High Fructose Corn Syrup Linked to Liver Scarring, Research Suggests

[Richard D]

High fructose corn syrup, which some studies have linked to obesity, may also be harmful to the liver, according to Duke University Medical Center research.

"We found that increased consumption of high fructose corn syrup was associated with scarring in the liver, or fibrosis, among patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)," said Manal Abdelmalek, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology/Hepatology at Duke University Medical Center.

Her team of researchers at Duke, one of eight clinical centers in the Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network, looked at 427 adults enrolled in the network. They analyzed dietary questionnaires collected within three months of the adults' liver biopsies to determine their high fructose corn syrup intake and its association with liver scarring.

The researchers found only 19 percent of adults with NAFLD reported no intake of fructose-containing beverages, while 52 percent consumed between one and six servings a week and 29 percent consumed fructose-containing beverages on a daily basis.

An increase in consumption of fructose appeared to be correlated to increased liver fibrosis in patients with NAFLD.



http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100322204628.htm

[mike_c]

1. I have NAFLD....

I don't ingest much HFCS though, especially since having the liver disease diagnosed.

[salvorhardin]

2. The authors of this study are being horribly irresponsible in how they're reporting their findings

Here's abstract of the actual study:

Increased fructose consumption is associated with fibrosis severity in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Abstract: The rising incidence of obesity and diabetes coincides with a marked increase in fructose consumption. Fructose consumption is higher in individuals with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) than in age-matched and body mass index (BMI)-matched controls. Because fructose elicits metabolic perturbations that may be hepatotoxic, we investigated the relationship between fructose consumption and disease severity in NAFLD. We studied 427 adults enrolled in the NASH Clinical Research Network for whom Block food questionnaire data were collected within 3 months of a liver biopsy. Fructose consumption was estimated based on reporting (frequency × amount) of Kool-aid, fruit juices, and nondietary soda intake, expressed as servings per week, and classified into none, minimum to moderate (<7 servings/week), and daily (7 servings/week). The association of fructose intake with metabolic and histological features of NAFLD was analyzed using multiple linear and ordinal logistic regression analyses with and without controlling for other confounding factors. Increased fructose consumption was univariately associated with decreased age (P < 0.0001), male sex (P < 0.0001), hypertriglyceridemia (P < 0.04), low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (<0.0001), decreased serum glucose (P < 0.001), increased calorie intake (P < 0.0001), and hyperuricemia (P < 0.0001). After controlling for age, sex, BMI, and total calorie intake, daily fructose consumption was associated with lower steatosis grade and higher fibrosis stage (P < 0.05 for each). In older adults (age 48 years), daily fructose consumption was associated with increased hepatic inflammation (P < 0.05) and hepatocyte ballooning (P = 0.05). Conclusion: In patients with NAFLD, daily fructose ingestion is associated with reduced hepatic steatosis but increased fibrosis. These results identify a readily modifiable environmental risk factor that may ameliorate disease progression in patients with NAFLD. HEPATOLOGY 2010
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/123266458/abstract

They weren't studying HFCS intake. They were studying dietary fructose intake. It wouldn't have mattered if the drinks consumed were sweetened with sugar. Both sugar and HFCS have roughly the same amount of fructose in them. It's true that dietary fructose intake has increased in recent years, but it's not because we're consuming more HFCS. It's because what we're consuming is sweetened to a greater degree and we're consuming more of it (especially soft drinks).

Furthermore, these findings aren't anything new. We've known for years that diets high in fructose are bad for people's livers.

[SPedigrees]

3. Sugar is SUCROSE, not fructose. HFCS is FRUCTOSE. They are not the same.

The prevalence of HFCS, and now crystallized fructose too, has people consuming far too much fructose. It's in everything from bread to ketchup to peanut butter.

The fructose that one would ordinarily and naturally consume by eating fruit is a tiny fraction of the fructose consumed by the populace these days due to added HFCS.

Soda pop was indeed sweetened with sugar until the 1980s (and we drank a lot of it back then) when it was replaced with HFCS. Coincidentally the 1980s is when the obesity/diabetic epidemic began in this country. So no, if soft drinks were sweetened with sugar instead of HFCS, it would matter.

[salvorhardin]

4. That's not true

Yes, sugar is sucrose but sucrose is glucose plus fructose. HFCS is similarly glucose plus fructose.

Sucrose is contains glucose and fructose in a roughly 1:1 ratio, while HFCS comes in a couple of different mixtures. HFCS 42 contains 42% fructose and 58% glucose and is used primarily in baked goods. HFCS 55 contains 55% fructose and 45% glucose and is used primarily in soft drinks. There is also HFCS 90 which contains 90% fructose to 10% glucose and is blended to make HFCS 42 and 55.

Again, it doesn't matter if you consume sugar or HFCS. If you consume too much, the fructose in either will damage your liver.

[Chemisse]

5. Their ratios are not too different

But the sucrose requires breakdown into fructose and glucose before absorption. The HFCS can be absorbed in one less step, making it more readily available in the blood.

[salvorhardin]

7. Yes, sucrose is a disaccharide and HFCS is not

So sucrose must be cracked into glucose and fructose components first. But the body does not process the glucose and fructose it gets from sucrose any differently than the glucose and fructose it gets from HFCS. There is no difference in absorption rates.

Nor was that what this study was looking at. This study looked at dietary fructose intake as determined from reported consumption levels of various types of drinks. It is incredibly unethical for this study's authors' to say that it has anything to do with HFCS.

[Chemisse]

6. Here is a very thorough discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7989817

[Machineland]

8. ya I can believe that

that crap is bad for us....