I’ve been searching for information on sugars to try and find out if the sugar in fruit is just as bad as refined sugars. I did find some answer but I’m still not sure that there is a real difference between the different types of sugars.
I found a nice breakdown between fructose (in fruit) and sucrose (refined) on Google Answers. In short, it has to do with how the body breaks down the different sugars. With fructose there is an extra step the body has to take before the sugar can be used. Sucrose is ready for the body to use much quicker than the sugar in fruit. Fructose also has a better Glycemic Index (ranking system for carbohydrates for diabetics).
I also found another very good question and answer page by a dietician, Joanne Larsen. This page also seems to lean toward certain sugars being better for you than refined sugars. It’s worth a read if you are looking into sugars.
And finally this page discusses how to cut sugars in a healthy way by weaning yourself off of too much sugar. This source also says that the USDA recommends limiting your sugar intake to 40g or less per day.
Since I skipped around in You Staying Young
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The sugars in fruit act metabolically in the same way as the same amount of refined sugars. There’s a USDA database at http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search that has sucrose,glucose,fructose content of many foods. Sucrose is a glucose and fructose bonded, so 1 gm sucrose is equivalent to eating 0.5 gm fructose.
You can get too much fructose by eating too much fruit. You can see how much fructose you’re getting by using the USDA database.
Fructose causes insulin resistance, actually they feed a high-fructose diet to rats to cause insulin resistance in order to study it.