Don’t listen to this influencer's advice, fruit is not making you fat

Claim 1: "Eating half an apple a day causes visceral fat gain due to excess glucose."

This claim doesn’t match what science tells us about fruit and fat storage. In fact, many studies show the complete opposite, suggesting that fruits may actually help to reduce visceral fat. 

Visceral fat is the fat stored in your belly around internal organs like the liver, stomach, and intestines. It’s healthy to have some visceral fat, but too of it is linked to an increased risk of conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. 

A study conducted in the Netherlands with over 6,600 participants found that fruit and vegetable intake was associated with less visceral and liver fat content. The authors showed that eating just 100 grams more of fruits and vegetables per day—about one small apple—is linked to 1.6 cm² less visceral fat in women. 

Another article, published in 2020 in the journal Nutrients, reviewed the available high-quality evidence to conclude that fruit and vegetable intake is a chief contributor to weight loss in women. This contradicts the claim that fruit contributes to gaining visceral fat.  

More evidence comes from a 2019 systematic review that found that fresh fruit consumption is likely to promote weight maintenance or modest weight loss, and is unlikely to contribute to eating too many calories and gaining excess fat or weight.  

Most fruits, like apples, contain a mix of natural sugars, including glucose, fructose, and sucrose. Sucrose itself is a combination of glucose and fructose. The body primarily uses these sugars for energy before storing any excess fat, and as long as total calorie intake remains within your body’s energy needs, excess glucose from fruit is unlikely to be stored as fat. A clinical weight-loss trial comparing a high-sucrose and low-sucrose diet—both calorie-matched—found that after six weeks, participants in both groups experienced reductions in body weight, body fat, blood pressure, and blood lipids.

There is absolutely no evidence that eating half an apple a day leads to visceral fat gain. Instead, whole fruits, including apples, are likely to help you maintain a healthy weight. Learn more in the video below by Dr. Carvalho.

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Claim 2: The body isn’t designed to handle large glucose hits from fruit.

This statement is misleading because whole fruit generally doesn’t cause large spikes in blood sugar, especially not those that the body can’t handle. 

While fruit is relatively higher in sugar compared to other whole foods, it’s also loaded with fibre, water, antioxidants, and many other compounds. The fibre in fruit slows digestion and prevents rapid blood sugar spikes. 

Your body is naturally equipped to handle the sugars in whole fruit, especially when eaten in reasonable amounts. In fact, your digestive system is designed to break down whole foods like fruits, absorbing their vitamins, minerals, fibre, and beneficial plant compounds to fuel your body and support essential functions.

In fact, we handle fruit so well, including the glucose hit, that regular fruit consumption is consistently associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, several types of cancer, and all-cause mortality.  

Claim 3: Eating meat causes gluconeogenesis, turning protein into glucose, and any extra glucose becomes fat.

The claim that eating meat “causes” gluconeogenesis to produce glucose from protein is partly true but misleading, as it oversimplifies a very complex metabolic process. Saying “any extra glucose becomes fat” is also an oversimplification and inaccurate. 

What is gluconeogenesis? 

Gluconeogenesis is the process by which the body makes glucose from non-carbohydrate sources like amino acids when needed. This typically happens during fasting, low-carb intake, or intense exercise to maintain stable blood sugar levels.

While the body can use the amino acids from meat to “activate” gluconeogenesis, it isn’t directly triggered by protein intake and depends on tightly regulated processes. A 2013 study found that dietary protein contributes little to the production of glucose in the body through gluconeogenesis. 

Frazier has previously made a similar claim, suggesting that a high percentage of the meat we eat is converted to glucose and that, therefore, we don’t need carbohydrates. Based on scientific evidence, these claims were also found to be untrue, which we explain in the video below.

Why These Claims Are Misleading

Visceral fat gain and weight gain are influenced by a complex mix of factors, including diet, lifestyle, metabolism, and genetics—not just by eating an apple. While consuming more calories than your body needs is the fundamental driver of fat gain, the reality is far more nuanced. Food quality, activity levels, and overall dietary patterns all play a role in how the body stores or burns energy.

This claim also highlights a common tactic used by some influencers: selectively distorting science to fit a particular narrative. In this case, the underlying message aligns with a restrictive, meat-heavy ideology, where anything outside that framework—such as fruit—is vilified. By oversimplifying complex nutrition science and framing certain foods as unnatural or harmful, these arguments create a compelling but misleading story.

The bottom line 

Fruit is an important part of a healthy diet, and there is no evidence that it contributes to fat gain, as Frazier claims in her video.

Disclaimer

If you have a health condition that affects blood sugar regulation, such as Type 2 Diabetes, always consult your healthcare provider before making dietary changes or relying on online claims. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice.

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