Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board What's the best bar

I see a common misperception creeping in here. The sugar in fruit is NOT just fructose. Virtually all fruit has a combination of fructose, glucose, and sucrose. Here is a listing of some fruit, in grams sugar/100 grams fruit:

Fruit Fructose Glucose Sucrose

Apple 5.0 1.7 3.1
Apricot 0.4 1.9 5.5
Banana 3.5 4.5 11.9
Dates 23.7 24.9 0.3
Figs 30.9 42.0 0.1
Grapes 4.3 4.8 0.2
Orange 2.3 2.4 4.2
Peach 1.6 1.5 6.6
Pear 5.0 2.5 8.0
Pineapple 1.4 2.3 4.2
Plum 2.9 4.5 7.4
Watermelon - - 4.0
Honey 40.5 34.2 1.9

Sorry, I tried to get the columns to line up nicely, but I couldn't get it to work. But the information is all there. The actual ratio of fructose/glucose/sucrose of honey varies depending on variety; this is also probably true with fruit.

I would imagine the diabetic's problem with honey is simply the very high amount of sugar in a small volume. And remember that your body converts sucrose into one glucose and one fructose through a simple enzymatic reaction in your stomach.

Bob K,

Sorry, had to run off to work after that last reply. As Lambertiana has mentioned in her post, there are different ratios of the sugars in different fruits. Some raise your blood sugar faster than others; the Glycemic Index, as I mentioned, may indicate which ones raise it faster and which ones are slower (there is still some controversy about the GI). The glucose in these fruits gets into your system faster than the fructose, which must be converted into glucose in the liver. Fructose also does not create the insulin response that glucose does.

Remember that it is important to determine what your needs are at the time. On a fairly strenuous hiking or peak-bagging trip, you are going to want to have energy that is readily available to replace what you are using fairly rapidly. This is why liquid supplements like Cytomax or gels like GU are popular with endurance athletes. Maybe I've been unduly influenced by hanging around peak-baggers lately! Now on a leisurely hike or backpack, this is not as important, and more gradually broken down carbs are fine, and even preferable. What I'm talking about here is optimizing your energy availability.

I wouldn't consider myself a honey expert, but from what I've read, the carb percentages won't vary much with the different honeys. The problem with honey from a diabetics standpoint has to do with the form it is in, such as the lack of fiber and other substances, such as fat, protein, starch molecules, etc. that lend structure to other foods, which in turn slows digestion and absorption.

Expro - I am a he, not a she

One of the things that really drives the rate of absorption, as you noted, is what else is there. It is not necessarily the total sugar content, but other things like fiber, protein, fat, minerals, etc. That is why whole grain bread is absorbed slower than white bread, even though the actual starches are the same. Although fruit can have a fair amount of sugar, the fiber slows down absorption so fruit is OK for diabetics while the equivalent amount of sugar by itself is not (as well as the fruit having actual nutritional value). Any sugar source that does not have fiber, protein, or fat will be absorbed quite quickly.

It really comes down to what your actual energy demands are. If you need intense energy, you want something that gets in the bloodstream quickly. For a long slower burn, your food choice will be different.

Anything that has a high amount of free glucose without fiber, fat, or protein will give a huge blood sugar spike. This includes honey and glucose-based gels.

Maybe a good alternative for longer burns is a tube of honey/peanut butter mixture. Easy to use and tastes great. You can vary the relative amounts of each based on your personal tastes and needs, and it is not very expensive.

Well, not to turn this into a biochemisty class, and I didn't mean to....I do agree that there is little PRACTICAL difference in what sugars are contained in a particular bar. I really don't think that there is a composition reason why one would choose one bar over another. Of course, the marketers for each bar would differ, as they each seem to have a hook. I think the critical issue is TASTE, and whether you enjoy a particular bar....if you don't, you'll tend not to eat them at all. These days, I won't take something I've not tried at home, first. I've been a Cliff fan for a long time, but I get tired of them.

I've been impressed with the Lara Bar line.....basically compressed fruit and nothing else. Crumbles nicely, moist, and tastes like what it says it is, because it is. Haven't had them in real cold conditions, so cannot testify to their tent pounding capabilities.

lamber, no the problem with honey is not the concentration, it is the speed of absorption. Because glucose is absorbed so fast, there is an immediate spike in blood sugar, which is very hard to compensate for medically (although we're better at it, than in the past)

After all of this, a candy bar, or any bar for that matter, will never look or taste the same!

Great info!

So should I just take a glucose IV drip with me up the mountain?

"Richard..you'll have to carry this IV bag and stay above me on the trail so the gravity thing works for us.."

Maybe we could integrate it into the CamelBak system...yeah!

Chris

OOOPS!!! Sorry about that, Lambertiana!

With some of the trip reports I've seen lately on this and other forums, I'd be concerned about what could end up in those IV Bags, Beach!!!

Clif bars, for example, have potassium and magnesium which the candy bars don't. Seems like this would help replace lost electrolytes.

ExPro, Thanks. If I understood your earlier response correctly, it sounds like my long-held sugar belief of my previous message is still correct.