Abstract
A high intake of refined carbohydrates, particularly the monosaccharide fructose, has been attributed to the growing epidemics of obesity and type-2 diabetes. Animal studies have helped elucidate the metabolic effects of dietary fructose, however, variations in study design make it difficult to draw conclusions. The aim of this study was to review the effects of fructose beverage consumption on body weight, systolic blood pressure and blood glucose, insulin and triglyceride concentrations in validated rat models. We searched Ovid Embase Classic + EmbaseMedline and Ovid Medline databases and included studies that used adolescent/adult male rats, with fructose beverage consumption for >3 weeks. Data from 26 studies were pooled by an inverse variance weighting method using random effects models, expressed as standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Overall, 10%–21% w/v fructose beverage consumption was associated with increased rodent body weight (SMD, 0.62 (95% CI: 0.18, 1.06)), systolic blood pressure (SMD, 2.94 (95% CI: 2.10, 3.77)) and blood glucose (SMD, 0.77 (95% CI: 0.36, 1.19)), insulin (SMD, 2.32 (95% CI: 1.57, 3.07)) and triglyceride (SMD, 1.87 (95% CI: 1.39, 2.34)) concentrations. Therefore, the consumption of a low concentration fructose beverage is sufficient to cause early signs of the metabolic syndrome in adult rats.
Highlights
A high intake of refined carbohydrates and sweeteners, including sucrose and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), have been attributed to the growing epidemics of obesity and type-2 diabetes (T2D) in Western society [1]
10%–21% w/v fructose beverage consumption was associated with increased rodent body weight (SMD, 0.62), systolic blood pressure (SMD, 2.94) and blood glucose (SMD, 0.77), insulin (SMD, 2.32) and triglyceride (SMD, 1.87) concentrations
Study Characteristics included studies in which fructose was administered as a beverage adolescent
Summary
A high intake of refined carbohydrates and sweeteners, including sucrose and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), have been attributed to the growing epidemics of obesity and type-2 diabetes (T2D) in Western society [1]. It is estimated that Australians consume approximately 46.83 kg of sugar per year, while Americans consume on average 68.57 kg per year [3] This translates to between 26.8% and 39.3% of daily energy consumed from added sugar (based on 2000 Cal/day). There is still confusion surrounding whether the consumption of fructose at physiologically relevant concentrations contributes to the development of metabolic disease. This is not surprising due to the varying outcomes found by studies investigating the effects of fructose consumption on human metabolic health [6,7,8]
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