Fructose in obesity and cognitive decline: is it the fructose or the excess energy?

Sugars and Sweeteners: Structure, Properties and In Silico Modeling

Several studies report the effects of excessive use of sugars and sweeteners in the diet. These include obesity, cardiac diseases, diabetes, and even lymphomas, leukemias, cancers of the bladder and brain, chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, autism, and systemic lupus. On the other hand, each sugar and sweetener has a distinct metabolic assimilation process, and its chemical structure plays an important role in this process. Several scientific papers present the biological effects of the sugars and sweeteners in relation to their chemical structure. One important issue dealing with the sugars is the degree of similarity in their structures, focusing mostly on optical isomerism. Finding and developing new sugars and sweeteners with desired properties is an emerging research area, in which in silico approaches play an important role.

The negative and detrimental effects of high fructose on the liver, with special reference to metabolic disorders

The increased consumption of fructose in the average diet through sweeteners such as high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and sucrose has resulted in negative outcomes in society through producing a considerable economic and medical burden on our healthcare system. Ingestion of fructose chronically has contributed to multiple health consequences, such as insulin resistance, obesity, liver disorders, and diabetes. Fructose metabolism starts with fructose phosphorylation by fructose kinase in the liver, and this process is not feedback regulated. Therefore, ingestion of high fructose can deplete ATP, increase uric acid production, and increase nucleotide turnover. This review focuses the discussion on the hepatic manifestations of high fructose-implicated liver metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance, obesity due to enhanced lipogenesis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and type 2 diabetes. The detrimental effects of high fructose on the liver, contributed potentially by microbiome and leptin, were also discussed. The authors believe that, together with diet management, further studies focusing on disrupting or blocking fructose metabolism in the liver may help with designing novel strategies for prevention and treatment of fructose-induced chronic liver metabolic diseases.