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 .
Effects of replacing the habitual consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages with milk in Chilean children.
BACKGROUND During the nutrition transition in Chile , dietary changes were marked by increased consumption of high-energy , nutrient-poor products , including sugar-sweetened beverages ( SSBs ) . Obesity is now the primary nutritional problem in posttransitional Chile . OBJECTIVE We conducted a r and omized controlled trial to examine the effects on body composition of delivering milk beverages to the homes of overweight and obese children to displace SSBs . DESIGN We r and omly assigned 98 children aged 8 - 10 y who regularly consumed SSBs  to intervention and control groups . During a 16-wk intervention , children were instructed to drink 3 servings/d ( approximately 200 g per serving ) of the milk delivered to their homes and to not consume SSBs .  Body composition was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry . Data were analyzed by multiple regression analysis according to the intention-to-treat principle . RESULTS For the intervention group , milk consumption increased by a mean ( + /- SEM ) of 452.5 + /- 37.7 g/d ( P < 0.0001 ) , and consumption of SSBs  decreased by -711.0 + /- 33.7 g/d ( P < 0.0001 ) . For the control group , milk consumption did not change , and consumption of SSBs  increased by 71.9 + /- 33.6 g/d ( P = 0.04 ) . Changes in percentage body fat , the primary endpoint , did not differ between groups . Nevertheless , the mean ( + /- SE ) accretion of lean body mass was greater ( P = 0.04 ) in the intervention ( 0.92 + /- 0.10 kg ) than in the control ( 0.62 + /- 0.11 kg ) group . The increase in height was also greater ( P = 0.01 ) in the intervention group ( 2.50 + /- 0.21 cm ) than in the control group ( 1.77 + /- 0.20 cm ) for boys but not for girls . CONCLUSION Replacing habitual consumption of SSBs with milk may have beneficial effects on lean body mass and growth in children , despite no changes in percentage body fat . This trial was registered at clinical trials.gov as NCT00149695
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 .