Avoid this and avoid packing on the pounds.

Posted by SonOfKrypton - 09/25/08 at 12:09:32 pm

Recent research from the UT Southwestern Medical Center and appearing in the Journal of Nutrition illustrates the stunning rate we pack on body fat following fructose intake.  In the study, six healthy, fit individuals went through three tests where they each consumed a fruit mix drink.

In the first of three tests, the breakfast drink was produced with sugars that were 100 percent glucose, like the tests doctors give to patients to test for diabetes.  In the second test, the drink was produced with sugars that were half glucose and half fructose, and in the third, subjects consumed drinks with 25 percent glucose and 75 percent fructose.  All tests were performed randomly and blinded, and the subjects were allowed to eat a regular lunch about four hours later.

The researchers discovered that following replacement of as little as half of glucose with fructose, a dramatic rise in lipogenesis, the process by which your body converts sugars into body fat, could be observed.  

Dr. Elizabeth Parks, lead author of the study, remarks that her teams finding are important because they state that the kind of carbohydrates you consume can be just as important with regards to weight control as how many calories you consume.  She goes on to state, “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. Fat synthesis from sugars may be worse in people who are overweight or obese because this process may be already revved up.”

Fructose eaten in breakfast meals also changed how our body deals with what we eat at lunch.  After fructose consumption, the liver increased the storage and production of fats from lunch meals.

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