High Fructose Diet May Increase Risk For CVD

DAVIS, Calif.— In a recent study at the University of California, Davis, fructose-sweetened beverages increased postprandial TAG and fasting apolipoprotein-B concentrations, suggesting long-term consumption of a diet high in fructose may lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) (Brit J Nutr. 2008) (DOI: 10.1017/S0007114508968252). After a four-week, weight-maintaining complex carbohydrate diet, seven overweight or obese postmenopausal women ate an isoenergetic intervention diet that included a fructose-sweetened beverage with each meal for 10 weeks. The intervention diet provided 15 percent of energy from protein, 30 percent from fat and 55 percent from carbohydrates (30 percent complex carbohydrate, 25 percent fructose). Fructose consumption increased fasting glucose concentrations and decreased meal-associated glucose and insulin responses (P=0.0002, P=0.007 and P=0.013, respectively). After 10 weeks of the fructose beverage, 14 hour postprandial TAG profiles were significantly increased, with the area under the curve at 10 weeks being 141 percent higher than at baseline (P=0.04). Fructose also increased fasting apolipoprotein-B concentrations by 19 percent (P=0.043 v. baseline).