The Study
Isocaloric Fructose Restriction Reduces Serum d-Lactate Concentration in Children With Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome.
This study looked at 20 kids with obesity and checked their blood and liver before and after 9 days of cutting out fructose, but keeping calories the same. It found that when fructose went down, a chemical called d-lactate also went down, and this was linked to improvements in liver fat and insulin. But because we don’t know if the kids were randomly assigned or if the researchers knew who was in which group, we can’t say for sure that fructose caused the changes — only that they happened together.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Kids with too much liver fat and sugar in their blood stopped eating fructose for 9 days, but ate the same number of calories using starch instead. Scientists checked their blood and liver before and after.
Where does this study sit?
Systematic Reviews & Meta-analyses
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control
Max 58Cross-Sectional
Max 44Case Reports & Series
Max 30Expert Opinion
Max 553 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Even without losing weight, cutting fructose improved serious health markers linked to diabetes and fatty liver in just 9 days.
- 2Liver fat went down.
- 3Blood d-lactate (a sign of harmful sugar reactions) dropped by half.
- 4The body made less new fat.
- 5Insulin worked better.
- 6No weight loss happened.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism
Year
2019
Authors
Ayca Erkin-Cakmak, Yasmin Bains, R. Caccavello, S. Noworolski, J. Schwarz, K. Mulligan, R. Lustig, A. Gugliucci
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.