When your liver processes fructose (a sugar found in fruit and soda), it burns through energy really fast, makes a waste product called uric acid, and this can damage the liver’s power plants and cause fat to build up—even if your insulin levels are normal.

Eating too much fructose—like the sugar in soda and sweetened snacks—may slow down your liver’s ability to burn fat, which can lead to fat buildup and make your body less responsive to insulin.

Fructose causes chemical changes (acetylation) on key fat-burning proteins in liver cells, making them less active — like putting grease on a gear so it doesn’t turn properly.

Eating too much fructose—like the sugar in soda and candy—can slow down your liver’s ability to burn fat, making fat build up and mess up your metabolism.

Eating too much fructose—like the sugar in soda and sweetened snacks—might cause stress and swelling in the liver, which can mess up how the body uses insulin and make fatty liver disease worse.

Eating fructose (like in sugary drinks) might be worse for your body than eating glucose (like in bread), because it can lead to more harmful fat buildup, insulin problems, and higher uric acid — all of which could increase your risk of heart disease.