Researchers at a Boston Hospital discovered a hormone that could be the basis for a “fructose tolerance test,” says Harvard University, which could identify people at risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Such a test already exists for glucose, the other common ingredient in table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup. Increased consumption of sweeteners has been linked to rising U.S. rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The researchers say there is concern if the fructose component “may have a particularly deleterious effect,” says Harvard.
The study said levels of the hormone, Fibroblast Growth Factor 21, rose following consumption of fructose during the trial, so it might be the foundation for testing fructose tolerance. The FGF21 response was exaggerated in people with metabolic disease, raising the possibility that people respond differently to fructose and those with a high response to FGF21 are more likely to develop disease. One of the authors of the report says “this knowledge will be essential to develop personalized dietary recommendations” as well as strategies to prevent and treat disease.