What drives obesity?

Nutrition experts have recognized for many years that Western diets rich in fats and sugar may be behind the cause of obesity, but debate has reigned over the primary culprit - intake of too many calories? Specific foods such as carbohydrates or fat? This has led to some groups recommending reducing sugar, some reducing carb intake, while others believe the key is reducing high fat-foods.

The paper suggests these theories are not incompatible with each other and that they can all be brought together in one unified pathway that centres around one true driver: fructose.

According to Richard Johnson, a University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus researcher, and his colleagues, the primary problem in obesity is fructose, which is present in table sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Fructose can also be made in the body from carbohydrates (particularly glucose). When fructose is metabolised, it lowers the active energy in the body (known as ATP, or adenosine triphosphate), which causes hunger and food intake.