Fructose, a natural sugar found in plants, gives watermelon and apples their sweetness. The sugar in fruit is harmless for most people, but regularly eating food that contains fructose-based sweeteners can be dangerous. Before the mid-1980s, most food manufacturers used sucrose, or table sugar, to sweeten their products, but they gradually switched to high fructose corn syrup, or HFCS, as a less expensive sweetener. Although fructose appears in a wide array of foods, the largest share of it is in soft drinks, processed food and commercially prepared baked goods, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
A diet high in fructose diet may lead to liver damage, according to a study published in "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" in 2013. In a controlled trial, monkeys developed significant liver damage after taking in large amounts of fructose for only six weeks. According to the research, the excessive fructose caused bacteria to migrate from the monkeys' intestines and attack their livers. A six-week period in monkeys is equivalent to about three months in humans.
Fructose may affect your cardiovascular health, according to researchers who published a study in the "American Journal of Physiology" in 2008. The researchers gave sweetened drinks to 15 healthy young adults and recorded their heart activity for two hours. Those who drank the beverage containing fructose had significant increases in blood pressure and heart rate, compared to those who had a glucose-sweetened drink. The results showed that fructose may increase blood pressure, but, unlike other sugars, doesn't compensate by causing blood vessels to dilate, creating an unhealthy cardiovascular situation.
In the United States, drinks sweetened with fructose are a major contributor to obesity, according to authors of a review paper published in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" in 2006. Drinking one soda per day without restricting calories to make up for it can lead to a weight gain of about 15 pounds per year. A high intake of fructose may cause life-long obesity problems that begin during childhood, according to researchers from a study published in "Nature Reviews Endocrinology" in 2013. Fructose, they said, promotes metabolic and endocrine disorders and hinders appetite control, making weight control difficult.
Type 2 Diabetes
Food and beverages containing HFCS may increase your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, according to researchers from the University of Southern California, who published a review article in "Global Public Health" in 2013. After reviewing data from 43 countries, they determined that countries with a higher consumption of HFCS, such as the United States, had a 20 percent higher prevalence of Type 2 diabetes than countries with lower intakes, independent of obesity rates.
- American Journal of Physiology: Fructose Ingestion Acutely Elevates Blood Pressure in Healthy Young Humans
- Nature Reviews Endocrinology: The Obesogenic Effect of High Fructose Exposure During Early Development
- Global Public Health: High Fructose Corn Syrup and Diabetes Prevalence -- A Global Perspective
- Science Daily: Dietary Fructose Causes Liver Damage in Animal Model
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Dietary Assessment of Major Trends in U.S. Food Consumption, 1970-2005
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