A group of scientists from across the world have come together in a just-published study that provides new insights into how fructose consumption results in obesity and metabolic syndrome, which can lead to diabetes. In this study which was performed in lab animals, researchers found that fructose can be metabolized by an enzyme that exists in two forms. One form appears to be responsible for causing how fructose causes fatty liver, obesity, and insulin resistance. The other form may actually protect animals from developing these features in response to sugar.
These studies may provide important insights into the cause of the prediabetic condition known as "metabolic syndrome," which currently affects more than one-quarter of adults in the United States.
The study, "Opposing effects of fructokinase C and A isoforms on fructose-induced metabolic syndrome in mice" was just published in the journalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Richard Johnson, MD, the senior author of the study and Chief of the Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension at the University of Colorado School of Medicine said the findings are significant because we now have a better understanding of how fructose causes obesity and other illnesses.
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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120227152723.htm