Even if your body isn’t using insulin, eating too much fructose (like in sugary drinks) can still trick your liver into making more fat — thanks to special molecular switches called SREBP1c and XBP1s.

Eating a lot of sugar like high-fructose corn syrup makes your liver produce more fat than eating a lot of fatty foods does, and this happens in both people and mice.

Eating a lot of fructose (like in sugary drinks) might turn up the activity of certain liver enzymes that process sugar and make fat, especially in people who already have metabolic problems like obesity or diabetes.

Drinking sugary sodas and other drinks high in fructose may cause your liver to make more fat than when you eat glucose, leading to fatty liver and other health problems.

Eating too much fructose—like the sugar in soda and fruit juice—makes your liver create more fat than other sugars or fatty foods do, and that extra fat can mess with how your body responds to insulin.

Eating too much fructose—like the sugar in soda and candy—might mess up how your liver responds to insulin, even if you don’t gain weight or eat more calories overall.