Fructose intolerance: Understanding panic attacks and avoiding them if possible

Do you suffer from fructose intolerance with panic attacks? These conditions can cause great anxiety and, in some cases, lead to an anxiety disorder. In order to better deal with food intolerance, we would like to inform you about the symptoms and how to deal with a possible panic attack. By carefully selecting the ingredients of your diet, you can often avoid severe attacks. Panic attacks and anxiety disorders due to food intolerance do not have to be your fate.

In recent years, intolerances and intolerance reactions to certain foods have received increased attention. It cannot be clarified whether this great interest is due to the fact that more and more intolerances are occurring.

It is difficult to quantify intolerance statistically because the signs and symptoms are often general in nature and not characteristic of the intolerance. Unlike histamine intolerance with migraines as the main symptom, fructose intolerance lacks a leading symptom.

Sudden panic states are particularly frightening for those affected, and they often do not associate this with fructose intolerance even though they are unaware of an intolerance and due to a lack of previous experience.

That's why it's important that you become aware of the cause of your panic attack . Then you will be able to deal with intolerance and its symptoms and avoid panic attacks and anxiety disorders . Likewise, you will panic less and less in the event of an acute attack.

What is fructose intolerance?

For many people, fructose intolerance is, in layman's terms, a fruit allergy . However, foods other than fruit also contain fructose. It is a complex intolerance and not an allergy. Those affected have problems digesting and/or metabolizing fructose (fruit sugar). Experts therefore prefer to speak of a carbohydrate utilization disorder. Fructose is a simple sugar that is a carbohydrate.

The type of sugar is naturally found in fruits and vegetables. Today it is often isolated from different foods such as corn starch and added to ready-made foods. This does not make life easier for people with an intolerance to this sugar.

The only way to avoid consuming large amounts of fructose is to study the ingredients in packaged foods and test your own tolerance for fresh foods such as fruit. Fruits and vegetables contain fructose in varying amounts. Honey is also a source of fructose.

What is also stressful about this intolerance, which often only occurs in later years of life, is that it progresses slightly differently for almost everyone affected. While some people react to even the smallest amounts of sugar, others only have symptoms such as panic attacks when larger amounts are present.

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Why do people become fructose intolerant?

Some people are born missing a certain enzyme that makes fructose usable in the liver. Others develop a sudden food intolerance to fructose over the course of their lives.

The different forms of congenital and non-congenital intolerance also show clearly different symptoms. The missing enzyme in the congenital variant means that the affected fructose can absorb fructose through the small intestine, but is not metabolized in the liver.

Liver and kidney damage are possible. Life-threatening hypoglycemia can also occur, for example. Seizures can result. The congenital form often appears in infancy, including cramps and growth disorders.

In the non-congenital form, however, the fructose is not completely absorbed through the small intestine. Parts of it enter the large intestine and are broken down by bacteria into carbon dioxide, hydrogen and short-term fatty acids. The symptoms therefore primarily affect the digestive area.

Recognize symptoms of acquired intolerance

Since congenital intolerance shows massive symptoms in infancy and childhood, medical information, diagnosis and treatment usually take place quickly. Things are different with acquired intolerance. If you are affected yourself, you know how difficult it is to assign the initially vague symptoms of a food intolerance to fructose.

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Suffer. Other illnesses and food intolerances can also have these symptoms. This includes, for example, irritable bowel syndrome. Even experienced doctors therefore have difficulty recognizing fructose intolerance and specifically testing for it.

Fructose intolerance panic attacks - what to do?

Since the reactions to the intake of fructose vary depending on the amount, the degree of intolerance is difficult to determine. Scientific studies have shown that a third of all people worldwide react with intolerance reactions to a certain amount of fructose. Not all of these people have a clinically detectable intolerance that leads to constant symptoms when consuming foods containing fructose.

Diagnosing and dealing with intolerance is also made more difficult by the assumption that it is related to the psyche. Due to the lack of absorption of fructose in the small intestine, those affected can suffer a tryptophan deficiency. Tryptophan is a neurotransmitter or messenger substance that, among other things, significantly determines a person's mood and mood.

Digestive disorders also put a strain on the nerve network in the stomach, which, like a second brain, constantly sends feedback to the first brain. Whether fructose intolerance also changes the bacterial diversity in the entire intestine has not yet been conclusively researched.

Anyone who suffers from fructose intolerance can subjectively feel miserable due to the relationships described. As a person affected, you may be familiar with the condition in which you feel seriously ill due to the intolerance.

Not all doctors understand your feelings because they consider the consequences of congenital intolerance to fructose to be far more serious. However, the acquired intolerance can significantly worsen your quality of life. This is even more true when one or two panic attacks occur.

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How can a panic attack occur if you are fructose intolerant?

Bloating in the lower abdomen and in the center of the abdomen often just seems annoying to us. They can also be painful, but we don't take them very seriously on a regular basis. That's why we don't realize that flatulence can lead to tightness throughout the chest. This is where stomach-heart syndrome threatens. Doctors call it Roemheld syndrome .

In connection with an intolerance to fructose, the gastric heart syndrome can lead to symptoms that we subjectively perceive as life-threatening due to the flatulence:

  • shortness of breath
  • Shortness of breath
  • Tightness in the chest
  • Heart palpitations and heart palpitations
  • Hot flashes
  • sudden and rapid drop in blood pressure
  • Circulatory problems up to circulatory collapse
  • Dizziness attacks
  • Panic attacks


The conditions described are only indirectly the result of intolerance to fructose. What they have in common is that they trigger intense fears. An anxiety disorder can take on a life of its own here because those affected are already afraid of the next attack. You fear having a heart attack or collapsing. The intense shock conditions also put further strain on the sensitive nerve network.

A self-reinforcing vicious circle is created, the beginning of which can hardly be seen. Some of those affected hardly dare to leave the house anymore because they are afraid of suffering panic attacks on the go. Social life can also be affected.


Once they have experienced one or two panic attacks, they fear that they will panic again. Many people do not initially realize that the starting point for all symptoms and complaints is food intolerance.

Fructose intolerance panic attacks - how do you recognize it?

Sudden food intolerance to fructose is not recognized as quickly. This is even more true if it only occurs in middle age and those affected have not yet been able to remember any intolerance. Doctors do not necessarily suspect that cardiovascular problems are caused by an intolerance to fructose.


Those affected are often treated with medication that addresses symptoms such as cardiovascular problems, panic attacks and anxiety disorders . Those affected lose confidence in their own perception and in their body. Due to the unrecognized intolerance, they continue to consume foods containing fructose, many of which may be in larger quantities, so that what happens next seems to be beyond their control. The next panic attack is not far away because the flatulence compresses the chest and stomach area. An anxiety disorder is a serious mental illness .


Stomach heart syndrome shows that you should not take your fructose intolerance lightly. Once the insidious flatulence has given way to panic attacks and anxiety disorders, you are actually dealing with a very complex clinical picture. If you only suspect that you cannot tolerate fructose and have a “ fruit allergy ”, you should definitely have tests carried out by a specialist doctor.


Intolerances such as fructose intolerance or intolerance to histamine that occur late in adulthood present doctors and experts with several challenges. At this moment you are probably wondering whether these intolerances such as fructose and histamine intolerance can be cured ? The answer to this is not clear. Let's say it depends.

Treat and cure fructose intolerance?

First of all, the positive news for you : fructose intolerance does not have to lead to a pronounced anxiety disorder. Panic attacks don't have to be a constant part of your life. As soon as a test has proven the intolerance, it's up to you. Test for yourself how intensely you react to the different foods that contain fructose.


It goes without saying that avoiding questionable processed and complex foods is an excellent idea. Many of these foods contain large amounts of fructose, which you will definitely react to. If you decide on compound foods, you should always choose high-quality products whose declaration you can rely 100% on.


When it comes to fresh foods such as fruit and vegetables, it is often found that those affected can tolerate some types, while reacting to others with intense digestive problems.


Shouldn't you completely avoid fruit and vegetables if you have fructose intolerance?

What alternatives are there?

Most experts are now convinced that completely avoiding a large number of fresh foods, which is often not possible in practice, is neither possible nor recommended.

They fear that a total abstinence could lead to the intolerance becoming worse. The background to this is that a certain transport protein in the small intestine weakens when intolerance occurs.

If fructose no longer reaches the digestive area in the small intestine, scientists believe that this transport protein can completely lose its ability to absorb fructose. There are still many questions unanswered here. Doctors and scientists are currently still working intensively on various aspects surrounding fructose intolerance. It is not yet clear why some people have difficulty digesting fructose in adulthood. Why does transport protein lose its ability as some people age, while others have no problems throughout their lives?


Curing fructose or histamine intolerance is not yet possible in a medical sense. However, at a certain point in time, many of those affected consider themselves to be “ cured ” because they have found a way to deal with the intolerance itself and symptoms such as flatulence or histamine migraines.

Diet with fructose intolerance

In addition to choosing the right food, if you have intolerance, it is also important to combine different nutrient groups with each other. Those who suffer from an intolerance to fructose often digest it more easily when the food is consumed in combination with a protein product.

It may be advisable to consume protein first and follow with foods containing fructose. Are you now confused because you associate protein intake with increased meat consumption?


Even as a vegan or vegetarian, you can create clever combinations of vegetable protein that allow you to deal with your intolerance to fructose . Greenforce's high-quality products offer a variety of options for combining plant-based protein with fresh foods such as fruit and vegetables. Here, over time, you will find the right combinations to finally banish a panic attack due to food intolerance into the past.


Your advantage with Greenforce products is that we don't leave you in the dark about the ingredients in our products. You can rely on the ingredients list with us. This means you can quickly see at a glance whether our swabs, powders and other products contain fructose.


You no longer have to fear a fructose intolerance panic attack once you have become the master of clever food combinations after a while. We would like to help you with our high-quality products.