Summary
Concerned about how added sugars contribute to metabolic disease, researchers tested whether increasing amounts of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in beverages would worsen liver fat accumulation and insulin sensitivity in healthy young adults. In this double-blind, parallel-design trial, 85 participants consumed three daily beverages that provided either 0%, 10%, 17.5%, or 25% of their daily energy needs from HFCS for two weeks, while otherwise eating their usual diets. Hepatic fat was measured by MRI, and glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity were assessed during inpatient visits before and after the intervention. Clear, linear dose-response effects emerged: higher HFCS intake led to progressively greater increases in liver fat, larger glucose and insulin excursions during oral glucose tolerance testing, and significant declines in insulin sensitivity based on both the Matsuda and Predicted M indices. These results demonstrate that even short-term HFCS consumption has measurable, dose-dependent metabolic consequences, strengthening evidence that HFCS-sweetened beverages contribute to the development of insulin resistance and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
PMID: 35458210
PMCID: PMC9030734
DOI: 10.3390/nu14081648
Abstract
Increased hepatic lipid content and decreased insulin sensitivity have critical roles in the development of cardiometabolic diseases. Therefore, our objective was to investigate the dose-response effects of consuming high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)-sweetened beverages for two weeks on hepatic lipid content and insulin sensitivity in young (18-40 years) adults (BMI 18-35 kg/m2). In a parallel, double-blinded study, participants consumed three beverages/day providing 0% (aspartame: n = 23), 10% (n = 18), 17.5% (n = 16), or 25% (n = 28) daily energy requirements from HFCS. Magnetic resonance imaging for hepatic lipid content and oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) were conducted during 3.5-day inpatient visits at baseline and again at the end of a 15-day intervention. During the 12 intervening outpatient days participants consumed their usual diets with their assigned beverages. Significant linear dose-response effects were observed for increases of hepatic lipid content (p = 0.015) and glucose and insulin AUCs during OGTT (both p = 0.0004), and for decreases in the Matsuda (p = 0.0087) and Predicted M (p = 0.0027) indices of insulin sensitivity. These dose-response effects strengthen the mechanistic evidence implicating consumption of HFCS-sweetened beverages as a contributor to the metabolic dysregulation that increases risk for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes.
Sigala DM, Hieronimus B, Medici V, Lee V, Nunez MV, Bremer AA, Cox CL, Price CA, Benyam Y, Abdelhafez Y, McGahan JP, Keim NL, Goran MI, Pacini G, Tura A, Sirlin CB, Chaudhari AJ, Havel PJ, Stanhope KL. The Dose-Response Effects of Consuming High Fructose Corn Syrup-Sweetened Beverages on Hepatic Lipid Content and Insulin Sensitivity in Young Adults. Nutrients. 2022 Apr 15;14(8):1648. doi: 10.3390/nu14081648. PMID: 35458210; PMCID: PMC9030734.