Many people have heard about the term fructose, but they don’t always understand what it is. Let’s begin by defining fructose. Fructose is sometimes referred to as “fruit sugar” because it is often found in fruits. It is a simple sugar and one of the sweetest naturally occurring sugars.
Oftentimes, people hear that fructose is found in fruits and they automatically assume that it is healthy—but this isn’t necessarily the case. Of course, consuming fruit is a great idea, but whenever you strip the fruit of all its other nutrients and isolate fructose, things can get ugly.
Many people have heard about the term fructose, but they don’t always understand what it is. Let’s begin by defining fructose. Fructose is sometimes referred to as “fruit sugar” because it is often found in fruits. It is a simple sugar and one of the sweetest naturally occurring sugars.
Oftentimes, people hear that fructose is found in fruits and they automatically assume that it is healthy—but this isn’t necessarily the case. Of course, consuming fruit is a great idea, but whenever you strip the fruit of all its other nutrients and isolate fructose, things can get ugly.
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Whenever fructose is consumed in excessive amounts, it can be converted to and stored as fat in the liver. Whenever fat accumulates in the liver, it can become inflamed and may lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Unfortunately, cases of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease have begun to rise in the United States, and one in every ten children has fatty liver disease. (1) Fatty liver disease used to be seen primarily in adults struggling with alcoholism, but most recently, diet has been a big contributing factor in those with the disease.
But don’t worry—this doesn’t mean that you need to avoid fruit! Fatty liver disease has nothing to do with your fruit intake. Fruit contains so much more than just fructose—it also contains fiber, vitamins, and minerals. The issue typically arises when fructose becomes highly concentrated—such as in fruit juices or high-fructose corn syrup.
If you’ve heard of fructose, you’ve certainly heard of high-fructose corn syrup, too. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is the sweetener that is most commonly used by food companies. HFCS is derived from corn. It found its way into our food system whenever food prices began rising in the 1970s and the import of sugar was unpredictable. Since sugar prices were increasing, the solution that arose was HFCS. What was meant to be a quick solution to a problem has now resulted in a product with detrimental effects. Recent research indicates that HFCS is correlated with obesity rates.
In my lab, I was able to conduct some experiments using HFCS and see its impact myself. I provided HFCS to rats, and we found that the rats who were given HFCS to drink gained significantly more weight than rats who were given a solution of sucrose (glucose + fructose). The interesting thing was, that despite the solution provided, both rats consumed the same exact amount of calories.
My lab also conducted experiments with high-fructose corn syrup that looked at the long-term effects of its consumption in rats. When looking at its impact over the course of six to seven months, the rats provided with HFCS gained significantly more weight than the control group. The rats who consumed HFCS had an increase in adipose fat located in the abdominal region as well as increased blood triglyceride levels.
