Fructose could be making people fatter more quickly, according to a study from researchers at the University of Florida.
A study, published in the December issue of Nature Clinical Practice Nephrology and this month’s online edition of the American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology, found that fructose — found in abundance in processed foods — may "trick you" into thinking you are hungrier than you should be, which, of course, can lead to overeating and weight gain.
"There may be more than just the common concept that the reason a person gets fat is because they eat too many calories and they don’t do enough exercise,” Dr. Richard J. Johnson, the J. Robert Cade professor of nephrology and chief of nephrology, hypertension and transplantation at UF’s College of Medicine, said in a paress release.
"Our data suggest certain foods and, in particular, fructose, may actually speed the process for a person to become obese.”
These findings revealed that fructose plays a role in a biochemical chain reaction that triggers weight gain and other features of metabolic syndrome — the main precursor to type 2 diabetes.
The scientists contend that these findings are significant since many processed foods are packed with high levels of fructose. (In case you don’t know, the fructose in refined carbs comes from corn, not fruit.)
Here’s what the researchers saw: In tests with rats, fructose tricked the animals into feeling hungrier than they really were, causing them to eat more and gain weight.
The researchers theorize that fructose hampers the body’s metabolism and causes a rise in uric acid in the bloodstream, which affects how the body stores and uses sugar.
This fructose research adds to the growing evidence implicating it in the obesity epidemic.
Bear in mind that most of the fructose we’re talking about comes from soft drinks, jellies, pastries and ketchup. It’s the key component in high fructose corn syrup, a sweetener introduced in the early 1970s, whose popularity has skyrocketed.
Pretty powerful findings, eh?
Certainly provides more reasons to quit sweets, right?
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