shirl
07-01-2008, 01:04 PM
Eating fruit can give you a pot belly, a study suggests.
Researchers found that fruit sugars, known as fructose, are more likely than other types of sugar to cause fat around the middle, which increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
Fructose is fuond in fresh fruit, fruit juice, jams and soft drinks.
In tests, fat people given large doses of fructose were more likely to put on weight around the stomach than those given glucose.
Scientists at the University of California put 33 overweight adults on a normal diet for 10 weeks, followed by another ten weeks in which half the group received a quarter of their calories from fructose. The other half received the same amount of calories from glucose.
They found that both groups put on the same amount of weight - about 3Ib - but those on the high fructose diet put on fat around the middle, while in the glucose group the extra weight was spread across the body.
Dr Peter Havel, who led the study, said more research was needed to establish the exact link between fructose and obesity.
Researchers found that fruit sugars, known as fructose, are more likely than other types of sugar to cause fat around the middle, which increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
Fructose is fuond in fresh fruit, fruit juice, jams and soft drinks.
In tests, fat people given large doses of fructose were more likely to put on weight around the stomach than those given glucose.
Scientists at the University of California put 33 overweight adults on a normal diet for 10 weeks, followed by another ten weeks in which half the group received a quarter of their calories from fructose. The other half received the same amount of calories from glucose.
They found that both groups put on the same amount of weight - about 3Ib - but those on the high fructose diet put on fat around the middle, while in the glucose group the extra weight was spread across the body.
Dr Peter Havel, who led the study, said more research was needed to establish the exact link between fructose and obesity.