Fructose is a type of sugar commonly found in fruits. There is also artificial fructose, created through the use of enzymes that convert glucose into the said type of sugar. An example of this is high fructose corn syrup, an artificial sweetener made from cornstarch. While fructose is generally not harmful to our bodies, overconsumption of it is.
This research, published over a month ago in the journal Nature, revealed how fructose could be dangerous. Fructose alters the cells in the digestive tract of mice. Scientists state that these findings could explain the link between fructose consumption and increased rates of obesity and certain types of cancer.
The study found that mice that were fed diets that included fructose had villi that were 25 percent to 40 percent longer than those of mice that were not fed fructose. Additionally, the increase in villus length was associated with increased nutrient absorption, weight gain and fat accumulation in the animals.
“Fructose is structurally different from other sugars like glucose, and it gets metabolized differently,” said senior author Dr. Marcus DaSilva Goncalves, the Ralph L. Nachman Research Scholar, an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism and an endocrinologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. “Our research has found that fructose’s primary metabolite promotes the elongation of villi and supports intestinal tumor growth.”
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Future research will aim to confirm that the findings in mice translate to humans.
This research reminds us of two things: to eat moderately and that anything too much is not good.
(Image Credit: Taylor et al. (Research authors))