Is Low Fat & High Fructose Causing Metabolic Syndrome?

Via Twitter, Beth from Weight Maven blog asked me if I read That Paleo Guy and a recent paper he blogged on.  The answers would be no and no, but I have now ;-)    The title of the study is:  Is the metabolic syndrome caused by a high fructose, and relatively low fat, low cholesterol diet?
 
The following stuck out at me from the conclusion of the paper:
In conclusion, we would urge medical practitioners to encourage individuals exhibiting MetS to strongly limit the consumption of dietary fructose [75] and other high-glycemic-index carbohydrates, and to stop discouraging them from consuming foods rich in cholesterol [76].
Now I don't know what medical practitioners are out there pushing fructose on people, but the recommendations to consume fruit are a far far cry from endorsing the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages and lots of juice.   I do think it's a crime that fruit juices are considered the equivalent of a piece of fruit to many nutritionists, but that aside, it is darned near impossible to eat 50g of fructose per day eating just whole fruits, let alone the 100g and upwards amounts in liquid form often used in studies.  There have also been scant few isocaloric studies done with fructose. 

In any case, as I read the study, I couldn't help getting "flashbacks" of sorts of the "Cafeteria Rat" study I blogged about over a year ago.  There is so much to that study that, yes, was in rats, but so are a heckuvalot of studies on MetSyn.   I'll be bumping the three posts directly referencing the study, and in a few days I'll publish the rest of this post that is in the hopper.  Here are the links anyway:




The last one deals with the effects that were seen on the liver, fat tissue and pancreatic cells and is probably most pertinent to a discussion of the fructose/low cholesterol hypothesis. 

Comments

Keenan said…
I didn't see where they tested a low fat/cholesterol high fructose diet to confirm there conclusion?? In every study I've seen low fat high fructose diets do not cause the metabolic syndrome, depending on what you consider low fat and how much corn oil the diet contains.

Also how is fruit better than fruit juice? Juice has all the same nutrients without the fibers that inhibit digestion.
Nigel Kinbrum said…
Rip & Clip said...
"Also how is fruit better than fruit juice? Juice has all the same nutrients without the fibers that inhibit digestion."
The bold bit is the problem with fruit juices. Without the fibres, juices lack satiety.
Sue said…
Probably high fructose in packaged foods?
Keenan said…
No it doesn't. The satiety comes from the nutrients and sugar. Eating protein with the juice will increase the satiation value much more than fiber in my experience.
Nigel Kinbrum said…
Your experience isn't necessarily that of the general population.

How many apples can you eat before you're satisfied?
How many apples-worth of juice can you drink before you're satisfied?
You can consume far more calories as juice than as apples, because of the lack of fibre in juice.

Comparing the satiation of protein to that of fibre is irrelevant.
Kindke said…
I dont know if its due only to the fibre but yeh fruit juice is far less satiating than fruit, I can drink loads of the innocent smoothie, however I dont imagine I would be able to eat all the fruit that they say they squeeze into the cartoon.
Nigel Kinbrum said…
Fibre and the lack of it is the main difference between whole fruit & fruit juice. Whole fruit also has to be chewed, which may or may not increase satiation.
Keenan said…
I can eat about 3 apples before my stomach is full but I'm still hungry. You can't trick your body, it doesn't use fiber as nutrition. If it were true everyone who wanted to lose weight could eat salads all day.

I don't get how you can generalize for the whole population. I'm comparing the protein and fiber because a couple pieces of fruit isn't a meal.

The satiation probably has nothing to do with the fiber and more to do with the act of eating versus drinking something.
Nigel Kinbrum said…
"I can eat about 3 apples before my stomach is full but I'm still hungry."
Your experience isn't necessarily that of the general population.

"You can't trick your body, it doesn't use fiber as nutrition. If it were true everyone who wanted to lose weight could eat salads all day."
People who eat only raw vegetables & some fruits do lose loads of weight for that very reason. However, it's not a tasty diet and there's an awful lot of chewing involved (also toilet visits)!

"I don't get how you can generalize for the whole population."
That's what you're doing - projecting your experience on to the whole population.

"I'm comparing the protein and fiber because a couple pieces of fruit isn't a meal."
There's no difference in protein between one whole apple and one juiced apple. That's the point I'm making.
ProudDaddy said…
To make this an anecdotal N=2, having a slight bit of binge eating disorder, I can be extremely hungry with a stomach that is so full it is painful. Stomach fullness wouldn't seem to be an overwhelming determiner of hungriness, so I wouldn't bet the farm on losing weight by increasing fiber intake.
Nigel Kinbrum said…
"...having a slight bit of binge eating disorder..."
You definitely don't represent the general population. That's not a moral judgement, by the way.