Fructose and Liver

February 17, 2024 by Jyoti Benjamin

Fructose is a common type of sugar in the American diet. A major source of fructose is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), an inexpensive substitute for cane sugar that was introduced in the 1970s. It’s now used to sweeten a variety of foods, including soda, candy, baked goods, and cereals. Studies have linked excessive consumption of HFCS and other added sugars to health problems like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

Studies suggest that high fructose intake may increase the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) now renamed as Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD), in which too much fat is stored in liver cells.

Chronic diseases represent a major challenge in world health. Metabolic syndrome is a constellation of disturbances that includes dyslipidemia, type II diabetes, insulin resistance, visceral obesity, microalbuminuria, and hypertension.

Metabolic syndrome affects several organs, and it has been proposed to be a liver-centered condition.

When large quantities of fructose reach the liver, the liver uses excess fructose to create fat, a process called lipogenesis. Eventually, people who consume too much fructose can develop nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, a condition in which too much fat is stored in the liver cells.

Fructose, also called fruit sugar, was once a minor part of our diet. In the early 1900s, the average American took in about 15 grams of fructose a day (about half an ounce), most of it from eating fruits and vegetables. Today we average four or five times that amount, almost all of it from the refined sugars used to make breakfast cereals, pastries, sodas, fruit drinks, and other sweet foods and beverages.

Studies on ancestral diets have shown that the average intake of fructose per capita was around 2 kg per year, while the current global average consumption of fructose per capita is 25 kg per year.

The human body handles glucose and fructose — the most abundant sugars in our diet — in different ways. Virtually every cell in the body can break down glucose for energy. About the only ones that can handle fructose are liver cells.

The most significant sources of fructose in the diet include:

• table sugar.
• honey.
• agave nectar.
• fruit juices.

high fructose corn syrup, which is present in candy, baked goods, sodas, and other processed foods.