In a paper in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Karen L Teff and colleagues describe the outcome of an experiment in which they compared the effects of glucose-and fructose-sweetened beverages on hormones and metabolic substrates in 17 obese subjects (9 men and 8 women). Results indicated that, compared with the glucose-sweetened beverage, consumption of the fructose-sweetened beverage by the obese subjects, reduced insulin secretion, reduced the diurnal leptin profiles, and increased post-prandial triglyceride concentrations. Leptin is a hormone associated with reducing appetite. Compared with insulin-sensitive subjects, those with insulin resistance showed even greater increases in post-prandial triglycerides. Elevated blood triglycerides are risk markers not only for type 2 diabetes but also for cardiovascular disease. In summary the authors state that their results suggest “that fructose consumption may exacerbate an already adverse metabolic profile present in many obese subjects.”
Karen L. Teff et al., Endocrine and metabolic effects of consuming fructose- and glucose-sweetened beverages with meals in obese men and women: influence of insulin resistance on plasma triglyceride responses, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (online Feb. 2, 2009) abstract available at: doi:10.1210/jc.2008-2192.
