(Press-News.org) AURORA, Colo. (Sept. 10, 2013) – Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine reported today that the cause of obesity and insulin resistance may be tied to the fructose your body makes in addition to the fructose you eat.
In recent years the role of added sweeteners, such as high fructose corn syrup and table sugar (sucrose), has taken center stage as risk factors for obesity and insulin resistance. Numerous studies suggest that the risk from added sugars may be due to the fructose content.
But in the study published in the Sept. 10 edition of Nature Communications, the team led by researchers at the CU School of Medicine reports that fatty liver and insulin resistance may also result from fructose produced in the liver from non-fructose containing carbohydrates.
The study, whose first authors are Miguel Lanaspa, PhD, and Takuji Ishimoto, MD, reported that mice can convert glucose to fructose in the liver, and that this conversion was critical for driving the development of obesity and insulin resistance in mice fed glucose.
"Our data suggests that it is the fructose generated from glucose that is largely responsible for how carbohydrates cause fatty liver and insulin resistance," said Lanaspa.
Richard Johnson, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the division of renal diseases and hypertension at the School of Medicine and senior author of the paper, said: "Our studies provide an understanding for why high glycemic foods may increase the risk for obesity and insulin resistance. While some of the weight gain is driven by the caloric content and the effects of stimulating insulin, the ability of high glycemic foods to cause insulin resistance and fatty liver is due in part to the conversion of glucose to fructose inside the body.
"Ironically, our study shows that much of the risk from ingesting high glycemic foods is actually due to the generation of fructose, which is a low glycemic sugar. These studies challenge the dogma that fructose is safe and that it is simply the high glycemic carbohydrates that need to be restricted."
INFORMATION:
Faculty at the University Of Colorado School Of Medicine work to advance science and improve care. These faculty members include physicians, educators and scientists at University of Colorado Hospital, Children's Hospital Colorado, Denver Health, National Jewish Health, and the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The school is located on the Anschutz Medical Campus, one of four campuses in the University of Colorado system. To learn more about the medical school's care, education, research and community engagement, please visit its web site. For additional news and information, please visit the University of Colorado Denver newsroom.
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NASA's TRMM satellite saw heavy rain falling south of Tropical Storm Humberto's center as it continues to strengthen in the Eastern Atlantic.
NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite called TRMM passed near Humberto on September 10, 2013 at 0147 UTC (9:47 p.m. Sept. 9) and collected data used in this rainfall analysis. TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) showed a large area of heavy rain south of Humberto's center of circulation. Rain was falling at a rate of 2 inches/50 mm per hour.
At 11 a.m. EDT on Sept. 10, Humberto's maximum sustained ...
VIDEO:
NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured a view of Tropical Storm Humberto (far right) and the remnants of tropical storm Gabrielle near the Bahamas on Sept. 9 at 7:45 a.m. EDT....
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NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the resurrected Tropical Storm Gabrielle in the Atlantic Ocean today, Sept. 10, 2013 and captured infrared data. Meanwhile, one of NASA's Global Hawk unmanned aircraft has set out to investigate the storm and gather data on the ...
Medical scientists at the University of Alberta have made a key discovery about how the immune system kills healthy cells while attacking infections. This finding could one day lead to better solutions for cancer and anti-viral treatments.
Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry researcher Colin Anderson recently published his team's findings in the peer-reviewed journal, Journal of Immunology. His team included colleagues from the United States and the Netherlands, and graduate students from the U of A.
Previous research has shown that when the immune system launches an aggressive ...
An important discovery has been made concerning the possible inventory of molecules available to the early Earth. Scientists led by Sandra Pizzarello, a research professor at Arizona State University, found that the Sutter's Mill meteorite, which exploded in a blazing fireball over California last year, contains organic molecules not previously found in any meteorites. These findings suggest a far greater availability of extraterrestrial organic molecules than previously thought possible, an inventory that could indeed have been important in molecular evolution and life ...
Medical researchers at the University of Alberta have made a basic science discovery that advances the understanding of how DNA repairs itself. When DNA becomes too damaged it ultimately leads to cancer.
Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry researcher Mark Glover and his colleagues published their findings in the peer-reviewed journal, Structure (Cell Press), earlier this summer. For years, scientists thought two key proteins involved in DNA repair operated in exactly the same way. Glover's team discovered how the proteins operate and communicate is vastly different — information ...
For 30 years, a large near-Earth asteroid wandered its lone, intrepid path, passing before the scrutinizing eyes of scientists while keeping something to itself: (3552) Don Quixote, whose journey stretches to the orbit of Jupiter, now appears to be a comet.
The discovery resulted from an ongoing project coordinated by researchers at Northern Arizona University using the Spitzer Space Telescope. Through a lot of focused attention and a little bit of luck, they found evidence of cometary activity that had evaded detection for three decades.
"Don Quixote's orbit resembles ...
Boulder, Colo., USA – New Geology studies posted online ahead of print on 6 Sept. 2013 cover faulting and strain; mineralogy; tsunamigenic earthquakes; the formation of banded iron formations by microbial processes; stalagmites in Vanuatu; garnets; the world's largest saltpan complex and one of the world's largest inland deltas; estuaries beneath ice sheets; volcanism; erosion; mirror-like faults; the Baltic Sea dead zone; and the first real-time record of a turbidity current associated with the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku-Oki tsunami.
Highlights are provided below. Geology articles ...
The pain and itching associated with shingles and herpes may be due to the virus causing a "short circuit" in the nerve cells that reach the skin, Princeton researchers have found.
This short circuit appears to cause repetitive, synchronized firing of nerve cells, the researchers reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This cyclical firing may be the cause of the persistent itching and pain that are symptoms of oral and genital herpes as well as shingles and chicken pox, according to the researchers.
These diseases are all caused by ...
Treatment with two common drugs reduced viral replication and lung damage when given to monkeys infected with the virus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. The condition is deadly pneumonia that has killed more than 100 people, primarily in the Middle East.
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, was first reported in Saudi Arabia last year. The infection is caused by a coronavirus, called MERS-CoV, which is closely related to several coronaviruses that infect bats. About half of patients who developed the syndrome have died. Currently, there is no proven ...
Paying doctors for how they perform specific medical procedures and examinations yields better health outcomes than the traditional “fee for service” model, where everyone gets paid a set amount regardless of quality or patient outcomes, according to new research conducted by UC San Francisco and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
“‘Pay for performance’ programs shift the focus from basic care delivery to high quality care delivery,” said first author Naomi Bardach, MD, assistant professor in the UCSF Department of Pediatrics. “So they are ...
