Fructose Leads To Weight Gain
December 2nd, 2008
Eating too much fructose can induce leptin resistance, a condition that can easily lead to becoming overweight when combined with a high-fat, high-calorie diet, according to a new study.
Although previous studies have shown that being leptin resistant can lead to rapid weight gain on a high-fat, high-calorie diet, this is the first study to show that leptin resistance can develop as a result of high fructose consumption.
Findings indicated that leptin resistance can develop silently, that is, with little indication that it is happening. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville and appears in a recent edition of the American Journal of Physiology.
Leptin is a hormone that plays a role in helping the body to balance food intake with energy expenditure. When leptin isn’t working — that is, when the body no longer responds to the leptin it produces — it’s called leptin resistance. Leptin resistance is associated with weight gain and obesity when combined with a high-fat, high-calorie diet.
Obesity has been a growing problem in the U.S. and in other parts of the world and fructose has been suspected of playing a role. Fructose is the sugar found in fruit, but it’s not the normal consumption of fruit that is the problem. Table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are about 50 percent fructose and these ingredients have become increasingly common in many foods and beverages. With sugar and high-fructose corn syrup being added to many foods, people now eat much more fructose than ever before.
The researchers hypothesized that a high-fructose diet could lead to leptin resistance, which in turn could lead to exacerbated weight gain when combined with a high-fat, high-calorie diet, a typical diet in industrialized countries.
Having seen that leptin resistance could develop silently, the researchers administered a high-fat, high-calorie diet—the kind many Americans eat—to study participants. They found that those exposed to a high-fructose diet and were leptin resistant ate more and gained much more weight and fat than those who were leptin responsive and on a fructose-free diet. All told, this study showed that leptin resistance can:
∑ develop by eating a lot of fructose
∑ develop silently, that is, with very little indication it is happening
∑ result in weight gain when paired with a high-fat, calorie dense diet
The study suggests it is the interaction between consumption of large amounts of fructose-containing foods and eating a high-fat, high-calorie diet that produces the weight gain. “This study may explain how the global increase in fructose consumption is related to the current obesity epidemic,” researcher Alexandra Shapiro said.
Other studies have shown that elevated triglycerides impair the transport of leptin across the blood brain barrier. The researchers hypothesize that the elevation in triglycerides produced by fructose prevented leptin from reaching the brain. If leptin does not reach the brain, the brain will not send out the signal to stop eating.
“Consumers should be cautious about what they eat, checking labels to see how much sugar the items contain, Shapiro said.
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