Hormonal
Consumption of added sugars promotes body weight gain and fat accumulation indirectly by failing to stimulate satiety hormones (leptin) and altering brain response to energy intake, leading to increased energy consumption.
Eating high-sugar foods, especially in liquid form, may make it harder to feel full and control your overall calorie intake because sugar doesn't trigger satiety signals as effectively as other nutrients. This can lead to unintentional weight gain.
Mechanistically, it is plausible that fructose consumption causes increased energy intake and reduced energy expenditure due to its failure to stimulate leptin production.
Why this rating
Supported by plausible mechanisms and some epidemiological data, but the author notes a lack of definitive, controlled intervention studies proving this effect in isolation.
Source
Sugar consumption, metabolic disease and obesity: The state of the controversy
Kimber L. Stanhope · Critical Reviews in Clinical Laboratory Sciences · 2015
DOI 10.3109/10408363.2015.1084990
More from this paper
- Consumption of excess fructose-containing sugars (sucrose or HFCS) promotes cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk through direct metabolic pathways, specifically by causing hepatic lipid accumulation, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance independent of body weight gain.Good
- Industry-funded studies often report null findings regarding the adverse effects of sugar, potentially due to methodological limitations such as the use of milk as a vehicle, suboptimal statistical analysis, and lack of objective compliance monitoring.Good
Related findings · Hormonal
- Initial treatment for type 2 diabetes should be a combination of metformin and either an SGLT-2 inhibitor or a GLP-1 receptor agonist to achieve cardiorenal protection, rather than monotherapy or older agents like sulfonylureas.Strong
- For patients with specific monogenic obesity syndromes (leptin deficiency, POMC/PCSK1/LEPR mutations), targeted pharmacotherapy (recombinant leptin or setmelanotide) is highly effective and should be prioritized, unlike in polygenic obesity.Strong
- Continued weekly administration of 2.4 mg subcutaneous semaglutide prevents weight regain and promotes further weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity, whereas switching to placebo results in significant weight regain.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →