Fruits and FODMAPs: 75 foods rated

Apple fails twice over: it holds more fructose than glucose, and it carries sorbitol as well. Two of the five FODMAP families in one fruit, which is why no serving size rescues it and why apple is usually the first thing removed. Cooking concentrates rather than helps. The sugars behind this were measured on this fruit, in a study of four - peach, apple, watermelon and cherry - by HPLC. What it settles for this axis is presence and absence rather than a level: sorbitol was found in peach, apple and cherry and not in watermelon, and sucrose in peach, apple and watermelon and not in cherry. It publishes ranges across the four, never a value for one, so it cannot set a FODMAP level by itself. The same measurement answers here: Muir puts the apple among five fruits of 41 with more fructose than glucose, and that excess is the F of FODMAP rather than a separate finding.

• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols
• Ma C. et al., Food Chem 145 (2014) 784-788, fructose, sorbitol, glucose and sucrose in fruits by HPLC-ELSD
• Muir J. et al., J Agric Food Chem 57 (2009) 554-565, short-chain carbohydrates in 45 vegetables and 41 fruits

Apricot is a stone fruit, and stone fruit means sorbitol - that is the family trait. Two apricots is the usual threshold. Dried apricots are a different question again, since drying multiplies what is already there.

• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols

Canned apricots sit alongside fresh ones here, but for a reason worth knowing: the syrup they are packed in is usually glucose or sucrose, which adds glucose and helps, the FODMAP here being fructose in excess of it - while the canning softens the fruit and concentrates it, which does not. Drained and rinsed is the better version.

Blackberry is the exception among berries. Strawberry, blueberry and raspberry are all low, and blackberry is not - because it carries sorbitol where the others do not. If berries have been treated as a safe category, this is the one that breaks it.

• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols

Cherry: this fruit is high in FODMAPs because it holds more fructose than glucose - excess fructose, a poorly absorbed FODMAP. The load is dose-dependent, so a small serving is often tolerated where a large one is not. The sugars behind this were measured on this fruit, in a study of four - peach, apple, watermelon and cherry - by HPLC. What it settles for this axis is presence and absence rather than a level: sorbitol was found in peach, apple and cherry and not in watermelon, and sucrose in peach, apple and watermelon and not in cherry. It publishes ranges across the four, never a value for one, so it cannot set a FODMAP level by itself.

• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols
• Ma C. et al., Food Chem 145 (2014) 784-788, fructose, sorbitol, glucose and sucrose in fruits by HPLC-ELSD

Dates fail on fructans rather than on fructose, which makes them different from every other dried fruit here. Two dates is around the limit, and the stickiness that makes them a baking staple is exactly what makes the portion creep.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit
• USDA FoodData Central, the national nutrient database, queried for the sugar profile

Dried apricots concentrate the fresh fruit's sorbitol several times over, and they are eaten as a snack rather than as fruit - which is how a threshold of about three gets passed without noticing. The sulphites are a separate question on a separate axis.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit
• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols

Dried figs concentrate a fruit that was already over the line fresh, and they carry fructans as well as excess fructose. One dried fig is roughly the limit, which is less than most people put on a cheeseboard.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Dried peach carries the stone fruit's sorbitol with the water taken out, so a few pieces deliver what a whole peach would. It is less common than dried apricot and behaves the same way, threshold included.

• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols

Prunes are sold as a laxative, and the mechanism is the one this axis measures: sorbitol draws water into the bowel and ferments. Drying multiplied what the plum already had. Nothing here is a surprise, and the threshold is two or three.

• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols

Fig crosses the FODMAP threshold at about one fruit, which is a more useful thing to know than that it is high. Fresh figs are eaten quickly and in twos and threes, and the skin and seeds go with them - there is no part to leave out.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Guava is unusually sugary for its size and runs fructose-dominant. It is most often met as a juice or a paste rather than a whole fruit, and both concentrate it while removing the fibre that would have slowed it down. Prichard measured guava at 0.41 g of fructan per 100 g, with no galacto-oligosaccharides detected.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit
• Prichard R et al., Int J Food Sci Nutr 67 (2016) 383-390, FODMAP content of foods commonly consumed by ethnic minority groups

Mango gets worse for FODMAPs in the fruit bowl. Starch converts to sugar as it ripens, so a firm mango is measurably easier than a soft one - the opposite of how most people choose them, and one of the few cases where waiting makes a food less tolerable rather than more.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Peach carries sorbitol like every stone fruit, and ripeness raises it. A firm peach at half a fruit is the usual limit; a soft one is not. Tinned peaches in juice behave better than in syrup only if the juice is not apple or pear. The sugars behind this were measured on this fruit, in a study of four - peach, apple, watermelon and cherry - by HPLC. What it settles for this axis is presence and absence rather than a level: sorbitol was found in peach, apple and cherry and not in watermelon, and sucrose in peach, apple and watermelon and not in cherry. It publishes ranges across the four, never a value for one, so it cannot set a FODMAP level by itself. Muir puts the peach among five fruits of 41 with more fructose than glucose, and names the clingstone specifically where this entry covers every kind of peach.

• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols
• Ma C. et al., Food Chem 145 (2014) 784-788, fructose, sorbitol, glucose and sucrose in fruits by HPLC-ELSD
• Muir J. et al., J Agric Food Chem 57 (2009) 554-565, short-chain carbohydrates in 45 vegetables and 41 fruits

Pear carries sorbitol on top of a fructose excess, which makes it two problems at once rather than one. Peeling does nothing - both sit in the flesh. It is the fruit most likely to be tolerated in a bite and not in a portion, and the gap between the two is small. Muir puts the pear among five fruits of 41 with more fructose than glucose, so one of the letters this axis stands for is measured rather than assumed for it.

• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols
• Muir J. et al., J Agric Food Chem 57 (2009) 554-565, short-chain carbohydrates in 45 vegetables and 41 fruits

Plum is the fruit whose sorbitol is famous enough to be a folk remedy - prunes are sold for exactly this effect. The fresh fruit carries a smaller dose of the same thing, and two plums is where most people find the edge.

• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols

Raisins are the dried fruit whose fresh form had nothing to concentrate - grapes carry balanced sugars and no sorbitol. What makes raisins high is fructans, and sheer density: a tablespoon is a lot of grapes.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit
• USDA FoodData Central, the national nutrient database, queried for the sugar profile
• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols

Sultanas are raisins from a seedless white grape, and they answer the same way - fructans, and a threshold measured in a tablespoon. They appear in cereal, baking and curry, which is three chances a day to pass it.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Sun-dried tomatoes are the most concentrated FODMAP form of a fruit that was already borderline, and they are eaten in slivers - which is what keeps the level from being higher. Two or three pieces is the practical limit.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit
• Tuck C et al., J Hum Nutr Diet 31 (2018), FODMAP content of common plant-based and processed foods
• USDA FoodData Central, the national nutrient database, queried for the sugar profile

Watermelon is the fruit whose level surprises people most, because it is almost all water. The concentration is modest; the problem is that nobody eats a small portion of watermelon. It also carries fructans as well as excess fructose, which is unusual for a fruit. The sugars behind this were measured on this fruit, in a study of four - peach, apple, watermelon and cherry - by HPLC. What it settles for this axis is presence and absence rather than a level: sorbitol was found in peach, apple and cherry and not in watermelon, and sucrose in peach, apple and watermelon and not in cherry. It publishes ranges across the four, never a value for one, so it cannot set a FODMAP level by itself.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit
• Ma C. et al., Food Chem 145 (2014) 784-788, fructose, sorbitol, glucose and sucrose in fruits by HPLC-ELSD

Acorn squash carries mannitol, which sets it apart from pumpkin and butternut - the squash family does not answer as a family here. Mannitol dissolves in water, so boiling and draining takes part of it away, while roasting keeps every gram and concentrates it.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Bell pepper depends on the colour, and the colour is the ripeness. Green is picked early and is the low one; red has ripened on the plant and carries excess fructose with it. Yellow and orange sit between. Same vegetable, three answers on one shelf.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Blackcurrant is rarely eaten fresh - it arrives as coulis, syrup or jam, and each of those is many berries' worth of FODMAP in one spoonful with sugar added. The fresh fruit at a small handful is a different measurement from the products made from it.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Cherry tomatoes concentrate more sugar than a large tomato for the same weight - smaller fruit, more skin and seeds, riper at picking. A handful is around the FODMAP threshold where a sliced beef tomato is not.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Chokeberry sits above the low berries because of its sorbitol, which is a polyol and counts on this axis whatever the fructose does. It is eaten dried or as juice more often than fresh, and both concentrate.

• Mikulic-Petkovsek M et al., J Food Sci 77:10 (2012) C1064-C1070, sugars, organic acids and total phenolics in 25 berry species

Jackfruit answers differently depending on which one you meant. The ripe yellow fruit is fructose-dominant and moderate; the unripe green fruit sold as a meat substitute is starchy, barely sweet, and a different food on this axis.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Lychee carries both excess fructose and sorbitol, and it is eaten by the handful because each one is a mouthful. Five is around the threshold, and a tinned portion in syrup is well past it.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Nectarine is a peach without the fuzz and behaves like one - sorbitol from the stone-fruit family, and a threshold around half a fruit. The missing skin texture makes no difference to the sugar.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit
• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols

Persimmon depends entirely on the variety and the ripeness. The astringent kind must be eaten soft, by which point its FODMAP sugars have peaked; the non-astringent kind is eaten firm and measures lower. Same fruit name, two different answers.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Tamarind is intensely sour, and the acidity hides how sugary the pulp is - which is the whole trap. It is used as a paste by the spoonful in cooking, so the dose is small, but a tamarind drink is a different matter. Prichard measured tamarind at 2.35 g of fructan per 100 g, the largest fructan figure in that survey.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit
• Prichard R et al., Int J Food Sci Nutr 67 (2016) 383-390, FODMAP content of foods commonly consumed by ethnic minority groups

Avocado is low with a qualification worth knowing: half is low and a whole one is not, because of its polyols. Fruit is where this axis is least intuitive, because sweetness and FODMAP load are not the same measurement - what counts is the balance between the sugars, not how much sugar there is.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit
• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols

Citrus is the fruit family the low-FODMAP protocols leave IN, and a blood orange is a sweet orange: one medium fruit is a comfortable serving. The sugars are balanced - roughly as much glucose as fructose - which is what keeps an orange out of trouble where a pear or an apple falls into it. Juice is the exception on every citrus, because three oranges go into a glass and the fibre does not.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) and 57 (2009), short-chain carbohydrates in Australian fruit

Blueberry carries its sugars in balance - glucose keeping pace with fructose - so there is no excess left unabsorbed. Berries are the fruit group a low-FODMAP diet keeps, with blackberry the exception, which is high in sorbitol rather than fructose.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit
• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols

Butternut squash is low at a normal serving and stops being low above one - the threshold is around about a third of a cup. That is the shape of this whole axis: it publishes serving limits rather than verdicts, because the fructan or polyol load scales with how much you eat and there is no amount that is free.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Cantaloupe is low at a slice and climbs steeply with the bowl. Melons are eaten in volume because they are mostly water, which is exactly the habit that turns a low-FODMAP fruit into a high-FODMAP serving. Watermelon is the cautionary example: same family, and high.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Cranberry carries its sugars in balance - glucose keeping pace with fructose - so there is no excess left unabsorbed. Berries are the fruit group a low-FODMAP diet keeps, with blackberry the exception, which is high in sorbitol rather than fructose.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit
• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols

Elderberry is low here, and the reason is what it does NOT carry: the survey that found sorbitol in chokeberry, rowanberry and shadbush did not find it in this one. The fruit is almost always cooked into a syrup or a cordial, and sugar added to it is a separate question from the fruit.

• Mikulic-Petkovsek M et al., J Food Sci 77:10 (2012) C1064-C1070, sugars, organic acids and total phenolics in 25 berry species

Galia melon is low at a slice and climbs steeply with the bowl. Melons are eaten in volume because they are mostly water, which is exactly the habit that turns a low-FODMAP fruit into a high-FODMAP serving. Watermelon is the cautionary example: same family, and high.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Goji berries are low with a qualification worth knowing: dried, so the threshold is a small handful. Fruit is where this axis is least intuitive, because sweetness and FODMAP load are not the same measurement - what counts is the balance between the sugars, not how much sugar there is.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Grape is low with a qualification worth knowing: balanced sugars, and one of the few fruits with no excess fructose. Fruit is where this axis is least intuitive, because sweetness and FODMAP load are not the same measurement - what counts is the balance between the sugars, not how much sugar there is.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Grapefruit carries most of its sugar as sucrose, which splits into glucose and fructose in equal parts - so the glucose escorts the fructose across and nothing is left over. Citrus is the reliable fruit on this axis, and the juice is lower than the fruit only because the pith goes.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Honeydew melon is low at a slice and climbs steeply with the bowl. Melons are eaten in volume because they are mostly water, which is exactly the habit that turns a low-FODMAP fruit into a high-FODMAP serving. Watermelon is the cautionary example: same family, and high.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Jujube reaches this axis through its sorbitol, which is a polyol and so one of the letters FODMAP stands for. Hernández identified it among four sugars separated by HPLC without publishing how much of it there is, so the answer here rests on a presence rather than a serve size. Nothing is known here about its fructans or its fructose-to-glucose ratio.

• Hernández F. et al., J Sci Food Agric 96:8 (2016) 2682-2691, four sugars in Spanish jujube by HPLC

Kiwi is low on this axis rather than clear of it, and one family out of the several it counts is the reason: sugar. A measurement of the kiwi's sugars put sucrose at 71.9 per cent of the total, leaving glucose and fructose to share the rest, and free fructose is one of the FODMAPs. The polyol side is the other way round — the same survey measured sorbitol across 25 berry species and the kiwi, and found it in three of them, chokeberry, rowanberry and eastern shadbush, with the kiwi not among them.

• Mikulic-Petkovsek M. et al., Journal of Food Science 77 (2012) C1064–C1070 — sugars, organic acids and phenolics in 25 berry species and the kiwi, and which of them carry sorbitol at all. It measures sugars, acids and phenols, so it settles nothing about fructans or galacto-oligosaccharides, and it gives no figure per 100 g for any species

The lingonberry is a tart berry, almost always eaten cooked and sweetened, so the FODMAP portion is rarely large.

Longan is one of the four fruits singled out in a survey of 43 as carrying low but detectable fructans - 0.21 to 0.46 g per 100 g across that group, with white peach, persimmon and melon. Detectable is the useful word: it is not a fruit to treat as free of them, and it is not one of the high ones either. The range belongs to the group, not to the longan alone.

• Muir J. et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627, fructan and free fructose in 60 vegetables and 43 fruits

Mulberry carries its sugars in balance - glucose keeping pace with fructose - so there is no excess left unabsorbed. Berries are the fruit group a low-FODMAP diet keeps, with blackberry the exception, which is high in sorbitol rather than fructose.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit
• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols

Orange carries most of its sugar as sucrose, which splits into glucose and fructose in equal parts - so the glucose escorts the fructose across and nothing is left over. Citrus is the reliable fruit on this axis, and the juice is lower than the fruit only because the pith goes.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Passion fruit is low with a qualification worth knowing: small and eaten by the spoonful. Fruit is where this axis is least intuitive, because sweetness and FODMAP load are not the same measurement - what counts is the balance between the sugars, not how much sugar there is.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Pineapple is low with a qualification worth knowing: sucrose-led rather than fructose-led. Fruit is where this axis is least intuitive, because sweetness and FODMAP load are not the same measurement - what counts is the balance between the sugars, not how much sugar there is.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit

Redcurrant carries its sugars in balance - glucose keeping pace with fructose - so there is no excess left unabsorbed. Berries are the fruit group a low-FODMAP diet keeps, with blackberry the exception, which is high in sorbitol rather than fructose.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit
• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols

The rose hip is eaten as a syrup, a tea or a purée rather than whole, so what FODMAP reaches the gut depends on the preparation more than on the fruit.

Strawberry carries its sugars in balance - glucose keeping pace with fructose - so there is no excess left unabsorbed. Berries are the fruit group a low-FODMAP diet keeps, with blackberry the exception, which is high in sorbitol rather than fructose.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit
• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols

Whitecurrant carries its sugars in balance - glucose keeping pace with fructose - so there is no excess left unabsorbed. Berries are the fruit group a low-FODMAP diet keeps, with blackberry the exception, which is high in sorbitol rather than fructose.

• Muir J et al., J Agric Food Chem 55 (2007) 6619-6627 and 57 (2009) 554-565, fructans and short-chain carbohydrates measured in Australian vegetables and fruit
• Lenhart A. & Chey W.D., Adv Nutr 8 (2017) 587-596, systematic review of the effects of polyols