9 Days Without Fructose Improves Heart Health In Obese Children

According to a study published in Atherosclerosis, obese children cut out Fructose from their diets without changing their total calories. After nine days the researchers were able to see an improvement in their heart health of the children.

The study substituted a form of sugar, Fructose for glucose - another sugar, but in starch. Over nine days, the participant's triglyceride and LDL-cholesterol levels reduced.  High triglycerides and LDL levels are both among the risk factors for heart disease.

“Sugar calories are not like other carbohydrate calories,” said Dr. Robert Lustig, a co-author of the study and professor of pediatrics at Benioff Children’s Hospital at the University of California, San Francisco. “Without changing total carbohydrate, or fat, or protein, we were able to accomplish this enormous improvement in their cardiovascular risk factors,” unrelated to weight loss, he said.

Read full article in The New York Times.

Click here to see the study published in Atherosclerosis.