Risks: Higher Fructose Intake Is Linked to Visceral Fat

The health effects of fructose consumption, largely from high-fructose corn syrup, have been the subject of considerable controversy among scientists and consumers alike. Now a study in the February issue of The Journal of Nutrition reports that fructose consumption may increase cardiovascular risk factors because it increases visceral fat, the kind that accumulates around internal organs.

Researchers examined 559 14- to 18-year-olds in Georgia, recording body mass index, exercise habits and fat mass. They also asked what the students had consumed in the past 24 hours and measured their body fat.

After controlling for other factors, the researchers found that higher fructose consumption was associated with increased systolic blood pressure, C-reactive protein (a sign of systemic inflammation) and visceral fat, and reduced HDL (good) cholesterol — all known risks for cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.

But when they controlled for visceral fat, the effect of fructose alone was weakened. It was apparently not fructose itself, but its tendency to increase visceral fat that led to a rise in risk factors.

“To just say ‘fructose is bad’ is incorrect,” said Norman K. Pollock, the lead author and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Georgia Health Sciences University. “But when calorie intake from fructose is greater than 16 percent of total intake, we’re seeing these risk factors appear.”