Beware of fructose syrup!

It is very important to read food labels and check ingredients that could cause problems, particularly fructose syrup, the subject of a recent study that entitled “Fructose as a new weapon of mass destruction”.

Fructose is found in nature, especially in fruit and honey, but the chemical industry has created what is called “High Fructose Corn Syrup” in the USA. It costs little, extends the life of the products and Sweetens a lot. Brilliant for the food industry!

It can be found it in baked products, biscuits, sweets, carbonated and non-fizzy drinks.

The marketing of many companies usually waves the flag of “Sugar-free Product” and therefore makes us believe that sugar is to be avoided and replaced with some other healthier component, but this is not so.

The study on the effects of sugar abuse that leads to obesity also involves fructose for which much evidence confirms the role of the harmful component.

Consumption of fructose has been shown to increase the deposition of visceral fatty tissue and decrease insulin sensitivity in older people, and overweight or obese subjects (1) and leads to vascular dysfunction by decreasing vasoprotective factors and causing oxidative stress in association with metabolic disorders. However, in contrast, resveratrol has the potential to protect against the harmful consequences of fructose consumption (2).

See? Anything but “without sugar is better”!

As fructose is contained in many carbonated drinks and fruit juices, and the consumption of these drinks has increased significantly in recent years and has partly become a way of drinking, risks have emerged that directly link this component to the increase in total cholesterol and LDL. A key question is whether the negative effects of fructose are simply the result of a linear dose-response to our growing fructose intake or whether there is a threshold under which fructose is harmless. Current data suggests that this is a “linear” response. The reason why we are detecting the pathophysiological consequences of fructose is that its dietary load has continued to increase, largely as a result of an increase in soft drinks and consumption of fruit juices (3).

We always talk about a “balanced diet” and many companies repeat that their product does is harmless if included in a balanced diet, but it is rather difficult, if not impossible, to calculate milligrams of a substance if it is found in different food products. Oh yes. We should walk around with a calculator in our pocket. Would it not be better to avoid ingredients that, beyond a certain threshold, cause damage? Simple, isn't it? But few do. We do not read the ingredients and more often we take the box from the shelf that attracts the most attention: of course, the one without sugar! Even if fructose syrup or fructose glucose syrup was included, it wouldn’t harm us, would it? Yes, sir…it could definitely harm us! Oh, this wonderfully nice syrup is also, alas, responsible for the aging process and produces consequences similar to those of alcohol (4).

Actually, a sea of studies has been made with regard to fructose and fructose syrup. This report examines current evidence of the relationship between sugar consumption and the development of eye diseases, particularly retinal diseases including diabetic retinopathy, hypertensive retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and non-arthritic optic anterior ischaemic neuropathy and cataracts. Let’s make a premise: sucrose, or sugar, is composed of fructose and glucose. Sugar consumption has increased fivefold over the last century, with high amounts of sucrose and corn-based fructose syrup found in processed foods and soft drinks. This increase in consumption is recognized more and more as a central factor for the rapid growth rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes. The body metabolizes fructose and glucose, with fructose appearing to have the greatest propensity to contribute to the metabolic syndrome. This study examines the effect of high dietary consumption rates of refined carbohydrates on the eye, including the effect of chronic hyperglycaemia on microvascular disease in diabetic retinopathy, and pathophysiological changes in retinal circulation on hypertensive retinopathy (5).

As mentioned above, since fructose intake has increased significantly in recent years, particularly in the form of corn syrup fructose, due to its high sweetening power, several studies have associated the high intake of fructose to metabolic changes, such as non-alcoholic liver disease and fructose malabsorption, among other pathologies. This review aims to update the effect of high fructose intake in the liver and intestines, especially associated with other processed foods and with the addition of fructose (6).

Excessive accumulation of triglycerides in the liver, in the absence of significant alcohol consumption, leads to non-alcoholic liver steatosis with a significant risk factor for the development of cirrhosis and a warning sign of cardiovascular problems. So much so that this study is even entitled, “Fructose as a new weapon of mass destruction”. The substrates used for the synthesis of fatty acids in the human body are mainly glucose, fructose and amino acids with an established link between a fructose-based diet and the increase in the glucose vector “Type-5 (Glut5)” (7). Yes, there are some difficult terms, but the conclusions are easy to understand.

Wouldn't it be better to read labels on packaging to avoid ingredients at risk and keep us in good health?

References________________________________________________________________________

(1) Stanhope KL  Role of fructose-containing sugars in the epidemics of obesity and metabolic syndrome.   Annu Rev Med. 2012;63:329-43. doi: 10.1146/annurev-med-042010-113026. 

(2) Akar F, Uludağ O, Aydın A, Aytekin YA, Elbeg S, Tuzcu M, Sahin K. High-fructose corn syrup causes vascular dysfunction associated with metabolic disturbance in rats: protective effect of resveratrol.    Food Chem Toxicol. 2012 Jun;50(6):2135-41. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2012.03.061. 

(3) Bray GA Potential health risks from beverages containing fructose found in sugar or high-fructose corn syrup.  Diabetes Care. 2013 Jan;36(1):11-2. doi: 10.2337/dc12-1631. 

(4) Lustig RH. Fructose: it's "alcohol without the buzz".   Adv Nutr. 2013 Mar 1;4(2):226-35. doi: 10.3945/an.112.002998.

(5) Kearney FM, Fagan XJ, Al-Qureshi S. Review of the role of refined dietary sugars (fructose and glucose) in the genesis of retinal disease.   Clin Experiment Ophthalmol. 2014 Aug;42(6):564-73. doi: 10.1111/ceo.12290. Epub 2014 Mar 13. 

(6) Riveros MJ, Parada A, Pettinelli P. Fructose consumption and its health implications; fructose malabsorption and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.    Nutr Hosp. 2014 Mar 1;29(3):491-9. doi: 10.3305/nh.2014.29.3.7178. Review. 

(7) Basaranoglu M, Basaranoglu G, Bugianesi E. Carbohydrate intake and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: fructose as a weapon of mass destruction.   Hepatobiliary Surg Nutr. 2015 Apr;4(2):109-16. doi: 10.3978/j.issn.2304-3881.2014.11.05.