Over the last decade, there has been a considerable amount of literature dedicated to clarifying the role that fructose plays in health and disease. Unlike glucose, fructose is primarily metabolized within the liver and bypasses a critical rate-limiting step (phosphofructokinase) in the energy production pathway of glucose. Bypassing this step means that the metabolism of fructose is less controlled than the metabolism of glucose, and this is the main reason why fructose and glucose have different metabolic effects. It has been shown in healthy adults that fructose stimulates DNL (de novo lipogenesis; the creation of fatty acids) to a greater extent than glucose, and this is the main reason why fructose has been portrayed as particularly harmful. However, isotopic tracer studies in humans suggest that 50% of ingested fructose is converted into glucose, 25% into lactate, at least 15% into liver glycogen, and only 10% oxidized directly or converted to fatty...
