How can I avoid fructose and sorbitol?
“My son has IBS, and he has a really hard time digesting fructose and sorbitol. How can I find out which foods have high amounts of fructose or sorbitol and should be avoided?” Fructose and sorbitol are both very likely triggers for IBS symptoms, especially diarrhea, gas, bloating, and cramps. Fructose is a naturally occurring simple sugar, and is found in particularly concentrated amounts in commercial drinks and sweets made with high-fructose corn syrup and fruit juice concentrate. Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol found in some fruits and added to many diabetic cookies and candies; sorbitol is actually converted by the liver into fructose. Sorbitol has long been known to cause digestive upset and is definitely something to avoided by people with IBS. Plain table sugar, which is sucrose, is often much more easily tolerated than fructose and sorbitol, but if you suspect that sucrose is causing problems as well you may have to eliminate or at least restrict all refined sugar from the diet. T
