Strawberry

Why strawberry is rated low

Strawberries are low at about 5 medium (65g), and excess fructose stays at a low level at that serve. The margin above it is narrow, though: larger portions move to moderate and much larger portions are high, as excess fructose builds with a bigger helping. About 5 medium (65g) is a real, everyday handful of berries, enough to top a bowl of oats or lactose-free yoghurt, while a punnet eaten at the desk goes well past it. So strawberries are a fruit to portion rather than avoid, and a few extra berries make the difference.

What changes your risk

• A narrow step between low and moderate About 5 medium (65g) is low, larger portions are moderate and much larger portions are high. That is a very small difference in a bowl, which makes strawberries a fruit to measure rather than estimate.
• Berry size varies enormously Five small supermarket strawberries and five of the huge hothouse kind are not remotely the same weight. Counting berries is unreliable, and the gram figure is the one to go by.
• Stacking across the meal Excess fructose is the group that builds in strawberries, and it accumulates with the fructose in everything else in the meal. A serving of strawberries in a smoothie that also holds two other fruits, followed by more fruit later in the day, is a different proposition from the same berries on their own.
• Dried strawberries are concentrated Taking the water out leaves everything else behind in a much smaller piece, so dried and freeze dried strawberries pack far more into far less. The fresh serves do not carry across to them.
• Jam, syrup and strawberry flavoured products Cooking does not destroy FODMAPs, so the fruit cooked into a jam is still in the jar, along with whatever sweetened it. Strawberry syrups and strawberry flavoured sweets are worth reading, since anything sweetened with sugar alcohols such as xylitol, or with high fructose corn syrup, brings its own problem that has nothing to do with the berry.

What else works

Strawberries are one of the easier fruits to keep in rotation, and they pair naturally with others that are low at their own serves: blueberries, raspberries, oranges, mandarins, kiwi, pineapple and cantaloupe. Over lactose free yoghurt or oats, that group covers most of what a fruit bowl needs. The forms that do not carry over are the processed ones: dried strawberries, strawberry jam, and strawberry flavoured desserts or drinks, which bring concentration and sweeteners the fresh berry does not have. Blackberries, despite sitting in the same punnet aisle, are not a swap for strawberries at ordinary servings.

How to keep it low

Choose berries that are red all the way to the shoulders, since strawberries do not ripen further after picking and a white shouldered berry stays sour. Keep them unwashed and loosely covered in the fridge, and rinse just before eating, because damp berries soften quickly. Weigh about 5 medium (65g) once against the berries you usually buy so you know how many make a serve, and hull them after weighing rather than before for consistency. If you are slicing them over oats or yoghurt, measure into the bowl first rather than topping up as you eat, and when berries are blended into a smoothie, decide the whole fruit content of the glass in one go.

Common questions

how much strawberry is low fodmap

About 5 medium (65g) is low. Larger portions are moderate and much larger portions are high, so the gap above the low serve is small.

are frozen strawberries low fodmap

Freezing does not change FODMAP content, so frozen strawberries behave like fresh ones and the same serve of about 5 medium (65g) applies.

can i eat strawberries on the elimination phase

Yes. Strawberries are low at about 5 medium (65g), which makes them one of the straightforward fruits to keep during the strict phase, as long as the portion is weighed.

is strawberry jam low fodmap

Jam is not covered by the fresh fruit serve. Cooking does not break FODMAPs down, jam condenses a lot of fruit into a small spread, and the sweetener matters too, so check for sugar alcohols such as xylitol, or high fructose corn syrup, on the label.