Fructose consumption and health implications

Studies investigating the consequences of consuming sugar suggest that over consumption of sugar may increase your risk for chronic diseases similarly to consuming excess calories from fat.

Your risk of heart disease, diabetes type 2, and being overweight or obese may also be increased by consuming too much added sugar.

In particular, fructose, also known as fruit sugar or levulose, may have specific negative health implications if consumed in large quantities on a regular basis.

Fructose is a monosaccharide (simple sugar single unit) found abundantly in fruits, honey, many different sugars and sweeteners, and saps, and is the sweetest sugar.

Although fructose has the same chemical formula as glucose C₆H₁₂O₆, its structure, or arrangement of the carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms, is different.

The taste buds on your tongue are stimulated by this particular arrangement of atoms which produces sweet sensations. 

Fructose is also present in table sugar (sucrose: a disaccharide consisting of glucose and fructose).

It is also added to many processed foods such as soft drinks, packaged cereals, and sweetened desserts as glucose-fructose: often referred to as high fructose corn syrup.

While glucose is found in many of the foods that also contain fructose, glucose is also a component of starches which do not contain fructose. 

Negative health effects associated with consuming large amounts of fructose include:

• Raised blood-triglyceride levels:
  • increases your risk for heart disease
• May increase visceral fat:
  • increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes type 2, and breast cancer and gall stones in women
• Adversely affects insulin sensitivity
• May raise your risk for gout
• May raise blood pressure
• May adversely affect leptin sensitivity and promote overeating
• Gastrointestinal distress

While most studies are with adults, consumption of large amounts of fructose is likely to have the same effects in children.

Link to the full article to learn more about the negative health effects of excess fructose consumption.