In lab rats, eating a diet super high in fructose (like from sugary foods) makes their blood fat levels skyrocket—way more than other unhealthy diets—and this seems to mess up how their body handles fat overall, not just hurt the liver.

Eating too much fructose, like the sugar in soda and candy, can mess up your liver’s ability to respond to insulin, make more fat in your liver, and raise fat levels in your blood, which can lead to bigger health problems like heart disease.

Eating too much fructose, like the sugar in soda and sweet snacks, makes your liver create more fat, which raises bad fats in your blood and causes body-wide inflammation, making heart disease more likely.

Eating a lot of fructose—like the sugar in soda and sweet snacks—can cause your liver to make more fat and pump it into your blood as triglycerides, which may increase your risk of heart disease.

Feeding rats a diet super high in fructose for 4 months doesn’t really hurt their liver overall, even though a few tiny signs of fat buildup show up under a microscope.

Eating too much fructose over a long time can mess up how your liver responds to insulin, making your body produce more insulin, cause body-wide inflammation, and raise fat levels in your blood—all of which raise your risk of heart disease.