New research published in the Current Atherosclerosis Reports suggests consuming soft drinks and fruit juices containing fructose may increase the risk of metabolic disease.
Lead researcher G.A. Bray at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University published the paper in which he noted fructose and glucose in soft drinks and fruit drinks account for just under 50% of added sugars.
Soft drinks intake has risen fivefold between 1950 and 2000, and this increase in intake of simple sugars has raised health concerns. The risks of cardiovascular disease, obesity and the metabolic syndrome have all been related to consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in several, but not all meta-analyses. Fructose and sugar-sweetened beverages have also been related to the risk of gout in men, and to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Studies show that the calories in sugar-sweetened beverages do not produce an adequate reduction in the intake of other foods, leading to increased caloric intake. Plasma triglycerides are increased by sugar-sweetened beverages, and this increase appears to be due to fructose, rather than to glucose in sugar.
Several 10- to 26-week randomized trials of sugar-containing soft drinks show increases in triglycerides, body weight and visceral adipose tissue; there were also increases in muscle fat and liver fat, which might lead to non-alcoholic-fatty liver disease.
