High consumption of dietary fructose is an important contributory factor in the development of hepatic steatosis in insulin or leptin resistance. The effects of curcumin on fructose-induced hypertriglyceridemia and liver steatosis and its preventive mechanisms in rats have been investigated. Curcumin reduced serum insulin and leptin levels in fructose-fed rats and it protects against fructose-induced hypertriglyceridemia and hepatic steatosis by inhibition of PTP1B (hepatic protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B) and subsequent improvement of insulin and leptin sensitivity in the liver of rats. This PTP1B inhibitory property may represent a promising role for curcumin to treat fructoseinduced hepatic steatosis induced by hepatic insulin and leptin resistance [45, 46] .