Appetite for apples? How fruit sugars may not suppress hunger

ConclusionCan we conclude from this evidence that fruit makes you hungry, as the Mail Online suggested? No.This small double-blind RCT showed that young adults who consumed a fructose-sweetened drink had more brain activity in attention and reward centres in response to pictures of food, compared with the same drink sweetened with glucose. There were signs this also affected food-seeking behaviour in a somewhat artificial laboratory test.The research team took this to mean that the volunteers might be more likely to seek out food and eat more in a real-life scenario. But the study didn't test this directly, so it remains unproven.Numerous factors influence what and how much you eat in the real world, such as food availability, whether you have company, boredom and the time of day. From this study alone, we can't tell how important fructose is in influencing how much people eat, or what they eat.The randomisation and double blinding in the study mean that bias and confounding factors are not likely to affect the results. But the study was small, only involving 24 healthy adults aged around 21. It doesn't tell us much about how fructose affects people's appetite or food-seeking behaviour in other groups – for example, the over-60s or people with chronic diseases. The best way to find out is to do a larger study using a more diverse group that is more representative of the UK population.This RCT tested fructose and glucose in isolation in a drink. But some of the media c...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Source Type: news