No difference between fructose and glucose, study finds

Despite fructose frequently being blamed for obesity, researchers have found no benefit in replacing fructose with glucose in commercially prepared foods.

The research, conducted at St Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, showed that when portion sizes and calories are the same, fructose does not cause any more harm than glucose.

“Despite concerns about fructose’s link to obesity, there is no justification to replace fructose with glucose because there is no evidence of net harm,” said Dr John Sievenpiper, a researcher in the Clinical Nutrition and Risk Factor Modification Centre of St Michael’s.

Dr Sievenpiper and his team compared the effects of fructose and glucose against several health risk factors, using data from previous research trials. Their research showed that consuming fructose may increase total cholesterol and postprandial triglycerides. However, fructose did not appear to affect insulin production, other fat levels in the bloodstream or makers of fatty liver disease any more than glucose did.

In fact, the researchers say, fructose showed potential benefits over glucose in some key risk factor categories.

“Some healthcare analysts have thought fructose to be the cause of obesity because it’s metabolised differently than glucose,” said Dr Sievenpiper. “In calorie-matched condition, we found that fructose may actually be better at promoting healthy body weight, blood pressure and glycaemic control than glucose.”

Dr Sievenpiper says that he thinks that overconsumption - rather than a particular type of sugar - is one of the leading causes of obesity.

“Overall, it’s not about swapping fructose with glucose,” said Dr Sievenpiper. “Overeating, portion size and calories are what we should be refocusing on - they’re our biggest problems.”

The research was published in the February edition of Current Opinion in Lipidology.