Hi Kathryn,

I'm assuming when you say fructose intolerance, you mean fructose malabsorption? Sorry to sound pedantic, but there's a condition called Hereditary Fructose Intolerance (HFI) which plays nasty tricks with your liver and you had to be VERY strict with your diet. Fructose Malabsorption (FM)(or sometimes called Fructose Intolerance) is where you cannot digest fructose without an equal ratio of glucose. Most symptoms are digestive - bloating, gas, diahrroa or constipation, tummy pains etc. There certainly aren't the same health implications that there are with HFI. So I just wanna be sure we're talking about the same thing.

So, assuming he has FM... just a bit of background about me. I've had FM for about 7 years (diagnosed as an adult, early 30's). My DH is actually milk protein sensitive, and can't tolerate hardly any dairy. So between us, we match Ashton!

Now in regard to lollies, I may not be much help, as I don't tend to eat them. BUT, I do know that there's plenty of things out there that I can have. You'd need to check them from the lactose perspective though. But, I would think there'd be a reasonable amount. For e.g. I know i can do fruit tingles and marshmallows - but I'm sure there's more. Also, I can recommend Sue Shepherd's Fructose Malabsorption Shopping Guide (google it, you can buy it online for about $20 I think?). It's a really good quick guide to help you find things he can eat, plus she also tags lactose where it occurs in foods as well! Even after having FM for 7 year, I still find it useful, plus products are always changing, and you tend to stop reading every label JIC you can have something.

I've just had a look at the "sweets" page and there's heaps! If you want, PM me if you'd like to get more specific details, or have particular kinds of sweets you'd like to know about.

And lastly, big because I cannot imagine the tough path you must have gone down to work out that's what he had! I'm glad to hear things have been better since he was diagnosed.

Cheers,
Belfie