Healthy body functions require an adequate amount of glucose circulating in the blood. However, a chronic elevation in blood glucose level can lead to diabetes. Diabetes is a is a chronic disease in which an individual has high blood glucose levels, either because cells dont respond to the insulin that is produced, or because the body doesn't produce enough insulin.

What Is Fructose?

Increased Diabetes Risk in Non-Diabetics

Fructose does not stimulate insulin release and it does not directly increase blood glucose levels. As such, a high fructose diet would result in lower elevation of blood glucose as well as less insulin release. Therefore, it was once believed that a high fructose diet might benefit diabetic and pre-diabetic individuals and alleviate the associated symptoms. On the contrary, long term high fructose diet actually makes the individual less sugar-tolerant and more insulin-resistant. In the end, they become even more diabetic than individuals undergoing a normal diet.

According to a study conducted by researchers from the University of California-Davis and published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, widespread use of fructose may be directly responsible for some of the ongoing increase in rates of childhood diabetes and obesity. In the study, researchers put 16 volunteers on a controlled diet, supplemented with either fructose or glucose. After 10 weeks, both groups of participants had gained equal amounts of weight. Participants in the fructose group, however, showed an increase of fat cells around major organs including their hearts and livers, and also underwent metabolic changes that are precursors to heart disease and diabetes. The effect seems to occur because fructose is not broken down in the digestive system like other sugars are. Instead, it moves directly into the liver, where it interferes with that organ’s ability to process fat.The researchers noted that over the long term, participants on the fructose diet would also have gained more weight.

Increased Diabetes Risk in Diabetics

In an another study, conducted by John Bantle, M.D., of the University of Minnesota, 18 diabetics were placed on two diets. One diet contained starch, which is digested as glucose, and the other contained fructose. The diabetics that consumed fructose had fewer fluctuations in bloodsugar levels. Three of the Type I diabetics were able to reduce their insulin intake, a positive change.

The most common cause of diabetes seen in developed countries is due to a build up in body fat, which can lead to insulin resistance and ultimately diabetes. A high fructose diet induces an uncontrolled production of energy and fat as well as an overall increased appetite, resulting in increased caloric intake. Together, these health consequences associated with a high fructose diet suggest a strong link between the worldwide increase in fructose consumption with the increased incidences of obesity and diabetes.