Cutting out sugar completely may backfire, new study finds
A new study presented at the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Chicago found that mice on a fully sugar-free, low-fat diet developed worse blood sugar control, insulin resistance, disrupted gut bacteria, and early signs of fatty liver. The changes appeared even without weight
Cutting out sugar completely could backfire, according to research presented at the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Chicago. A team at the Dasman Diabetes Institute in Kuwait fed mice a low-fat diet with no sucrose, then compared them to mice whose diet still contained some sugar. The sugar-free group did not gain extra weight, but developed impaired glucose tolerance, insulin resistance, gut dysbiosis, intestinal inflammation, and fatty liver changes. The researchers stress the study was done in mice and has not yet been peer reviewed, and that balanced nutrition may matter more than eliminating one ingredient.