Is it possible to buy processed foods that have no fructose.
Certainly, fructose is sweeter and that's why it's used so much. But would be great to avoid it altogether. I know you can bake with dextrose.
I wish I'd taken chemistry. I see a lot of conflicting statements about isomers of glucose.
There are – or should be - many foods that may meet the definition of "processed food" and contain no fructose. I can't name or confirm specific brands, but unsweetened bran flakes would be one such example. Some varieties of crackers would (or should) also contain no fructose.
There are of course many more processed foods that don't contain added sugars, and therefore would contain no added fructose. At least some of these could be considered relatively harmless in moderation.
I'm not a doctor, a dietician, nor am I a nutritionist, so take the following with the largest grain of salt you wish, but a diet entirely devoid of fructose doesn't seem like it would be particularly useful compared to a diet with moderate fructose intake, in the general case. On the other hand, I'm unsure whether avoiding it entirely would be particularly harmful, if you were so inclined (but again, I'll point out that I'm not a doctor and this is not to be taken as medical advice.)
It frustrates me when I look at things so far from "dessert" like a can of chili, and find corn syrup or even sugar in the ingredients. Most great homemade recipes don't use that sugar, so why should the store bought stuff?
The simple answer is that sugar is a flavor enhancer, as is salt, which is why the level of both is generally very high in processed foods and pre-packaged meals.
Take chicken, for instance. A lot of chicken you buy is pumped full of sugar/salt-heavy brine, because water is cheaper than chicken. The salt helps the chicken bind the water, and the sugar balances out the taste. The end result is overpriced and compromised taste-wise.
Personally, I try to avoid added sugar wherever I can, and I have started thinking of sugar as a spice to be used very sparingly, if at all. The only exception is when I bake a cake, because cakes that aren't made full-butter, full-sugar full-everything are just sad. Make good cakes, just eat smaller portions of them, less often.
Because you (as a generic customer) will come back to buy more. Customers by now should be aware of significant deviations to the expected ingredients of common, well-known recipes.
I wish I'd taken chemistry. I see a lot of conflicting statements about isomers of glucose.