A recent study has purportedly found “for the first time a link between excess
dietary sugar and the accumulation of liver fat by DNL [de novo lipogenesis],”
the process by which simple sugars like fructose or glucose are converted in
the liver into SFA palmitate. Ksenia Sevastianova, et al., “Effect of short-term
carbohydrate overfeeding and long-term weight loss on liver fat in overweight
humans,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, October 2012. After
placing 16 overweight subjects on a high-calorie diet for three weeks and
then a low-calorie diet for six months, researchers reported that carbohydrate
overfeeding induced an approximately 10-fold “greater relative change in liver
fat (27%) than in body weight (2%),” with the increase in liver fat proportional
to DNL.

Based on these findings, the study’s authors concluded that “short-term overfeeding with simple carbohydrates markedly increases liver fat and stimulates DNL in overweight subjects.” They also noted that, although the changes were reversible with weight loss, “these data support a role for excess simple sugar intake in the pathogenesis of NAFLD [nonalcoholic fatty liver disease].” “[T]he results provide the impetus for the measurement of liver and plasma triglycerides and DNL after a carbohydrate challenge in a larger number of ethnically diverse subjects tested for genes associated with fatty liver,” explained a concurrent editorial highlighting the study’s conclusions. “In this way, the genetic heterogeneity of the lipogenic effects of dietary sugar will be defined. Dietary recommendations to restrict sugars can then have a stronger scientific rationale and target those at greatest risk and the specific mechanism or mechanisms responsible.”

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For decades, manufacturers, distributors and retailers at every link in the food chain have come to Shook, Hardy & Bacon to partner with a legal team that understands the issues they face in today's evolving food production industry. Shook attorneys work with some of the world's largest food, beverage and agribusiness companies to establish preventative measures, conduct internal audits, develop public relations strategies, and advance tort reform initiatives.

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