Fructose in grapes

I have recently been diagnosed as having fructose malabsorption. Does anyone know which grape varieties are particulary high and particularly low in fructose?

[Robin Garr]

I have recently been diagnosed as having fructose malabsorption. Does anyone know which grape varieties are particulary high and particularly low in fructose?

Kate, I've moved your query over to the general wine section where you may get more responses.

Are you asking about grapes for eating or grapes for wine? Grapes by nature are loaded with fructose (fruit sugar), but bear in mind that in "dry" wines, at least, all the fruit sugars are converted to alcohol, so sugar shouldn't be a problem unless you choose sweet dessert wines.

With any medical situation, though, it's always wise to run your plans by your doctor rather than relying entirely on the advise of an Internet message forum, even such a nice one as this.

Kate - Welcome to the Wine Lovers Page. As Robin pointed out, all grapes have a high amount of fructose. They also contain glucose. Both of these sugars are converted to alcohol by yeast in wine production. If the wine is dry (all the sugar fermented), there should be no more than a trace of fructose. Any wine with residual sugar (any degree of sweetness), will have fructose, even if it is sweetened with sucrose (table sugar), which, in the presence of wine acids, breaks down into fructose and glucose. I've know of some home winemakers who sweeten wine using Splenda, but I don't know if it's done commercially.

"I've known of some home winemakers who sweeten wine using Splenda, but I don't know if it's done commercially."

Wow! I certainly hope not.

I have recently been diagnosed as having fructose malabsorption. Does anyone know which grape varieties are particulary high and particularly low in fructose?

Kate,
As others have mentioned, if it's wine you're asking about, dry wines have (almost) no sugar, hence no fructose. One thing to keep in mind is that certain "dry" wines (K-J Chardonnay, Yellow Tail Shiraz) aren't really dry and contain some residual sugar, some of which might be fructose. If a wine tastes very "soft" or thick on the palate, it might have some residual sugar.

Mark Lipton