oatmeal question

[ann]

Hi,

I'm very obviously fructose intolerant, but don't know yet if it's bad FM (can't tolerate most all of the things on the "OK" list for FM), or if by any remote possibility it could be HFI.

Anyway, am puzzled about the oatmeal question, and am still trying to decide if I react to it or not. I wouldn't say my diet is clean enough yet to be able to sort out more subtle reactions.

Oatmeal is on the OK list, yet is a whole grain, and it seems whole grains, in general, aren't tolerated by most here.

So, the question is, in most of you out there that have tried oatmeal, what do you think? OK, or not?

Thanks for any input!
Ann

[nicoleh]

I'm interested to find out too!

[ukbill]

I cannot speak for FM because I am HFI (charlie has a very good FM site on Proboards which has specific FM info on it. )

Yes there are two type of fructose in all whole grains.
1/. the germ of the grain has a tiny amount of Fructose in it.
2/. the Fiber in the grain is digestible or largely digestible any way.) and when Fiber is digested it converts into Sucrose, a sugar which is 50 / 50 Glucose and Fructose.

Now if you are FM the this is not a problems because the adsorption of Sucrose is handled differently to Fructose in the Gut but for HFI.. then it can be a problem.

IF you are HFI then you have to run a very low digestible fiber diet for this very reason.. otherwise many gut problems will occur with the intestine being very inflamed and IBS symptoms alternating with nasty constipation issues.

Do not confuse (as many health food shops do) Digestible with soluble. Just because a fiber is soluble dose not mean it is digestible and visa-versa I think.

However after saying all this the actual amount of sucrose and Fructose in Oatmeal is for me not a real problem. I can eat porridge without any problems and also eat a small amount of rolled oats (as in porridge oats) raw occasionally as well.

Oat Bran (as with any type of bran) has to be avoided though this is far to high in both digestible fiber and Fructose.

I hope this helps and dose not confuse?

Keep smiling
Bill A.
PS any "Germ" (Wheat, Oat etc) is out because this contains all the Fructose that is in a grain. By eating just the "Germ" you are getting the Fructose in quite a concentrated form. not good for FM or HFI.

[fred]

Hi Ann

In the winter, I used to eat Oatmeal every day for breakfast and never had a problem with it. I even ate it at breakfast when in hospital just after I was diagnosed HFI. My tolerance of fructose is about 100mg per day.

I'm now 73 years old and like many foods, don't seem to tolerate it a well as I did when young.

I always ate it with 10% cereal cream on it.

Fred

[ann]

Thanks, Bill, and Fred;

Interesting...there seems to be so much that isn't known about this condition, not least of why tolerance seems to go down with age for some, yet with what I've read about kids, their tolerance seems to go up once they're beyond toddler age...

The oatmeal with cream sounds delicious; it sounds like you don't eat it anymore, Fred, for which I am sorry to hear.

Ann

[ukbill]

As we age our natural blood sugar background level slowly rises so in actual fact as HFI people we get less Hypos as we get older, or should do.

I think what Fred is possibly talking about to is the "Gut effect".

As we all age, just like everyone else, somethings we used to eat as children become out of bounds..

Cucumber is a classic example and pickled onions.. Great while you are young but as you get older they start producing ever more problems (usually with bad gas attacks and similar problems )

So it is with HFI only slightly worse.

The Fiber in Oats, that is digestible, will breakdown into Sucrose in the gut, and because we are in some respects similar to FM people this will cause inflammation of the bowel and give yeasts and bacteria that live there something to eat and convert into gas!

This is not good news (particularly if you share a bed with a partner!) So we naturally avoid these items from our diets for comfort and marital harmony.

We also as we are continuously learning our own bodies reposes to foods and fine tuning our diets so we feel healthier and more comfortable. So once we find out how good life is without Fructose and reduce it in our diets the process continues as we try differing combinations of foods.

I used to think that so long s I did not get a "reaction" I was fine with eating fructose containing foods (beans, onions etc) how wrong was I!

With regards to the Lists available to HFI people we have far better lists here on the site than are published anywhere else.

These are lists produced by HFI people themselves not Doctors or any one else who only have theoretical knowledge of the condition.

You will find these lists far more help in eating Fructose free.

We can all get our "tolerance " knocked back For me I have never been so sensitive as I was after the "challenge test" that took at least 6 months before I could eat just about anything and not find it too sweet!

A lot of it is to do with Liver health. Young children will, before they are diagnosed, be on a far too high Fructose diet even getting it from breast milk! So it takes many months or even years for their livers to grow out of the damage.. longer if the damage is really bad.

I hope this helps?