The highest level of evidence from systematic review s and meta-analyses of controlled trials has not shown that fructose-containing sugars behave any differently from other forms of digestible carbohydrates .
Fructose-containing sugars can only lead to weight gain and other unintended harms on cardiometabolic risk factors insofar as the excess calories they provide .
Prospect i ve cohort studies , which provide the strongest observational evidence , have shown an association between fructose-containing sugars and cardiometabolic risk including weight gain , cardiovascular disease outcomes and diabetes only when restricted to sugar-sweetened beverages and not for sugars from other sources .
In fact , sugar-sweetened beverages are a marker of an unhealthy lifestyle and their drinkers consume more calories , exercise less , smoke more and have a poor dietary pattern .
Fructose-containing sugars are a focus of attention as a public health target for their putative role in obesity and cardiometabolic disease including diabetes .
The fructose moiety is singled out to be the primary driver for the harms of sugars due to its unique endocrine signal and pathophysiological role .
However , this is only supported by ecological studies , animal models of overfeeding and select human intervention studies with supraphysiological doses or lack of control for energy .
A prospective study of dietary glycemic load, carbohydrate intake, and risk of coronary heart disease in US women.
BACKGROUND Little is known about the effects of the amount and type of carbohydrates on risk of coronary heart disease ( CHD ) .  OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to prospect ively evaluate the relations of the amount and type of carbohydrates with risk of CHD . DESIGN A cohort of 75521 women aged 38 - 63 y with no previous diagnosis of diabetes mellitus , myocardial infa rct ion , angina , stroke , or other cardiovascular diseases in 1984 was followed for 10 y. Each participant 's dietary glycemic load was calculated as a function of glycemic index , carbohydrate content , and frequency of intake of individual foods reported on a vali date d food-frequency question naire at baseline . All dietary variables were up date d in 1986 and 1990 . RESULTS During 10 y of follow-up ( 729472 person-years ) , 761 cases of CHD ( 208 fatal and 553 nonfatal ) were documented . Dietary glycemic load was directly associated with risk of CHD after adjustment for age , smoking status , total energy intake , and other coronary disease risk factors . The relative risks from the lowest to highest quintiles of glycemic load were 1.00 , 1.01 , 1 . 25 , 1.51 , and 1.98 ( 95 % CI : 1.41 , 2.77 for the highest quintile ; P for trend < 0.0001 ) . Carbohydrate classified by glycemic index , as opposed to its traditional classification as either simple or complex , was a better predictor of CHD risk . The association between dietary glycemic load and CHD risk was most evident among women with body weights above average ¿ ie , body mass index ( in kg/m(2 ) ) > /= 23 . CONCLUSION These epidemiologic data suggest that a high dietary glycemic load from refined carbohydrates increases the risk of CHD , independent of known coronary disease risk factors
The highest level of evidence from systematic review s and meta-analyses of controlled trials has not shown that fructose-containing sugars behave any differently from other forms of digestible carbohydrates .
Fructose-containing sugars can only lead to weight gain and other unintended harms on cardiometabolic risk factors insofar as the excess calories they provide .
Prospect i ve cohort studies , which provide the strongest observational evidence , have shown an association between fructose-containing sugars and cardiometabolic risk including weight gain , cardiovascular disease outcomes and diabetes only when restricted to sugar-sweetened beverages and not for sugars from other sources .
In fact , sugar-sweetened beverages are a marker of an unhealthy lifestyle and their drinkers consume more calories , exercise less , smoke more and have a poor dietary pattern .
Fructose-containing sugars are a focus of attention as a public health target for their putative role in obesity and cardiometabolic disease including diabetes .
The fructose moiety is singled out to be the primary driver for the harms of sugars due to its unique endocrine signal and pathophysiological role .
However , this is only supported by ecological studies , animal models of overfeeding and select human intervention studies with supraphysiological doses or lack of control for energy .