It is known that fructose, mostly found in sodas and fruits, is the main culprit for the rising cases of obesity and diabetes. However, a new study reveals that fructose may also lead to brain damage and a whole range of other diseases.
Sugar Can Lead To Brain Damage
According to researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles, fructose was found to alter more than 20,000 genes in the body resulting in changes in brain function and metabolism, reports Telegraph UK. The resulting changes may lead to a wide array of diseases such as Alzheimer's and antidiuretic hormone (ADHD).
Fructose, which is naturally found in sugar, is used as an inexpensive additive in most food products such as carbonated drinks and pasta sauces, says Forbes. To come up with this, researchers fed a group of rats with fructose-spiked water for six weeks. The fructose-spiked water equates to a litre of soft drink a day for humans. Then the team had a control group, which were only fed with water. Both groups of rats lived in the same living conditions.
When the rats were put on the maze, the group that was fed with fructose-spiked water took twice as long to navigate the maze compared to the control group. With this, researchers suggest that their memories had been impaired. Other possible effects of gene disruption caused by fructose include Parkinson's disease, depression, bipolar disorder and other brain disorders.
Omega-3 May Prevent The Damage
Good news, though, researchers found some positive outcome from the experiment, reports The Sun. There was a third group of rats that were fed flaxseed oil extract rich in omega-3 aside from the fructose-spike water. This group managed to navigate the maze almost as quickly as the water-only group.
With this, researchers suggest that omega-3 fatty acid called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) may alter the effects of fructose. DHA is naturally found in fish, especially salmon, nuts and other vegetables.
"DHA changes not just one or two genes; it seems to push the entire gene pattern back to normal, which is remarkable," Xia Yang said, co-senior author of the study and UCLA assistant professor of integrative biology and physiology. It seems that there's still some hope
Rat Genes Vs Human Genes
Members of the same team conducted a preliminary research about the damaging effects of fructose. They found that fructose increases levels of toxic molecules that impair communication between cells. While the experiment was only done on rats, it is important to know that most of the sequenced genes are similar to those in humans.
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