Fructose and Risk of Cardiometabolic Disease

Fructose and glucose in soft drinks and fruit drinks account for just under 50 % of added sugars. Soft drinks intake has risen five-fold between 1950 and 2000, and this increase in intake of simple sugars has raised health concerns. The risks of cardiovascular disease, obesity and the metabolic syndrome have all been related to consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in several, but not all meta-analyses. Fructose and sugar-sweetened beverages have also been related to the risk of gout in men, and to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Studies show that the calories in sugar-sweetened beverages do not produce an adequate reduction in the intake of other foods, leading to increased caloric intake. Plasma triglycerides are increased by sugar-sweetened beverages, and this increase appears to be due to fructose, rather than to glucose in sugar. Several 10-week to 26-week randomized trials of sugar-containing soft drinks show increases in triglycerides, body weight, and visceral adipose tissue; there were also increases in muscle fat and liver fat, which might lead to non-alcoholic-fatty liver disease.