Can People with High Blood Sugar Eat Pears?

Pear is rich in juice and has a crisp and sweet taste. It is a must-have fruit for hydration in autumn. Because of the delicate flavor and texture of pears, as well as their beautiful appearance, some people call them the “Queen of Fruits.”

There are more benefits to eating pears than you think.

1. Hydrate and moisturize throat.

The moisture content of pears is almost above 85%. It contains enough water and can moisten the throat and relieve the discomfort of dry throat, thereby relieving coughs caused by dryness.

2. Prevent constipation.

Among fruits, pears have a good dietary fiber content and can be ranked in the front row. Dietary fiber can promote mechanical movement of the gastrointestinal tract, promote defecation, prevent constipation, and is beneficial to intestinal health. On top of that, pears contain more sorbitol. Sorbitol is highly hydrophilic and has osmotic effects, which can increase the water content of feces, stimulate gastrointestinal motility, promote defecation, and change intestinal flora. Generally, eating about 5 grams at one time will cause abdominal discomfort, and eating more than 10 grams will cause diarrhea. Of course, there are also pears with lower sorbitol content.

3. Lose weight and control weight.

The calories of most pears are around 50 kcal/100 grams, which is not high and is equivalent to the calories of apples. A fist-sized pear only weighs 100 grams. Eating one as a snack before meals can also increase satiety, help control appetite, and help with weight loss and weight control.

4. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.

Pears contain antioxidants such as polyphenols and flavonoids, which not only help us remove excess free radicals from the body, but also have anti-inflammatory effects. Moreover, the peel of pear has the highest total phenolic and flavonoid content and the strongest antioxidant capacity, followed by the core and the lowest in the pulp. Therefore, if you want to absorb more antioxidants, it is best not to throw away the peel when eating pears, wash them clean and eat them with the skin on.

Can people with high blood sugar eat pears?

Pears taste quite sweet, and many diabetics are afraid to eat them for fear that they will not be able to control their blood sugar after eating them. In fact, don’t worry. GI (glycemic index) is an effective indicator of the post-meal blood sugar response caused by food. If the value is below 55, it is a low-GI food. The GI value of pears is 36, making it a low-GI food. This is because although pears taste sweet, the soluble sugars in their fruits are mainly fructose, sorbitol, glucose and sucrose. Among them, fructose content is the highest, with an average of 5.4 grams/100 grams, accounting for 49.77% of the total sugar content. Followed by sorbitol and glucose, the sucrose content is the lowest, with an average value of 1.4 g/100 g, accounting for 13.04% of the total sugar content. Fructose is metabolized in the body without the involvement of insulin and has little impact on blood sugar. At the same time, the impact of glycemic load (GL) must also be taken into consideration. GL<10 is a low-GL food, which means it has less impact on blood sugar. According to the data in the "China Food Composition", the available carbohydrates of pears are 10.5g/100g. Even if you eat a 200g large pear, the GL is only about 7.6. Pears are low GL foods and have little effect on blood sugar, so people with diabetes can eat them in moderation.

If you are really worried, you can also add 100 grams of food in the morning and afternoon. As for some pears which have higher carbohydrates, don’t eat too much. It’s best to keep it within 100 grams.

If you want the pears to be sweeter, refrigerate them.

People who like to eat pears will find that if you put the pears in the refrigerator to chill before eating, they will taste sweeter. This is because the soluble sugar in pears is mainly fructose, accounting for half of the total sugar content. The relative sweetness of fructose is about 1.2 to 1.8 times that of sucrose. Its sweetness is related to the structural state of fructose. Pyran fructose is sweeter than furan fructose. Fructose is in the pyran form when it is in the crystallized state. It is in equilibrium with the pyran form and the furan form in the aqueous solution, and the sweetness will decrease; at low temperatures, the equilibrium point tends to move toward the pyran form, the the sweetness of pyran form in aqueous solution is three times that of the furan form. Therefore, above 40°C, the sweetness of fructose liquid decreases and is lower than that of sucrose; below 40°C, the lower the temperature, the higher the sweetness of fructose liquid, which can be up to 1.7 times that of sucrose. In other words, if you put pears in the refrigerator for a while before eating them, they will taste sweeter!