The Sugar Content of Raisins

Consuming raisins or other dried fruits may be a better option than eating cookies as a snack, but it will still spike your blood sugar. Why? Throughout the dehydration process, grapes’ natural sugars become much more concentrated, causing unhealthy rise in blood sugar when the body rapidly consumes them. So, you’d better avoid them if you have diabetes.

The Sugar Content of Raisins

Raisins are sweet due to their high concentration of sugars, which is about 30% fructose and 28% glucose by weight. The sugars can crystallize inside the fruit while storing for a long time, which makes the dry raisins gritty, but that does not change their usability. You can dissolve these sugar grains by soaking them in hot water or other liquids.

Raisins contain a lot of sugar and if you eat too many raisins, it will add a lot of stress to your body to process large amounts of sugar at one time. Therefore, you shouldn’t eat raisins that contain added sugar; always check the ingredient label to make sure. Because When the natural sugar of the fruit is combined with extra added sugar, you are now in the range of confection.

The good thing about raisins

The large serving of raisins can be harmful, but the small, concentrated servings of raisins are part of the reason they’re so popular. Raisins are convenient, compact, and long-lasting, that’s why they are a staple in our travel snack pack. They’re also a fabulous and high-quality source of fiber; a 1 oz serving of raisins has 1.6 grams of fiber, which is easier to eat than a full cup of grapes.

LEARN MORE ABOUT The Health Benefits of Raisins

How many raisins should I eat a day?

Call your grandma, because raisins are awesome, say four out of five of diet experts. But there’s one critical fact to remember: drying grapes shrinks everything about it, including the amount of the food you should moderately let yourself eat. “If you remove the water from fresh fruits, it will reduce the serving size to about 75 percent,” says Kristi King, a superior dietitian at Texas Children’s Hospital. That smaller serving size can make them easy to overeat. You get a few raisins in a serving: those 1.5 oz packages at the bottom of your trick-or-treating bag is one serving. But if you’re consuming fresh grapes, a serving is a whole cup. Hence, you should eat them in moderation. Women can eat at least 1.5 cups of raisins daily and men ca have 2 cups, according to chooseMyPlate.gov. one 1.5 oz serving of raisins contains 90 raisins, and fills one-half cup of your daily fruit requirement, and it only has 129 calories and no fat.

LEARN MORE ABOUT The Side Effects of Eating Too many Raisins

Conclusion

Consuming a snack full of protein before eating a carbohydrate-rich meal can help prevent a spike in your blood sugar levels, according to a study published in 2016 in “Diabetes Care.” Try consuming a handful of almonds, a cup of high-protein yogurt, or an ounce of cheese a few minutes before eating a serving of raisins or grapes or use them as a dessert after a healthy meal. The fiber and protein of your meal will slow down the digestion process and prevent large spikes in your blood sugar levels.

You can find out more about raisins on our other blog posts on how to cook with Raisins, raisins history, and different raisin varieties.