A new study finds that fructose, a commonly used sweetener, causes intestinal inflammation to worsen. Inflammation in the intestine can lead to Intestinal Bowel Disease (IBD) like Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. The study comes from Stony Brook University and tested three different mouse models of IBD.
Our findings provide evidence of a direct link between dietary fructose and IBD and support the concept that high consumption of fructose could worsen disease in people with IBD. This is important because it has the potential to provide guidance on diet choices for IBD patients, something that is currently lacking.”
David Montrose, PhD, of the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University
Related: How to Eliminate IBS, IBD, Leaky Gut
The most famous form of fructose in the modern Western diet is high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The corn-based sweetener was introduced to the public in the 1970s, and since then it has become a rather controversial ingredient. HFCS provides no nutritional value and has been linked to multiple inflammatory conditions like diabetes, fatty liver disease, heart disease, and others.
This study is part of the growing research into the importance of the gut microbiota and the negative impact of the modern Western diet on that. Many scientists are analyzing the guts of hunter-gathers in comparison to ours and finding our gut microbes have been permanently weakened and altered. Many types of bacteria present in the hunter-gatherer’s gut were completely gone from ours.