By David Liu, PHD

Monday April 09, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- High intake of fructose which is high in high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may increase risk of copper deficiency, a new study in the Feb 2012 issue of Journal of hepatology suggests.

High fructose corn syrup or corn sugar is widely used in beverages and processed foods not only because it is cheap, but also because it can renders a number of desirable physical and sensory attributes.

The study led by M.Song and colleagues from University of Louisville School of Medicine in Louisville, KY showed that high fructose feeding induced copper deficiency in Sprague-Dawley rats.

Dietary copper deficiency is linked with a variety of symptoms of metabolic syndrome including hyperlipidemia and fatty liver. Fructose feeding has been found early to exacerbate complications of copper deficiency, the researchers reported.

In this study, rats were fed an adequate copper or a marginally copper deficient diet for four weeks. Rats were allowed to drink deionized water or deionized water containing 30 percent fructose ad libitum.  Assessed at the end of the study were copper and iron status, hepatic injury and steatosis, and duodenum copper transporter-1, which is associated with use of copper.

The results showed that fructose feeding impaired copper status and led to iron overload. Rats on the marginal copper deficient diet when exposed to fructose induced liver injury and fat accumulation.

The researchers also found in rats on the copper deficient diet when exposed to fructose  that "Hepatic carnitine palmitoyl-CoA transferase I (CPT I) expression was significantly inhibited, whereas hepatic fatty acid synthase (FAS) was markedly up-regulated in marginal copper deficient rats fed with fructose."

The copper deficiency diet and fructose intake suppressed hepatic antioxidant defense system and increased lipid peroxidation.

The researchers wrote "high fructose-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) may be due, in part, to inadequate dietary copper. Impaired duodenum Ctr-1 expression seen in fructose feeding may lead to decreased copper absorption, and subsequent copper deficiency."

High fructose corn syrup contains almost half glucose and half fructose.  Fructose has been linked with a myriad of health conditions and diseases including obesity and diabetes.