Tuesday May 20, 2014 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that eating fructose may increase risk of death from all causes in men and women.

N Tasevska at Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona and colleagues conducted the study and found  all-cause death risk was 13%, 10% and 7% higher among those who ate highest amounts of total sugar, total fructose, and added fructose in women respectively, compared with those who ate the lowest amounts.  In men, those who ate highest amounts of total fructose were 6% more likely to die from all causes.

The increased risk of all-cause mortality was found associated with sugars from beverages, but not solid foods.

Added sugar was not associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality.

The researchers concluded "In this large prospective study, total fructose intake was weakly positively associated with all-cause mortality in both women and men, whereas added sugars, sucrose, and added sucrose intakes were inversely associated with other-cause mortality in men."

The study was based data from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study in which 353,751 participants aged 50 to 71 were followed for up to 13 years.

Early studies have associated sugar consumption with increased incidence of cancer and other chronic diseases.  

Fructose is found high in high fructose corn syrup and sugar.  (David Liu)