Refined diets containing refined carbohydrates are increasingly being implicated in the development of Western lifestyle disease. Refined carbohydrates including fructose, sucrose and glucose, as well as starch, are implicated in the development of disease because they knock the metabolism of the individual out of its normal homeostatic balance, and induce states of hormonal and physiological disruption. In particular, refined sugars and starch affect the postprandial and fasting levels of blood sugar because they increase the nutrient delivery to cells, and this can overwhelm the cells with energy. This may be a direct cause free radical generation and may be a driver of insulin resistance. Further, refined crystalline fructose is also able to induce fatty acid synthesis in the liver and these fatty acids then form triglycerides and accumulate in tissues including the blood. Changes to cholesterol metabolism may also occur. These metabolic changes may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease significantly.
Fructose has been shown to cause insulin resistance in rats and humans in only a few weeks at high intakes. Metabolic changes to baboons fed refined diets including sugars have also been observed. For example, in one study1, baboon were fed a diet consisting of 40 % carbohydrate, 25 % casein (milk protein), 14 % hydrogenated coconut oil, 15 % cellulose, 5 % salt and 1 % vitamin. The carbohydrate intake comprised of either fructose, sucrose, glucose or starch. Another group of baboon were fed a control diet of fruit, vegetables and bread. The test animals experienced increases in the levels of plasma cholesterol, a phenomenon that coincided with weight gain. The greatest increase in total cholesterol was experienced in the fructose and sucrose fed animals, while the control animals had the smallest increase in total cholesterol levels. Triglyceride levels also increased significantly in all treatment groups compared to the controls, which female baboons experiencing significantly higher elevations than males.
Other changes noted in the baboons fed the refined diets included significant increases in blood urea levels and significant increases in the levels of β-lipoproteins. However, all five groups experienced increases in the amount of free fatty acids in liver tissue. In addition, all the baboons experienced aortic sudanophilia, with the order of severity being fructose, sucrose, starch, glucose and control groups, respectively. Taken as a whole these results suggest that refined semi-synthetic diets induce disease in baboons in a relatively short time. The metabolic changes observed in these animals occurred within 1 year. Further, it is clear that even the addition of bread to the normal diet of baboons (as in the control diet) still induced significant changes that could lead to serious disease. However, the control group were protected to some extent compared to the other groups. Highly refined artificial diets, similar to the Western diet, therefore may cause disease in mammals in a short period of time.
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