Here's an article from the Precision Nutrition folks that discusses current research on Fructose as it compares to glucose. The take away is that both are bad for you so minimize your intake of both.

by Helen Kollias, April 24th, 2009.

Many of you have probably seen the pro-high fructose corn syrup ads (if not, here is a link to one on YouTube). They drive me crazy — partially because they are incredibly cheesy, but also because they try to comfort you by telling you that high fructose corn syrup is no worse for you than sugar. Up until now which is worse was unclear.  One study says high fructose corn syrup is worse, while another finds no difference. But are we asking the right question? Should “which is worse” be the question?

While people worry about which is worse the real problem is how much sugar you eat. The average American diet in 2000 was 15.8% sugar (by calories).[1] That’s average — meaning that there are a lot of people who are eating more than that.

That’s what I don’t understand. We know that excessive sugar is bad for you regardless of what kind, but that hasn’t stopped people from eating/drinking a lot of it. The real issue, then, is sugar consumption.

The study I’m reviewing this week compares how bad glucose is compared to fructose, but if you forget about the differences you find out how bad it is to eat a lot (25% of your diet) as sugar.

This week’s study wants to answer a few questions about sugars:

1. Does eating fructose cause more weight gain than glucose? Is where the weight is gained different between the two sugars?
2. Does eating fructose cause dyslipidemia (negative changes in blood lipids) compared to glucose?
3. Does eating fructose decrease glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity?

Stanhope KL, et al. Consuming fructose-sweetened, not glucose sweetened, beverages increase visceral adiposity and lipids and decreases insulin sensitivity in overweight/obese humans. J Clin Invest 2009 Apr [Epub ahead of print]

Read the rest Fructose vs Glucose