Effects of fructose or glucose on circulating apoCIII and triglyceride and cholesterol content of lipoprotein subfractions in humans

Authors: HIERONIMUS, B - University Of California, Davis; GRIFFEN, STEVEN - University Of California, Davis; Keim, Nancy; BREMER, ANDREW - University Of California, Davis; BERGLUND, LARS - University Of California, Davis; NAKAJIMA, KATSUYUKI - Gunma University; HAVEL, PETER - University Of California, Davis; STANHOPE, KIMBER - University Of California, Davis

Submitted to: Journal of Clinical Medicine
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/24/2019
Publication Date: 6/26/2019
Citation: Hieronimus, B., Griffen, S.C., Keim, N.L., Bremer, A.A., Berglund, L., Nakajima, K., Havel, P.J., Stanhope, K. 2019. Effects of fructose or glucose on circulating apoCIII and triglyceride and cholesterol content of lipoprotein subfractions in humans. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 8(7):913. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm8070913.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm8070913

Interpretive Summary: Consumption of sweeteners containing fructose has increased dramatically in the American diet over the past 3 decades, in parallel with the increasing incidence of obesity and diseases associated with obesity. We studied the effect of consuming large quantities of beverages (about 25% of total calorie intake) sweetened with fructose over a 10-week period in overweight men and women and compared the effects to those produced by an equivalent amount of beverages sweetened with pure glucose. In a previous report from this study, consuming the fructose sweetened beverages led to increases in circulating lipids known to be associated with increased risk of heart disease; in this new report we took a closer look at lipoproteins carrying the blood lipids and found that that fructose consumption led to increased levels of a specific lipoprotein protein, apoCIII, which is involved in the formation of small, dense lipoproteins that are particularly harmful lipoproteins that are considered predictive of future cardiovascular events such as heart attacks or stroke. These findings add to the growing list of harmful health effects attributable to ingesting large amounts of beverages containing fructose sweetener.

Technical Abstract: ApoCIII and TG-rich lipoproteins (TRL), especially large particle TRL, have been described as important mediators of CVD risk. The effects of sustained consumption of fructose compared to glucose on circulating apoCIII and large particle TRL have not been reported. We measured apoCIII concentrations and the TG and cholesterol content of lipoprotein subfractions separated by size in fasting and postprandial plasma collected from older men and women before and after they consumed glucose- or fructose-sweetened beverages for 10 weeks. Subjects consuming fructose exhibited higher fasting and postprandial plasma apoCIII concentrations than subjects consuming glucose (P<0.05 for both). They also had higher concentrations of postprandial TG in all TRL subfractions (P<0.05, effect of sugar), with the highest increases occurring in the largest TRL particles (P<0.0001 for fructose linear trend). Compared to glucose, fructose consumption increased postprandial TG in LDL particles (P<0.05, effect of sugar), especially in the smaller particles (P<0.0001 for fructose linear trend). The increases of both postprandial apoCIII and TG in large TRL subfractions were associated with the fructose-induced increases of fasting cholesterol in the smaller LDL particles. In conclusion, 10 weeks of fructose consumption increased circulating apoCIII and postprandial concentrations of large particle TRL compared with glucose consumption.