The effects of a diet too high in fructose
are decidedly not good and may include liver
damage, inflammation, atherosclerosis, free-
radical damage, and an increased risk of
diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease,
and obesity. In fact, many studies show that
diets high in fructose play a key role in
metabolic syndrome.
But let’s be clear—eating a few servings
of fruit a day (as part of an otherwise healthy
diet) is not going to create these conditions.
Nobody ever became metabolically deranged
from eating fruit! The trouble comes when
folks consume more fructose from processed
foods than they could ever get from natural
sources.
Most fructose in the American diet
doesn’t come from fresh fruit but from the
high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or sucrose (a
form of sugar that is 50 percent fructose)
found in high concentration in soda and fruit-
flavored drinks. As one example, a twenty-