Fructose sugar 'fuelling obesity'
Updated on 25 June 2008
The wrong kind of sugar could be fuelling the obesity epidemic, according to new research.
A US study suggests that too much fructose may be harming people's health and helping to trigger diabetes.
Pure fructose is found in fresh fruit and fruit juice. But much of it sneaks into the diet through high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which is used in processed foods and soft drinks.
Fructose is also produced when sucrose, ordinary table sugar, is broken down in the body.
The study led by Dr Peter Havel, from the University of California at Davis, looked at the effect of fructose on 33 overweight and obese adults.
For two weeks, they were put on a diet of 30% fat, 55% complex carbohydrates, and 15% protein. Then for a further 10 weeks they were switched to diet in which 25% of their energy came from either fructose or glucose.
In those given fructose, there was an increase in the amount of "pot belly" fat which wraps around internal organs and is linked to diabetes and heart disease.
This did not happen to the group given sugar in the form of glucose, even though both gained an average 3.3lb (1.5kg) in weight, New Scientist magazine reported.
Fructose consumers also had raised levels of fatty triglycerides, which get deposited as intra-abdominal fat, and cholesterol. Their insulin sensitivity also fell by 20%. A poor ability to respond to insulin eventually leads to type 2 diabetes.
Glucose did not seem to have any of these effects, Dr Havel told a meeting of the Endocrine Society in San Francisco. The study only looked at pure fructose and did not assess HFCS or sucrose.
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