Are fresh fruit high in fructose bad for elderly individuals?

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 like your smoothie idea. Do you have a recipe that you follow for making the smoothie? I’ve seen some warnings about not using too much banana. Please advise!!

One frozen banana, frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, frozen cherries, low sugar yogurt and whey powder from Costco. They have a flavor called ice cream.
I also have been adding hemp heart seeds. If you live near a Costco the frozen fruits are half the price of local grocery stores.

You also said you use oat milk. How much of that do you add? Thanks for your response.

Sometimes two cups and if I get carried away three cups. I get the Barista style of Oat milk. It seems a little thicker and has only three grams of sugar compared to real milk with twelve grams of sugar.
Try it and let me know what you think. I look forward to it every morning.
Good luck.

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.

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.

I cringe when I see two obese parents with children who are headed down that same path.
They are a product of what those parents put in their grocery cart every week.
People wonder why the number of Americans suffering from obesity is growing every year.
We spend billions of dollars taking weight loss drugs when all we would have to do is exercise more and eat properly.
To say that obesity is a disease is utter nonsense. If that was the case why was the average dinner plate years ago 6 inches and now it is 12 inches.
Why has type 2 diabetes skyrocketed over the years.
If people ate the right food and exercised we wouldn’t need to keep expanding our hospitals in this country. Instead they would be looking for patients and we would be the healthiest nation in the world.

I agree that we are getting "generational" in the poor eating habits, but it goes far beyond "what those parents put in their grocery cart."

The world has changed vastly! Millions of people live in "food deserts" in large cities and small towns. The only groceries readily available to them are from gas stations, convenience stores and dollar stores. The choices there are mainly heavily processed, low in nutrients and high in sugar, fat and sodium.

When I was a kid, within walking distance we had numerous corner "dairy" stores with milk, bread, eggs, very basic fruits and vegetables. There were butcher shops, bakeries, a fruit & vegetable man in the summer. There were four supermarkets within one mile. Today, thesame neighborhood has one small family-owned supermarket, one high-end store most cannot afford, and 3 gas stations with snacks, sodas, energy drinks and milk (no eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese) and fruit sold by the single piece. The nearest affordable grocery store is over 4 miles away, the supermarkets, even Walmart, are more than 5.

Nutrition used to be taught at home and school. By example, lessons and hands-on. But if the parents missed that lesson, or didn't have it in school, how can they teach it? And if they don't have access to healthy food, how can they serve it? And how do families working 2-3 jobs have the time to learn about label-reading and then take the time to do it, with every package, in the store?

I will say awareness is building - kudos for Dollar General adding fresh fruits and vegetables in their stores, and simple frozen fruits and vegetables. And to Walmart for putting their produce up front in the grocery sections. My grandkids school has gotten rid of much of the fried, over-sugared, highly processed and high fat food in their lunchroom - thanks to a very diligent lunchroom manager who spent 10 years figuring out what healthy foods the kids will eat and how to present them. One interesting note - obesity and diabetes are epidemic in Mexico as well, due to the recent proliferation of packaged foods. Their government took action 3 years ago to PROMINENTLY label food with excessive calories, fat, sugar or sodium on the front in colored hexagons. There is a nutrition campaign that is teaching people to look for the foods with no warnings, treat those with one or two as a small part of any meal, and avoid those with 3 or four. Interestingly, the amount of salt and fat considered excessive is falling in many foods like tortillas, salsa, queso and crackers.

And truthfully, science is just starting to understand the implications of noy only excessive calories, but of all the modified ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup and processed oils on the metabolism.

So we do have an epidemic of obesity, it is a disease because it causes very real health problems and early morbidity. Fortunately, for most it is at least one that can be managed, if not cured.

So let's not play the blame game, let's do our best to spread the word about how to eat good food to stay healthy.