Fructose Malabsorption

Hi, StumpyBrian, and welcome. I suggest you use the full Menu Planner application (not the Ready-to-Go version), so that you can choose the foods that are good for you and avoid the ones that are not. Have you received guidelines regarding such foods? Just in case you haven’t, the following may be of help:
Tips
• Limiting foods that contain free fructose and limiting portion sizes of food sources of fructose at meals or snacks will help relieve symptoms of fructose
malabsorption.
• Glucose helps fructose absorption, and consuming foods that have both sugars will decrease the likelihood of malabsorption.
• Keeping a food and symptom diary can be helpful to identify the amounts and
kinds of food that are tolerated and to adjust your diet to prevent symptoms.

Recommended Foods
Dairy
Milk, cheese, cottage cheese and yogurt without added fruit, sweeteners made from fruit juice concentrate or high fructose corn syrup.
Tips:
• Review food label for the amount of added sugars per serving.
• Limit serving size to the amount listed on the food label.
• Instead of pre-fruited cottage cheese or yogurt, add your own low-fructose fruit to plain dairy products, and sweeten with sucrose (preferably coconut sugar or whole raw cane sugar), glucose (i.e., grape sugar) or a carbohydrate-free sweetener such as Stevia or monk fruit.
Meat, poultry, fish, legumes, eggs, seeds, and nuts
Meats, poultry, fish and eggs prepared without breading or sweetened sauces
Carbohydrates
Tips:
• Wheat-free is recommended, and so gluten-free is often an easy default; however, there are notable exceptions that are tolerated, such as barley and rye.
• Be sure to favor whole, unrefined carbohydrate products.
Grains: Cornmeal, barley, buckwheat and buckwheat groats, rice, rye, quinoa, millet, amaranth, gluten-free oats and oat groats, teff, and products made from these grains
Breads: Cornbread, 100% rye bread and crackers, gluten-free breads and crackers
Cereals: Rice, grits, oatmeal, corn flakes, puffed or crispy rice
Pasta: Brown rice noodles, soba (100% buckwheat) noodles, gluten-free pasta products (i.e., quinoa), legume pasta
Starchy Vegetables: Corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash
Vegetables
Brassica: Cauliflower, broccoli
Root: onions, beets, carrots
Fruit family: squashes
Greens: lettuce, cabbage, spinach, turnip greens
Other: celery, sweet green pepper, mushrooms
Fruits
Berries (organic recommended): blueberries, boysenberries, cranberries, raspberries, strawberries
Citrus: grapefruit, kumquat, lemon, lime, mandarin, orange, tangelo
Stone: nectarine, peach, plum (these contain sorbitol, which competes with fructose for absorption) – note that these are high in polyols, so if you are sensitive, these should be limited or avoided
Other: banana, cantaloupe, cranberry, kiwi, grapes (organic recommended), passion fruit, pineapple, rhubarb, star fruit
• Fats and Oils
All nut, seed, and fruit (olive and avocado) oils, butter, and non-dairy buttery spreads
Desserts
• Desserts sweetened with sucrose (table sugar) without added fruit or fruit juice concentrate; or with natural sugar-free sweeteners such as Stevia and monk fruit.
• Flourless and gluten-free cakes, cookies, muffins, and dairy desserts with fruits listed above.
• Sherbet and sorbet made with fruits and sweeteners listed above
Beverages: Coffee, tea, diet soda – unsweetened or sweetened with sucrose, glucose, or natural carbohydrate-free sweeteners such as Stevia or monk fruit.

Foods Allowed in Limited Amounts
Food Group Foods Recommended in Limited Amounts
Dairy
• Dairy products with added chicory root or inulin.
Meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs and nuts
• Tomato paste and juice, BBQ sauce, sweet and sour sauce.
• Breading made from white flour or white bread.
Grains Wheat based products contain fructooligosaccharides and may need
to be limited to one serving per meal or snack: 1 slice of wheat
bread, several wheat crackers, 1 cup of cooked pasta or cereal.
Vegetables • Limit to ½ cup per meal: asparagus, leeks, onions, Jerusalem artichoke, regular artichoke.
• Limit to ½ cup serving per meal: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cucumbers, green beans, okra, peas, sweet red peppers, fresh or canned tomatoes and tomato products.
Fruits
• Fruits are the primary source of fructose and therefore should be limited to ½ cup juice or canned fruit or 1 piece of fresh fruit at each meal or snack.

Foods Recommended to Avoid or Eat in Very Small Amounts
Fruit
• Dried fruit: apple, apricot, currant, date, fig, pear, prunes, raisins
• Fruit juice and canned fruit packed in pear juice
• Fruits high in fructose content: apple, cherry, grape, pear, lychee, mango, papaya, persimmon, quince, watermelon
• Additional fruits – high in polyols (avoid/limit if you are sensitive): apple, apricot, blackberries, cherries, longan, nectarine, peach, plum
Fats and Oils
• Commercial salad dressings, low fat dressings made with fructose, fruit juice concentrate or HFCS
• Avocado
Desserts
• Dried fruit bars, baked products made with dried fruit or fruit juice concentrate, sorbet made with watermelon, fruit pies made with fruits listed above.
• Commercial food products in which sorbitol is substituted for sugar
• Ice cream with added chicory root or inulin.
Beverages
• Beverages made with added sweeteners, either fructose, a combination of fructose and HFCS or sorbitol.
• Fortified wines: sherry, port
• Soft drinks
• Coffee, chicory based coffee
• Bottled teas and coffees with added sweeteners
• Sports drinks made with fructose or high-fructose corn syrup (HCFS)
Other
• Coconut milk or cream
• Sugar alcohols used as sweeteners may not be tolerated