Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2015 May 19;112(20):6509-14.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1503358112. Epub 2015 May 4.

Differential effects of fructose versus glucose on brain and appetitive responses to food cues and decisions for food rewards

Shan Luo  1 , John R Monterosso  2 , Kayan Sarpelleh  3 , Kathleen A Page  4
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Differential effects of fructose versus glucose on brain and appetitive responses to food cues and decisions for food rewards

Shan Luo et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

Prior studies suggest that fructose compared with glucose may be a weaker suppressor of appetite, and neuroimaging research shows that food cues trigger greater brain reward responses in a fasted relative to a fed state. We sought to determine the effects of ingesting fructose versus glucose on brain, hormone, and appetitive responses to food cues and food-approach behavior. Twenty-four healthy volunteers underwent two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sessions with ingestion of either fructose or glucose in a double-blinded, random-order cross-over design. fMRI was performed while participants viewed images of high-calorie foods and nonfood items using a block design. After each block, participants rated hunger and desire for food. Participants also performed a decision task in which they chose between immediate food rewards and delayed monetary bonuses. Hormones were measured at baseline and 30 and 60 min after drink ingestion. Ingestion of fructose relative to glucose resulted in smaller increases in plasma insulin levels and greater brain reactivity to food cues in the visual cortex (in whole-brain analysis) and left orbital frontal cortex (in region-of-interest analysis). Parallel to the neuroimaging findings, fructose versus glucose led to greater hunger and desire for food and a greater willingness to give up long-term monetary rewards to obtain immediate high-calorie foods. These findings suggest that ingestion of fructose relative to glucose results in greater activation of brain regions involved in attention and reward processing and may promote feeding behavior.

Keywords: decision making; fMRI; food cue; fructose; glucose.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Plasma insulin response to fructose and glucose ingestion. The x axis represents time points when plasma insulin was measured at baseline (0 min) and after the ingestion of the fructose (circles) or glucose (squares) drink, and the y axis represents the SE of mean plasma insulin levels in μU/mL. To convert insulin values to pmol/L, multiply by 6.945. Data are based on 24 participants.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Fructose vs. glucose effects on appetite rating and willingness to pay. The x axis indicates drink type; fructose is labeled in purple and glucose is labeled in blue. (Left) The y axis indicates the composite in-scanner appetite rating score, with each circle representing each participant's rating across food- and nonfood-cue conditions and the solid line indicating the mean rating score. (Right) The y axis indicates the willingness-to-pay amount for immediate food rewards from the mixed-effects model (see Materials and Methods for details). Each circle represents each participant’s modeled average WTP amount, and the solid line indicates the mean WTP amount. Data are based on 24 participants.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Fructose vs. glucose effect on brain responsivity to food cues. The visual cortex showed greater responses to food cues after fructose than glucose ingestion. These contrast maps were based on whole-brain analysis of drink (fructose vs. glucose) x cue (food vs. nonfood) in every voxel (Z > 2.3, p < 0.05 corrected for multiple comparison problems). Data are based on 24 participants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Bray GA, Nielsen SJ, Popkin BM. Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004;79(4):537–543. - PubMed
    1. Havel PJ. Dietary fructose: Implications for dysregulation of energy homeostasis and lipid/carbohydrate metabolism. Nutr Rev. 2005;63(5):133–157. - PubMed
    1. Stanhope KL, et al. Consuming fructose-sweetened, not glucose-sweetened, beverages increases visceral adiposity and lipids and decreases insulin sensitivity in overweight/obese humans. J Clin Invest. 2009;119(5):1322–1334. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cha SH, Wolfgang M, Tokutake Y, Chohnan S, Lane MD. Differential effects of central fructose and glucose on hypothalamic malonyl-CoA and food intake. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2008;105(44):16871–16875. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Curry DL. Effects of mannose and fructose on the synthesis and secretion of insulin. Pancreas. 1989;4(1):2–9. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources