If normal-weight women drink sugary drinks with fructose instead of glucose—making up 30% of their daily calories—it might cut their insulin response after meals by 65%, because fructose doesn’t trigger insulin like glucose does, which could affect how the body senses fullness or burns energy.

If normal-weight women drink sugary drinks with fructose instead of glucose—making up 30% of their daily calories—their insulin levels after meals go down by about two-thirds. This suggests fructose doesn’t spike insulin like glucose does.

In normal-weight women, eating fructose instead of the same amount of glucose might make them feel less full and more likely to eat more, because it changes key hunger and fullness hormones in the body.

Drinking sugary drinks with fructose (like in soda) can make fat levels in the blood go up more than drinks with regular sugar, even in women who aren’t overweight.

Drinking a lot of fructose — like in sugary sodas — might pack on belly fat deep inside your body, even if you're not gaining overall weight, and it could affect your blood sugar and fats differently than other sugars.

If you have recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and you double how much sugary soda you drink, your body becomes about 2.6% less able to use insulin properly and you’re about 16–17% more likely to get fat in your liver—even if you’re not eating more calories overall.