Can You Eat Fruits Too Much?

Anyone who eats a lot of fruit eats a healthy diet and provides their body with valuable vitamins, minerals, fiber, and secondary plant substances. However, the unpleasant side effects of excessive fruit consumption can include a laxative effect.

Too much fruit is generally only dangerous for healthy people with an otherwise unbalanced diet. For example, anyone on a radical diet who hardly eats any other food apart from low-calorie fruit risks an undersupply of vital nutrients such as fat, proteins, and some B vitamins. These substances are not contained in sufficient amounts or not at all in apples and the like, but are urgently needed for a healthy metabolism.

Consumed in the right amount, fruit is very healthy. The recommended two portions of fruit and three portions of vegetables of the “five a day” rule should therefore not be understood as a maximum, but rather as a minimum.

The fear that the high sugar content of the fruit can have a negative impact on body weight is rather inappropriate – even if it is not fundamentally unfounded. In principle, it doesn’t matter which foods we use to take in energy: if we use fewer calories than we take in, weight gain occurs. Consumed in excess, fruit can therefore provide too much energy. Due to the average low-calorie density, however, it is unlikely that excess pounds can be attributed primarily to eating too much fruit.

Of course, there are exceptions to the unrestricted recommendation to eat fruit, for example for people who suffer from an intolerance to fructose. For them, too much fruit is actually dangerous. Diabetics should also be particularly careful when eating fruit and keeping an eye on the sugar content. Because the glucose contained in the fruit gets into the blood quickly, it is advisable to check the blood sugar level after eating. Dried fruits should be consumed with caution by people with diabetes because due to the reduced volume, dried fruits contain sugar in a concentrated form. It is best to integrate fruit – whether fresh or dried – into your mix-plate meal. In this way, not only is the sugar in the fruit absorbed, but also protein and fat as well as other substances that can slow down the rise in blood sugar levels.