Is High Fructose Intake Bad for Your Liver?
Maybe… according to a new study published in the journal Hepatology. As reported in the Los Angeles Times…
The study, published in the journal Hepatology, tracked 427 patients with fatty liver disease to see whether consumption of fructose made a difference in the progression of fatty liver to the organ’s failure. The Duke University researchers asked subjects only about how many fructose-sweetened beverages a week they drank, including fruit juices and soft drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup — yielding a conservative accounting, since the stuff is also used in baking and other processed foods.
…Compared to subjects who drank the least fructose beverages, those who drank the most were significantly more likely to have the hepatic scarring that will more often progress to cirrhosis or liver cancer. And older subjects who regularly consumed fructose beverages showed more signs of liver inflammation. After they stripped out the effects of age, gender and body-mass index, the researchers also found that the heavy fructose drinkers also have lower levels of HDL (or “good”) cholesterol.
The study abstract is here. Excess dietary fructose is implicated in an array of negative health effects, so the idea that it could exacerbate liver injury/disease doesn’t seem too far fetched.
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ultimatefat on 18 Mar 2010 at 9:36 pm #
Is High Fructose Intake Bad for Your Liver? – http://blog.ultimatefatburner.com/2010/0…
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Makster on 19 Mar 2010 at 9:18 am #
That could lead to huge health problems down the road. There are so many products out there now that have HFCS in them. It’s getting hard at times to find anything processed that dosen’t have it.
All I know is the lean meats and veggies I eat daily don’t,….yet.
Audrae Erickson on 20 Mar 2010 at 5:21 am #
Duke University incorrectly singled out high fructose corn syrup as being responsible for scarring in the liver and other liver diseases, when the underlying study reviewed dietary intake of fructose containing beverages – not high fructose corn syrup.
Fructose has not been proven to be a cause of NAFLD in humans, and NAFLD subjects are compromised individuals with significant health problems which have very little to do with fructose intake.
This study unnecessarily confuses consumers about the impact of dietary fructose, let alone high fructose corn syrup. Fructose, or “fruit sugar,” is safe and is commonly found in fruits, vegetables, fruit juices, table sugar, honey, high fructose corn syrup, and maple syrup.
For more information, please visit http://www.SweetSurprise.com.
Audrae Erickson, Corn Refiners Association
Elissa on 20 Mar 2010 at 5:44 am #
No one here has claimed that HFCS is a cause of NAFLD. This is why I used the terms “fructose” (not HFCS) and “exacerbate” in my post. Now that you bring it up, however, I will note in passing that the same senior researcher has additional work on along those lines.
Fructose is certainly found in fruits and vegetables – which are the only fructose-containing foods that are worthwhile for people to consume in large quantities, thanks to their relatively low total fructose (and overall sugar) content, and high nutrient/phytonutrient content. But to differentiate between HFCS and fructose is – in a practical sense – splitting hairs. HFCS is under fire largely because it is the form of fructose that most people are likely to consume in large amounts in the form of highly-processed foods. For the record, I don’t consider table sugar, honey or maple syrup to be any better in this respect, and I doubt that Dr. Abdelmalek and his team do either.
“Safe” is a relative term, Ms. Erickson. In general, it is not “safe” to chronically consume large amounts of high-energy density, low-nutrient density foods and beverages. Unfortunately for the Corn Refiners Association, the vast majority of HFCS-sweetened beverages – the food products implicated in the Duke study – fall into this category.