Greentext

Exactly this.

Fructose adds to your intake of free (added) sugars. Whole fruit, on the other hand, does not.

Whole fruit contains fibre (roughage), vitamins and minerals, which are good for your overall health. The fibre helps to slow down the speed the fructose is absorbed into your blood stream and can help you feel fuller for longer. This is why it’s better to eat whole fruit, rather than fruit in the form of juice or a smoothie.

Fruit juice and smoothies, on the other hand, have most of the fibre (roughage) removed when they are made and it’s very easy to drink large quantities in a short space of time. This means you could be drinking a lot of extra calories, carbs and sugar.

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/enjoy-food/what-to-drink-with-diabetes/fruit-juices-and-smoothies

Yeah, but despite being diabetic I can't live without apple butter. To be fair that's why I get the "no granulated sugar added" stuff from Amish country. Depending on the brand, no more than four ingredients (apples, apple cider, lemon juice, spices), though my preferred brand only has three (no lemon juice). Way better quality than most other kinds too - you get more of the tartness of the apples because the only sweetener is more apple and they use less of the apple cider to sweeten than they otherwise might because you can only take it so far before it messes with the texture or flavor too much (which isn't as much a problem for most other sweeteners) and it costs more.

Amish Wedding, Jake & Amos and Yoder's all have good ones. The jar I finished off with my breakfast this morning was 5g carb/tablespoon, which is pretty low for apple butter.

Same idea for jams and jellies - particularly fond of Mrs. Miller's no granulated sugar added jams, which get sweetened with fruit juice (which in turn has price/flavor/texture limits on how much you can use and still have a good product). Whereas actual sugar free jams by the major brands tend to be godawful with entirely the wrong texture and flavor - Smucker's sugar free jams are an insult to the fruit they were at some point walked past during their production.

Related is that things that use unusual or expensive sugar sources (think agave nectar or honey as the primary or only sweetener as opposed to cane sugar, HFCS or something like that) tend to use less for price reasons and so tend to be slightly less horrific on the added sugar front.