Originally published August 20 2005
Study shows beverages sweetened with fructose are especially fattening
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
In a study of mice fed water, soda or fructose-sweetened water, those that consumed the fructose weighed four grams more than those that did not by the end of the study, and they had 90 percent more body fat than the mice that drank only water.
A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Cincinnati suggests that drinking large amounts of beverages containing fructose adds body fat, and might explain why sweetening with fructose could be even worse than using other sweeteners.
The team led by Matthias Tschvp allowed mice to freely consume either water, fructose sweetened water or soft drinks.
They found increased body fat in the mice that drank the fructose-sweetened water and soft drinks--despite that fact that these animals decreased the amount of calories they consumed from solid food.
It suggests that the total amount of calories consumed when fructose is added to diets may not be the only explanation for weight gain.
Instead, consuming fructose appears to affect metabolic rate in a way that favours fat storage.
All the mice began the study at an average weight of 39 grams.
Those consuming the fructose-sweetened water showed significant weight gain over the course of the study, with an average final weight of 48 grams--compared with averages below 44 grams for the other groups--and had about 90 percent more body fat than the mice that consumed water only.
Total caloric intake was lower in the mice that consumed the fructose-sweetened water than in the other groups, except for the control animals provided with water only.
"We were surprised to see that mice actually ate less when exposed to fructose-sweetened beverages, and therefore didn't consume more overall calories.
Nevertheless, they gained significantly more body fat within a few weeks," Tschvp added.
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