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# Sugar may shorten women's lifespan, harm men's sexual life
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/sugar_toxicity_0816130731/
- Published: 2013-08-15T20:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:26:33.000Z
- Description: University of Utah researchers fed mice a diet drawing 25% of calories from a glucose-fructose mix like high fructose corn syrup. Female mice on the sugar diet died at twice the rate of controls, and males lost territories and had fewer mates, Nature Communications reports.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Food, Nutrition, #vivvo-import

Thursday Aug 16, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- Scientists at the University of Utah conducted an animal study and found evidence that suggests that dietary sugar like high fructose corn syrup commonly used in processed foods and drinks even at moderate levels may shorten women's lifespan and men's reproductive capability.

The sugar used for the study was a mix of 50% fructose and 50% glucose which is similar in composition to high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup is now called corn sugar. Fructose has been found harmful in previous studies. Fructose consumption has been associated with increased risk of non-alcoholic liver disease and diabetes mellitus.

For the study, two groups of mice were either fed a diet with 25% of the total calories from the sugar or a normal diet for 26 weeks. And then both study mice and control mice were kept together in a room-sized barn to allow them to live freely for 32 weeks during which they were all fed the normal diet.

The sugar-fed females died twice as quickly as the control mice even though both the study females and control females used the same amount of calorie on a daily basis and both groups looked just as "healthy" as they were expected to.

The sugar-fed male mice did not die more quickly than the control male mice which used the normal diet during the first 25 weeks. However, these sugar-fed males were not as "manly" as the controls and they lost their territories to the controls and had fewer mates and offspring.

The study released online Tuesday by the journal Nature Communications suggests that even a relatively moderate intake of sugar can be harmful. Early research has found harmful effects only in those who had high intake of sugar.

Lead author James S. Ruff was cited by Washington Post as saying that the amount of sugar (25% calories from sugar) the mice used was equivalent to three 12-ounce sodas a day for Americans, which is recommended by the U.S. government in the American Dietary Guidelines.

Senior author Dr. Wayne K. Potts was cited as saying that 80% of substances found toxic in mice are also toxic in humans, meaning that chances are good that the results of this study are likely applicable to humans. 

Another new report in the Nature Reviews says that early exposure to high fructose corn syrup can be obesogenic. Another early Princeton University study found that animals eating fructose were more likely to gain weight, compared with those eating glucose.

Another study released recently suggests that high levels of sugar in the blood may increase risk of dementia. (reporting by Jimmy Downs)