One of the biggest offenders in the battle against obesity is fructose. Commonly used in everyday foods like ketchup, fructose is present in table sugar, corn syrup and in many other things and often goes unnoticed.
According to a study by the University of Colorado, fructose lower and blocks the body’s adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a compound that naturally provides energy for cells. That reduction then decreases metabolism which is needed to burn off energy from food. This then causes weight gain.
Dr Richard Johnson, a researcher at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colo said, “Fructose is unique in resetting ATP levels to a lower level in the cell.”
Sugar also suppresses the mitochondria which generates energy to power cells.
The study which was published in the journal called Obesity states that the low intracellular ATP levels result in carbohydrate-dependent hunger or carb craving and metabolic effects that result in the increased intake of energy-dense fats.
This then results in consuming a larger portion of food which then gets stored as fat and then our body can’t figure appetite control anymore.
The obesity issue
Basically, the study reveals that obesity is a disorder of energy metabolism, in which there is low usable energy (ATP) in the setting of elevated total energy.
Fructose as a sugar has been tied to hunger, thirst, foraging, weight gain, fat accumulation, insulin resistance, systemic inflammation and increased blood pressure.
Johnson says that the research proves how a particular carbohydrate, fructose, might have a central role in driving obesity and diabetes.
In addition sugar also causes a sluggish lethargic behaviour in humans that has been well-documented in animals, like for example in the case of bears as they hibernate.
“We can trace it back to our ancestors, as well as learn from hibernating animals, exactly how fructose causes this ‘switch’ within us,” said Johnson.
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