According to a recent study, 80 grams of sugar per day boost fat production in the liver.

12:19 p.m., March 16, 2021

Even small amounts of added fruit and table sugar double the the body’s own fat production in the liver. This is the result of a study by the University of Zurich and the University Hospital Zurich (USZ). Already 80 grams of sugar a day crank up fat production in the liver, said Philipp Gerber, head of the study, from the Clinic for Endocrinology, Diabetology and Clinical Nutrition, in a broadcast.

That corresponds to the amount of sugar of around eight deciliters of a standard soft drink. And even if no more sugar is supplied afterwards, the overactivity persists for a long time.

For the study, 94 healthy young men consumed a drink sweetened with different types of sugar every day for seven weeks. This contained either Fructose (Fructose), glucose (Glucose) or Table sugar (Sucrose), which consists of fruit and grape sugar.

With so-called tracers, the researchers followed the path of the marked substances in the body and analyzed it Effect of sweet drinks on fat metabolism. The subjects did not consume more calories. Nevertheless, the researchers were able to observe the negative effects of fructose.

For example, the body’s own fat production in the liver in the group who had consumed fructose was still twice as high as in the group with the glucose drink or the control group, who did without the drink, even more than twelve hours after consumption would have.

The researchers were surprised to find that the most commonly consumed household sugar actually stimulated fat synthesis a little more than fructose. Because until now it has been assumed that fructose in particular promotes such changes.

The authors add that the Swiss consume more than 100 grams of sugar per day on average. Its high calorie content promotes overweight and obesity. Sugar consumption in Austria looks similar. The World Health Organization (WHO) therefore recommend the Sugar consumption to 50 or even better 25 grams to restrict.

At the same time, fat production in the liver promotes the development of widespread diseases such as Fatty liver or Type 2 diabetes. The study is therefore a “decisive step in researching the harmful effects of added sugar”.