Fructose Speeds Fat Synthesis

One of the reasons people on low-carbohydrate diets may lose weight is that they reduce their intake of fructose, a type of sugar that can be made into body fat quickly, according to a study published in the Journal of Nutrition. Elizabeth Parks, Ph.D., associate professor of clinical nutrition, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, and lead author of the study, said her team’s findings suggest the type of carbohydrates a person eats may be just as important in weight control as the number of calories a person eats.

“Our study shows for the first time the surprising speed with which humans make body fat from fructose,” Parks said. Fructose, glucose and sucrose, which is a mixture of fructose and glucose, are all forms of sugar but are metabolized differently.

“All three can be made into triglycerides, a form of body fat; however, once you start the process of fat synthesis from fructose, it’s hard to slow it down,” she said.

For the study, six healthy individuals performed three different tests in which they had to consume a fruit drink formulation. In one test, the breakfast drink was 100% glucose, similar to the liquid doctors give patients to test for diabetes—the oral glucose tolerance test. In the second test, they drank half glucose and half fructose, and in the third, they drank 25% glucose and 75% fructose. The tests were random and blinded, and the subjects ate a regular lunch about four hours later.

The researchers found that lipogenesis, the process by which sugars are turned into body fat, increased significantly when as little as half the glucose was replaced with fructose. Fructose given at breakfast also changed the way the body handled the food eaten at lunch. After fructose consumption, the liver increased the storage of lunch fats that might have been used for other purposes.

“The message from this study is powerful because body fat synthesis was measured immediately after the sweet drinks were consumed,” Parks said. “The carbohydrates came into the body as sugars, the liver took the molecules apart like tinker toys, and put them back together to build fats. All this happened within four hours after the fructose drink. As a result, when the next meal was eaten, the lunch fat was more likely to be stored than burned.

“This is an underestimate of the effect of fructose because these individuals consumed the drinks while fasting and because the subjects were healthy, lean and could presumably process the fructose pretty quickly,” Parks continued. Fat synthesis from sugars may be worse in people who are overweight or obese because this process may be already revved up.”

Parks said that people trying to lose weight shouldn’t eliminate fruit from their diets, but that limiting processed foods containing the sugar may help.

“There are lots of people out there who want to demonize fructose as the cause of the obesity epidemic,” she said. “I think it may be a contributor, but it’s not the only problem. Americans are eating too many calories for their activity level. We’re overeating fat, we’re overeating protein, and we’re overeating all sugars.”

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Cargill Higher Education Fund and the Sugar Association.