Pear

Why pear is rated high

Pear is high FODMAP at 1 fruit (166g), and that is the only serving tested. It is unusual in carrying two heavy hitters at once: Excess Fructose, which means more fructose than glucose in the fruit, and Sorbitol on top of it. That combination is why pear is one of the fruits most often flagged on a low FODMAP diet. There is no lower rung on the ladder, so no smaller tested portion exists to fall back on, and pear is normally set aside during the strict phase and revisited later with a dietitian.

What changes your risk

• Serving size The published data gives one rung, 1 fruit (166g), and it is high. Nothing smaller has been tested, so there is no low pear serving to name.
• Pear juice and nectar Juice concentrates the sugars of several pears into one glass and leaves the fibre behind, so it runs higher than the whole fruit. Pear juice concentrate also turns up as a sweetener in bars, baby food and fruit spreads, where it brings the excess fructose with it.
• Drying Dried pear has had the water taken out, so the same fructose and sorbitol sit in a far smaller piece. That makes dried pear in muesli or a snack mix very easy to overshoot.
• Poaching and canning Poaching or baking a pear does not break its FODMAPs down, because heat does not destroy them. Water soluble FODMAPs can pass into the poaching or canning liquid, but no drained pear serving has been tested, so tinned pears are not a tested way around the rating.
• Stacking A low FODMAP meal counts the total. Excess fructose stacks with honey, agave, high fructose corn syrup, apple, mango and watermelon, and the sorbitol side stacks with plum, apricot, blackberry, avocado and sorbitol sweetened gum or mints.

Swaps

For the crisp, sweet fruit that goes with cheese, grapes are the natural stand in and they sit happily next to cheddar, parmesan or swiss. Oranges and mandarins bring the juice, kiwi brings the sharpness, and cantaloupe, pineapple and strawberries all work sliced into a salad where pear would have gone. For sweetening a dressing, a compote or a baked dish, use maple syrup, table sugar or rice malt syrup rather than honey or agave, which carry the same excess fructose problem pear does. Apple is not a swap for pear, and plum, apricot and blackberry share its sorbitol, so they do not solve anything either.

How to lower the load

Pear travels under other names, so it is worth scanning labels for pear juice concentrate in cereal bars, fruit purees, squeezy pouches and no added sugar spreads, where it does the sweetening quietly. In restaurants, pear shows up sliced into autumn salads and on cheese boards, so ask for it to be left off and request grapes instead if they have them. At home, build the same plate deliberately: a hard cheese, a handful of grapes, walnuts or pecans, and gluten free crackers or traditional sourdough spelt bread will give you the sweet, salty, crunchy combination that a pear and cheese plate is really about, without the fruit that causes the trouble.

Common questions

is pear high fodmap

Yes. The tested serving, 1 fruit (166g), is high, and it carries both excess fructose and sorbitol. No smaller serving has been tested.

is pear high in fructose

Pear carries excess fructose, meaning more fructose than glucose, and it also carries sorbitol. Both contribute to the high rating at 1 fruit (166g).

is pear juice low fodmap

No. Juicing concentrates the sugars of several pears into one glass and removes the fibre, so pear juice runs higher than the whole fruit, which is already high at 1 fruit (166g).

what can i use instead of pear on a cheese board

Grapes are the easiest swap, with hard cheeses such as cheddar, parmesan or swiss. Avoid apple, plum and blackberry as substitutes, since they carry the same subgroups pear does.