A new study has found that fructose may be the malignant element that drives the human metabolism towards obesity. Although it is not the largest source of calories, it leads to a desire to eat fatty foods in larger quantities, which leads to overeating.
The analysis, led by Dr. Richard Johnson of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, revealed that the best way to lose weight is to reduce the intake of sugars and carbohydrates together, reports Al-Rai daily.
“Although all hypotheses acknowledge the importance of limiting ultra-processed foods and fast food, it remains unclear whether the focus should be on reducing intake of sugar, high-glycemic carbohydrates, or fat,” the research team wrote, “or polyunsaturated fats, or simply increasing your protein intake.”
Fructose is a type of sugar that can be found naturally in fruits, which is balanced by the vitamins and fiber found in them. But it is also found in sweeteners such as table sugar and corn syrup in much higher quantities. The body can also make fructose from carbohydrates such as glucose and salty foods.
Johnson and his colleagues conducted a comprehensive study of all known contributing factors to obesity, and found that fructose metabolism in the body causes a decrease in a compound called adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which provides energy for cellular processes in the body.
When ATP decreases significantly, this is a signal to your body that you need more energy, which makes you hungry, so you eat. This is what researchers call the fructose survival hypothesis, and it links different theories about the causes of obesity, even ones that seem largely incompatible, such as eating fat versus eating carbohydrates.
“Basically, these theories, which place a series of metabolic and nutritional factors at the center of the obesity epidemic, are all pieces of the puzzle united by a final piece: fructose, which pushes our metabolism into low-energy mode and loses appetite control,” Johnson says. Fatty foods become the main source of calories that lead to weight gain.
Fructose only mimics a low-energy state by reducing ATP in the body’s cells, even when there is plenty of energy available in the form of stored fat. It essentially prevents the body from utilizing that stored energy.
The results represent an important step in resolving this escalating health crisis.