (Turbinado, Demerara)
- sorghum syrup
- caramel
- stevia

[sara229]

Copy paste below list in your post and add "Y" if you can tolerate and "N", if you can't tolerate that food.

FRUITS:
- mango N
- oranges ?
- raspberries ?
- strawberries NN
- watermelon ?
- kiwi ?
VEGETABLES:
- onions NNN
- leek Y
- carrots ?
- garlic Y
- parsley Y
CEREALS:
- wheat Y
- barley ?
LEGUMES:
- beans N
- green peas Y
- soy ?
- lentils N
NUTS:
- pistachios N
- peanuts (peanut butter)  N
- hazelnuts N
- almonds N
- cashews N
- chestnuts N
- walnuts N
- coconut Y
SUGARS/SWEETENERS:
- sucrose N
- splenda ?
- maple syrup ?
- molasses ?
- brown sugar  ?
- raw sugar (Turbinado, Demerara)  ?
- sorghum syrup ?
- caramel ?N
- stevia ?

[boron]

Sara, do you have any known food allergy? Strawberies NN is quite a surprise.

[sara229]

Why are strawberies a surprise?

I pretty much avoid all fruits now, except I'm fine with bananas and I have lemon juice in hot water every day, with no problems. I don't have any diagnosed allergies, but my intolerance symptoms are instant stomach pains and bloating. Apart from if I touch the skin of a pineapple I come up in minor bumps on my lips and tongue. Diary products give me acne a day later.

I've never been tested for allergies, but my blood test for intolerance showed up onions, chilli, almonds, cashews, black currants and yeast. but as I said before i think most fruits don't agree with me, but I'd love to be able to discover some I could eat. It wasn't on your list, but grapes are also very bad for me.

[boron]

Strawberries are tolerated by many people with fructose malabsorption...so my thought was, if you're maybe allergic to them.

If you can tolerate lemons, you may go well with most of other citruses: oranges, grapefruits...

Berries of any kind are often well tolerated by many, well...fruits themselves are not something essential for health. You obviously have problem with anything sugary (sucrose).

[sara229]

Actually I'm quite bad with anything sugary, but i haven't managed to differeniate between various types of sugars. Do you think I sound like I have got a frutose malabsorption?

[boron]

You've answered NNN for onions, N for most nuts and legumes, you have no Y at any sugar. It surely may be fructose intolerance, but if you want to be sure, you should have a breath test with fructose.

Also, you've said that your "blood test for intolerance showed up onions, chilli, almonds, cashews, black currants and yeast". I guess these are allergy tests, not sure what is meant here.

If you have fructose intolerance you should avoid fructose (most fruits, especially dried fruits, you know which), fructans (onions, and large amounts of wheat), polyols: sorbitol, xylitol, erythritol, etc (in "sugar-free" products).

Bumps after touching fruits can be from allergic reaction.

Anyway, what are your symptoms, and when did they appear?

[sara229]

Thanks for your input. The bumps i get are only for the skin of pineapples. The symptoms I usually get with everything else are just abdominal pain and bloating, but it's almost an instant reaction.  

I had an IgG test for intolerance as opposed to and IgE for allergy. I've not been tested for allegies.

Is there any type of sugar that is ok for fructose intolerance?
And does this intolerance every clear up and is there anything i can do to speed it up?
Is there a home breath test with fructose I can do?

[boron]

I'm almost sure that you're allergic to pineapple skin. It's only skin ***** test or skin patch test that can tell this reliably.

There's no home tests for fructose *malabsorption (FM), in the sense of some sticks or breath test (fructose *intolerance is actually totally other, severe genetic disease, where you can't safely ingest even small amounts of fructose).

But, you can have diet trial tests. On the beginning you exclude all foods you know they cause symptoms (bloating, cramps, diarrhea...).
Most irritant foods are:
- fruits (includinf fruit juices, jams...): pears, apples, prunes (and most other dried fruits), sweet cherries, peaches, appricots (all stone fruits), mango, papaya
- vegetables: onions, artichokes, asparagus
- any commercial food conating SORBITOL, XYLITOL, or other POLYOLS, mainly in "sugar free", or "low calory" products: chewing gum, soda...
-any commercial food containing HFCS (High fructose corn syrup) - this is artificial sweetener, sometimes denoted as "fructose-glucose syrup". It may be practically in any product: yogurt, even sweetened meat products
- some MEDICATIONS; especially SYRUPS are high in fructose or sorbitol.

You obviously also can't properly absorb FRUCTANS (chains of fructose moleculles) that are in onions, and probably GALACTANS (chains of galactose) that are in beens and many other legumes.

So, it is possible that you can't tolerate most of "FODMAPs" - Fermentable Oligo- (fructans, galactans), Di- (sacharose, lactose, maltose), Mono-saccharides (fructose, galactose) And Polyols (sorbitol, xylitol and other -tols).

Can you tolerate milk (lactose) or beer (maltose)?

Beside that you my be allergic to some of these or other foods.

OK, when you have excluded all what may irritate you, you can start to add fruits (one fruit, than wait 4 days to see what happens, then next fruit...) for which it is known that can be often tolerated in FM (mainly citruses). Most of berries are often well tolerated, but they contain sorbitol or xylitol, so it depends...

FRUCTOSE MALABSORPTION, as I know, doesn't usually go away (have not a lot of experience though).

SUGARS which are often well tolerated in FM:
- pure glucose (available as dextrose in stores). Glucose usually also helps in absorption of fructose, so if you eat dextrose together with some fruits, it may help...honestly, I'm not sure this will work in your case...
- stevia
- splenda
- and most of those artificial sweeteners except HFCS.