High-fructose diet may damage mitochondria in liver: Study

High levels of fructose in food may damage the powerhouses, mitochondria, in liver cells, according to a study which suggests that a fructose rich diet may inhibit the liver's ability to properly burn fat.

The study, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, noted that high levels of glucose in the diet improved the fat-burning function of the liver, whereas fructose rich food had negative health impacts -- even though the two sugars had nearly the same calorific content.

"Fructose made the liver accumulate fat, almost having the same effects as a high-fat diet," said C. Ronald Kahn of Harvard Medical School and lead author of the study.

However, he added that adding more glucose to the diet, had a contrasting effect, promoting the liver's ability to burn fat, and making for a healthier metabolism.

"The most important takeaway of this study is that high fructose in the diet is bad," said Dr. Kahn.

According to Kahn, the harmful effects of fructose was not because it had more calories, but because it had effects on liver metabolism "to make it worse at burning fat."
He mentioned that adding fructose to the diet made the liver store more fat, "and this is bad for the liver and bad for whole body metabolism."