Are fresh fruit high in fructose bad for elderly individuals?

@gjenkisak Welcome to Mayo Connect. You are so right, the world is full of contradictions - like whether high-fructose fruits are good or bad.
What I'm going to say next is not going to give you the "correct" answer - because science, nutrition and medicine are still studying the issue, and there is no single guideline - yet.

I did a dive into scholar.google.com, which is a source of science and research based reports, unlike many search engines, that spit out every reference that contains your keywords, whether it is from a university, a website promoter, or a guy on Facebook with an opinion.

I found this paper that has a lot of info, sourced from many other studies:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5409734/
If you can wade through the scientific jargons it basically says:
Too much fructose MAY cause excessive URIC ACID production in SOME people. Uric Acid is widely know to cause gout, but can also cause crystal formation and pain in other joints. It is also known to cause inflammation that MAY affect some people with diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular conditions.

Most people's bodies break down Uric Acid into harmless components that are digested and excreted through the urine as urea.

Fructose does not only come from high-fructose fruits. Fructose is a component of sucrose (sugar), is used to sweeten many foods and beverages (high fructose corn syrup) and some plants (fructans.)

"Normal" fructose consumption is defined in various studies as between 50 - 100 grams per day. The concern is with excessive consumption of fructose, beyond what the body can naturally metabolize. There is no direct connection between normal levels of fructose consumption in healthy individuals and health problems.

There are a number of charts and tables available that show the amount of fructose per serving in various fruits. Most are 5-10 grams per serving, so if you want to stay on the low end, you can still easily eat 4-5 servings of a mix of high (apple, pear) and low (strawberries, melons) fructose fruits. Ditch the sodas, fruit drinks, and prepared foods in favor of fresh and whole.

Bottom line - what my Grandma always taught us (and she's been gone over 40 years) was to eat a variety of food in moderation. The more colors on the plate, the healthier the meal. Only one piece of pie, cake or cookie for dessert, soda is a rare treat, candy even more so - and this was before high-fructose corn syrup sneaked into everything. Seems like that's still pretty good advice, she and Grandpa lived into their 809's in spite of health problems. Their 3 daughters all lived by thast advice and lived to their late 80's. All but a few of our cousins lived the same way and most of us are going strong in our 70's.

I have never seen the claim that too much sugar of any kind, fructose, galactose, maltose, dextrose, sucrose....you name it, it's a sugar...is possibly going to cause joint pain, and it doesn't matter what age we're talking about. I have seen that fructose is the big problem with overconsumption because it is found in so many prepared foods and drinks. In turn, it causes metabolic syndrome and eventually diabetes, although that's usually years down the road.
There are, on the other hand, many causes of joint pain, not least of which is the wear-and-tear on old joints. Uric acid has been mentioned already, but peripheral artery disease, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis can be present, even bone spurs! Torn cartilage in the knees, strained anterior and posterior cruciate and lateral ligaments....you get the idea.
If you were to add that you have recently been prescribed a statin such as atorvastatin, some people do claim to experience very annoying muscle pain, some of it near joints. This is in the literature.

I am 74 and have a smoothie every morning. It consists of oat milk, frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, frozen cherries frozen bananas. I add whey powder that makes it taste like ice cream, low sugar yogurt and recently added Hemp Hearts or shelled hemp seeds.
This enables me to skip lunch and have a light dinner.
At 74 I am developing some arthritis in my hands but I believe that is genetics.
Regarding taking a statin my doctor says everyone should be taking a statin. There are many statins available. My body does well with Atorvastatin. Other statins I tried caused muscle pain.
Good luck to everyone. Aging is not for the faint of heart. Getting in exercise everyday also helps.

I'm big on breakfast smoothies too. I saw a nutritionist while being treated for prostate cancer and they RECOMMENDED fresh fruits and vegetables. I suppose if you ate fruit all day long it might not be the best idea, but fruit is high in vitamins and fiber, both of which are good for you.

Sometimes, I put spinach in the smoothies. It's packed with nutrition and has minimal taste when mixed with other things. It just makes the smoothie look weird. Occasionally, an avocado is good in a smoothie as well. It makes it very creamy and delicious.

Be careful about spinach - they are very high in oxalates. It’s better to steam spinach, let the oxalates go into the water & throw that water out.

The study I cited in my previous post contains an explanation as to how/why it can cause joint pain because as fructose breaks down it creates uric acid, citing a number of studies.
Uric acid (which forms crystals) can in fact cause joint pain beyond the traditionally recognized gout, which most commonly attacks toe joints.

You also said "... I have seen that fructose is the big problem with overconsumption because it is found in so many prepared foods and drinks. In turn, it causes metabolic syndrome and eventually diabetes, although that's usually years down the road..."

Unfortunately, it doesn't take as many years as we once thought. Metabolic syndrome and Type II diabetes are now seen way too often in young teens and even preteens. Studies are already underway, but it has been linked to excessive fructose consumption since birth. 15 years ago, high fructose corn syrup was still a common ingredient in baby formulas. Then add fruit juices, sweetened cereals, bread, prepared snack foods...

I cringe when I look into many of the grocery carts in my local store. We have food allergies, hypertension, heart disease and diabetes in our family, and have been avid label readers for over 50 years. At least 75% of our cart is raw or minimally processed foods.

Good to hear from you. I am more of a traditionalist but my son always told me to add spinach. He also said my smoothies were too big.
I am 74 and he is 43. 😊

Thanks for the hug. We need more of that these days.
Have a great weekend.

I like big smoothies - I put the leftovers in the fridge for a later snack.

Well, that's great to see! I think genetics and lifestyle play equal roles in how one's life's experiences unfold, certainly how healthy we are. Some, I'm sure, have to modify what they have taken for years as a decent diet in order to restore their former capabilities, even if just to get back into some slimmer pants.