When it comes to obesity, people tend to associate sugars like fructose with it. However, a study by scientists at the McMaster University and St. Michael’s Hospital has revealed that fructose may not be a significant contributor to the obesity epidemic.
In the analysis, 3 feeding trials were conducted for a span of 7 or more days. Subjects were randomly fed free fructose or nonfructose carbohydrates. A control group receiving hypercaloric diets was also included. Tests involving high-fructose corn syrup were not included in the study.
For reaching a conclusion, the team accessed the The Heyland Methodological Quality Score. As per the results, fructose apparently did not cause weight gain in participants on isocaloric diets. However, in case of hypercaloric trials that included high amounts of fructose, subjects experienced substantial increases in body mass.
Most tests included in the study seemed to have methodical limitations. Notably, the weight increasing influence of fructose in cases of hypercaloric diets was possibly due to the excess energy of the food and not fructose alone.
The investigators concluded that fructose may not lead to weight gain when used in place of other carbohydrates in case of diets providing similar amounts of calories. The excess calories provided by free fructose at high levels supposedly led to increase in weight. But, the gained body mass could be attributed to excess calories, instead of fructose itself.
The trial titled, ‘Effect of Fructose on Body Weight in Controlled Feeding Trials’ is published in the February 21 issue of the journal, Annals of Internal Medicine.