According to a study conducted by Brazilian scientists, offspring of rats who consume excessive amounts of fructose develop disorders in the autonomic nervous system, cardiovascular and metabolic systems at an early age, increasing the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity in adulthood.
The study is published in the International Journal of Obesity.
Here's what scientific research says about fructose consumption
The results confirm the information present in the scientific literature on the appearance of metabolic disorders such as high triglyceride levels (150 mg/dl or more) and insulin resistance in children of parents who consume excessively fructose. Additionally, the puppies involved in the study showed increased blood pressure and deterioration of the baroreflex, a physiological mechanism that helps keep blood pressure stable.
Although fructose is naturally present in fruits, honey, and some vegetables, it is a simple sugar (monosaccharide) widely used as a sweetener for foods and beverages. High fructose corn syrup is an ingredient in soft drinks, cakes, candies and cookies. Sweetens 20%-80% more than pure glucose. Excessive fructose consumption has been associated with the high prevalence of overweight and obesity in the global population, including children.
“For too long medicine has had to focus on fighting fires, acting when the disease was already present. We now have sufficient scientific evidence and research for preventive medicine. Future generations will have to face this time bomb if we do not make prevention effective,” said Kátia. De Angelis, corresponding author of the article and professor of physiology at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) in Brazil.
She was the Ph.D. thesis advisor for first author Camila Paixão dos Santos in the UNIFESP Translational Medicine Program.
For De Angelis, the study reinforces the importance of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in regulating many body functions and its potential to signal a child's susceptibility to this type of disease in adulthood. The ANS automatically regulates involuntary functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, digestion and temperature.
According to the World Obesity Atlas 2023, which estimates the annual increase in the number of overweight and obese people by 2035, more than half of the world's population, or more than 4 billion people, will be overweight or obese by 2035, a unless significant action is taken to address the problem. adults and children at 2.8% and 4.4% respectively.
In Brazil, according to a survey by the Brazilian Ministry of Health (Covitel 2023—Telephone Survey on Risk Factors for Chronic NonCommunicable Diseases During the Pandemic), 41% of adults are expected to become obese by 2035, up from the current 17.1 %. The Brazilian Diabetes Society estimates that between 60% and 90% of diabetics are also obese and that the percentage is particularly high among those over forty.
“Of course, excessive consumption of fructose is not the only factor in obesity, but it has been accompanied by growth in the percentage of the population that is overweight and obese,” De Angelis said.
Fructose is metabolized in the liver, and large amounts of the monosaccharide can increase fatty acid synthesis, leading to an accumulation of triglycerides and increased body weight, which in turn is associated with an increase in inflammatory molecules involved in liver development . other diseases.
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), a healthy diet should limit sugar intake to 100 calories (26 g) per day for women and 150 calories per day (39 g) for men. For comparison, a 350ml soft drink contains 38g of sugar. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends limiting sugar to 10% of your daily calorie intake (50 g or about ten teaspoons for an intake of 2,000 calories, for example).
De Angelis directs the Brazilian Society of Hypertension (SBH) and teaches graduate students at UNIFESP and Nove de Julho University (UNINOVE). You have studied aspects of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity for 20 years.
An article by De Angelis and collaborators published in the American Journal of Physiology in 2012 showed that adult mice subjected to chronic excessive consumption of fructose developed insulin resistance and hemodynamic and autonomic dysfunction associated with an inflammatory profile. Their systolic blood pressure increased two weeks after starting the high-fructose diet.
“We were surprised by the effect of a small increase in blood pressure accompanied by a strong increase in sympathetic modulation on their cardiovascular system.”
“What surprised us is that the increase in sympathetic modulation occurred before any metabolic changes, such as alterations in glucose and triglyceride levels, based on classical clinical measurements taken by doctors. Blood pressure changed almost nothing, but sympathetic hyperactivity was already very present. This served as a warning about the dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system that controls the viscera,” De Angelis told Agência FAPESP.
In the most recent study, rats were given drinking water with 10% fructose for 60 days before mating, and their offspring were assessed 30 days after weaning.
Lower birth weight, increased triglyceride levels, and insulin resistance were observed in the offspring compared to controls, as well as elevated blood pressure and impaired baroreceptor sensitivity, characterized by reduced bradycardic and tachycardic responses (meaning no deceleration and acceleration of the heart rate) as they should). Baroreflex impairment was associated with impaired insulin tolerance and elevated systolic blood pressure.
“What we have shown is a mechanism for the early diagnosis of dysfunctions,” explained De Angelis.
“We are trying to alert doctors to the need to evaluate children before high blood pressure or metabolic dysfunction is diagnosed, so they can detect early signs such as those associated with the autonomic nervous system. If children or parents are exposed to high levels of fructose, children are likely to develop dysfunction in adulthood. If we can detect the signs early enough, it may be possible to attenuate or delay the onset of the disease.”
Researchers are now evaluating therapeutic alternatives and the effects of exercise. Previous studies by the group have demonstrated the benefits of physical training on animals that consumed fructose from childhood or into adult life.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have officially identified a central conduit to obesity: fructose.
While fructose's contribution to obesity is well known, a study published today in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences aggregates a large body of work to make a comprehensive argument for how fructose drives obesity and disease. such as diabetes and fatty liver disease. .
“This is a thorough review of a hypothesis that puts nature at the center of weight gain, examining how fructose works differently than other nutrients to reduce active energy,” says Richard Johnson, MD, professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. and lead author of the study. “We determine a recently discovered function of fructose in survival that stores fuel in case resources become scarce. This is known as the 'survival switch,'” he says.
Fructose is the source of fruit's sweetness, but in Western society it is consumed primarily as table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, very different from the nutrition ingested by our ancestors before the lean winter months. Johnson and the researchers hypothesized that fructose works differently than other nutrients by reducing active energy by damaging mitochondria.
The study results show that fructose stimulates food intake and lowers resting energy metabolism, much like an animal preparing to hibernate. Additionally, the findings show that fructose administration can lead to weight gain, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, and fatty liver, among a number of other metabolism-related problems.
“This work brings together in one place the entire argument for how one particular carbohydrate, fructose, might play a central role in driving obesity and diabetes,” says Johnson. “This is a very interesting new hypothesis that combines other hypotheses to indicate the specific role that fructose plays in the onset of obesity. And we can trace it back to our ancestors, as well as learn from hibernating animals, exactly how fructose causes this 'change' within us.”
Other research suggests that conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, and even aggressive behaviors may be linked to sugar intake, and that this may have an evolutionary basis.
The research, conducted today by the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and published in Evolution and Human Behavior, presents a hypothesis supporting a role for fructose, a component of sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, and uric acid (a metabolite of fructose), increasing the risk of these behavioral disorders.
“We present evidence that fructose, by lowering energy in cells, triggers a foraging response similar to what occurs during starvation,” said lead author Richard Johnson, MD, professor in the US School of Medicine. University of Colorado at CU Anschutz Medical Campus.
Johnson outlines research showing that the foraging response stimulates risk-taking, impulsivity, novelty seeking, rapid decision making, and aggression to help secure food as a survival response. Over-activation of this process resulting from excessive sugar intake can cause impulsive behavior that could range from ADHD, bipolar disorder, or even aggression.
“While the fructose pathway was intended to aid survival, fructose intake has skyrocketed over the last century and may be in overdrive due to the high amounts of sugar found in the current Western diet,” adds Johnson.
The article examines how excessive intake of fructose present in refined sugars and high fructose corn syrup may play a determining role in the pathogenesis of behavioral disorders associated with obesity and the Western diet.
Johnson notes, “We do not blame the aggressive behavior on sugar, but rather note that it may be one contributing factor.”
Johnson recommends further studies to investigate the role of sugar and uric acid, especially with new inhibitors of fructose metabolism on the horizon.
“The identification of fructose as a risk factor does not deny the importance of genetic, familial, physical, emotional and environmental factors that influence mental health,” he adds.
#Fructose #consuming #healthy
