100 grams of fructose improves insulin resistance.
Fructose is half of what constitutes table sugar (sucrose), and what distinguishes it from starch.
On a 20% fructose diet, diabetics had:
⦿ LOWER morning blood sugar
⦿ REDUCED HbA1c
in comparison to a high starch diet.
Sugar lowers blood sugar with a meal.
Here, using a small (7.5g) amount of fructose improved the amount of glucose that could be metabolized,
while also reducing insulin response.
The classic signs of improved insulin sensitivity.
Pure fructose added to the diet improves blood sugar + insulin levels.
Here's another study using 85-110g of fructose a day in normal meals for 2 weeks in diabetics.
Once again we can see the REDUCTION in both insulin and glucose with meals throughout the day.
Replacing a quarter of the carbs in the diet with pure fructose improves blood sugar.
Another study, same story.
By the way, none of these studies show increases in weight either.
Many people don't realize this, but the primary reason that blood sugar remains elevated in diabetes is due to increased production by the liver.
Insulin normally inhibits this process, but in insulin resistance this doesn't happen.
Fructose prevents the production of glucose in diabetics.
Another study here showing that swapping 30% of the carbs in the diet for pure fructose LOWERS fasting blood sugar.
Also reduces A1C.
Fructose is metabolized differently from ordinary glucose, which gives it these unique properties to improve glucose metabolism.
1. Fructose is not insulin dependent - it does not trigger insulin secretion like other carbs. Thus, you can metabolize it without any insulin sensitivity. 2. Fructose bypasses key regulatory steps in normal carbohydrate metabolism, making it quicker and easier to get energy from without being inhibited 3. Fructose 1-phosphate, a compound unique to fructose breakdown, stimulates various enzymes in the metabolism of glucose, helping cells generate energy from it.
All of this makes fructose a catalyst of glucose metabolism.
The KEY is to not OVERFEED.
If you are gaining weight, under stress, or adding sugar on top of your existing maintenance diet, then the advantages of fructose become negatives.
Its quick and unregulated metabolism make it a prime candidate to generate fat from.
However, these studies have all clearly shown that when sugar is a part of your normal diet, again, not added on top of your diet, has some awesome metabolic benefits.
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This study was published in 2008, looking at people with age related macular degeneration.
This is the most common cause of vision loss with age and can cause blurry vision and just having worse overall eyesight.
The macula is a central region in the retina, the part of the eye that helps facilitate vision.
(2/7)
They used a laser of red light applied to the back of the eye.
◈ Wavelength: 780 nm (near-infrared)
◈ Laser type: Semiconductor diode, continuous emission
◈ Power output: 7.5 mW
◈ Frequency modulation: 292 Hz
◈ Spot diameter: 3 mm (collimated beam)
◈ Irradiation time: 40 seconds per eye
◈ Energy density (fluence): 0.3 J/cm² per session
◈ Total dose: 1.2 J/cm² (4 sessions, 2 × per week × 2 weeks)
◈ Application site: Transconjunctival (through the sclera, not through eyelid)
◈ Distance from eye: ~1 cm from ocular surface
◈ Beam target: Toward macular region with eye turned inward (adduction)
◈ Power reaching retina (estimated): ≈ 1–2 mW after tissue attenuation
◈ Thermal profile: Sub-thermal (non-heating, purely photobiomodulatory)
You DO NOT want to stare into a red light. If one was to use this with a normal non laser device, closing the eyes and allowing the red light to penetrate through would be a better option.
Sugar is a molecule called sucrose - made up of glucose + fructose.
Glucose is the main carbohydrate from starches like rice. It's your body's main fuel.
The way that your body breaks down sucrose, and specifically fructose, compared to glucose, is unique.
Unlike the breakdown of glucose, fructose metabolism is not as highly regulated.
In the context of overfeeding, this can be bad because it can proportionately cause the extra fructose to get turned into fat.
But in the context of a non-overfed diet, this gives fructose some superpowers.
This is the metabolism of glucose vs fructose.
As you can see, the breakdown of fructose is quicker.
Not only that, but its metabolism is not inhibited by things that normally inhibit the breakdown of glucose.
Fructose 1 phosphate is a metabolite unique to fructose, and it:
◇ Activates PFK1 - an enzyme that breaks down glucose
◇ Inhibits PDHK - an enzyme that inhibits the breakdown of glucose
◇ Promotes translocation of glucokinase - the rate limiting enzyme of glucose metabolism
◇ Activates pyruvate kinase - another enzyme in glycolysis
Basically, fructose is rapid and stimulates the further burning of carbohydrate.