This week in the Journal of the American Healthcare Association (JAMA), David Ludwig, MD, PhD of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston has written his viewpoint about fructose vs. glucose. So why all the fuss? Because the obesity epidemic is continuing and the finger is now being pointed at fructose as being the single most important cause. In this viewpoint it is argued why we should not focus on fructose but on excessive sugar consumption as a whole.
The main points: Eating whole fruit, rich in fructose, is not associated with adverse effects. After eating fructose, it is mostly taken up by the liver and under some conditions leads to fat production. Glucose, on the other hand, stimulates insulin production leading to glycogen production instead. However, consumption of glucose also contributes to obesity and we eat much more of it in our diet than fructose.
The take home message? We should “reduce intake of all highly processed carbohydrates, not just refined sugar.”