A study published in the December 2006 issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that high fructose consumption doesn’t raise insulin resistance or ectopic lipid deposition (fat in the wrong place) in healthy lean young males, but does heighten risk of cardiovascular disease by increasing plasma triglycerides.

This test involved 7 healthy males who were given a high fructose diet and then tested at baseline, one week, and four weeks. The high fructose diet resulted in significant increases in fasting plasma concentrations of triglyceride and leptin after one week, in lactate after two weeks, and in glucose after four weeks.

There was no effect on body weight, body composition, blood pressure, insulin sensitivity, or muscle or liver fat. The author of the study, Dr. Luc Tappy of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, concluded that healthy lean subjects can adapt their metabolism to increased fructose.

He added, however, that other groups, older, fatter, or genetically more vulnerable, might not be so lucky. He noted that in rodents, high fructose intake does lead to both insulin resistance and ectopic lipid deposition. He and his co-workers are in the process of studying the effects of fructose on people with a family history of type 2 diabetes and on overweight and middle-aged people.