Diets High in Fructose are Raising Blood Pressure in Men

We all know how important it is to make sure we have a healthy diet, and now men have one more thing added to their plate. It has been found that a diet saturated with foods that have large amounts of fructose sugar, such as soft drinks, increases blood pressure in men. Also, it was found that a medication used to treat gout could block this effect.

The men that participated in the study who ate a high-fructose diet had their blood pressure rise approximately 5 percent after two weeks, while those who also were given a treatment for gout along with the diet increased less than 1 percent, said the study’s author Richard Johnson. Also, eating great amounts of fructose without the medication also raised the risk of developing metabolic syndrome, which are a group of risk factors that are associated with the developments of diabetes and heart disease.

Johnson stated that this study is one of the first to show that consuming high-fructose foods raises blood pressure in people. The medication for gout lowered the body’s uric acid, which is linked at elevated levels to diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

Johnson, who is a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado, Denver in Aurora, said, “Reduce your sugar intake. This data would suggest that too much sugar and high fructose corn syrup may not be a good thing.” Johnson also said that larger trials would be needed to confirm the findings, particularly before treating anyone with any medications including the gout drug, allopurinol. This new study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, will be presented at the American Heart Association’s annual conference on high blood pressure in Chicago, Illinois.

Santos Perez-Pozo, who is a kidney specialist and lead author of the research in Minorca Spain, said, “We’re not ready to lower uric acid as a means to lower blood pressure. It is exciting data that suggests uric acid may have a role in hypertension.”

According to the background information that was found by the American Heart Association, fructose is only one of several sugars in food and makes up approximately half of all sugar molecules in table sugar and in high-fructose corn syrup. The syrup is also often used as a sweetener in packaged food products. The Heart Association stated that fructose is the only known common sugar that increases uric acid levels.

The new study examined 74 adult men in Spain that were the average age of 51. The men were given approximately 200 grams (7.5 ounces) daily of fructose in addition to their regular diet. In the United States, most adults consume approximately 50 to 70 grams of fructose per day.

Half of the men that participated in the study were assigned to receive the generic gout medication allopurinol, with the other half of the men were given a placebo. After two weeks, the researchers found that the men who were in the fructose-placebo group had shown an increase of 6-mm Hg in their systolic blood pressure and 3-mm Hg rise in their diastolic blood pressure. Systolic refers to the top number that is in the blood-pressure ratio and also shows the pressure when the heart beats, while the diastolic is the lower number that measures the pressure between the beats of the heart.

The researchers said that the men that had elevated blood pressure saw their levels return to normal within two months of the study ending when they returned to their normal diets. Those that were getting the high-fructose diet that were also given allopurinol did not show any significant increases in their systolic or diastolic blood pressure, the study showed.

The incidence of metabolic syndrome as it is defined in the United States, more than doubled to 44 percent in the group that was getting the high-fructose diet without the allopurinol. This syndrome is defined as having at least three out of the five risk factors including high blood pressure, high fasting-blood sugar, and increase weight gain around the waist. Those that were in the group receiving the allopurinol did not experience a rise in their metabolic syndrome incidence, possibly because the medication for gout stopped their blood pressure from rising, the authors stated.

Most of the sugar consumption in the United States tends to come from sweetened drinks and food that is high in fructose corn syrup or sugar, Johnson stated. The research results suggest that it is possible that lowering uric acid levels could become a routine practice in the near future, much like the process for lowering cholesterol. Johnson said, “This could become a risk factor that is modifiable and that lowering it could be of considerable benefit. However we still need more studies to prove it.”