Eliminating sugar from your diet may be more detrimental than previously thought, according to an animal study being presented Saturday at ENDO 2026, the Endocrine Society\u2019s annual meeting in Chicago, Ill.<\/p>\n
\u201cCompletely removing sucrose from a low-fat diet may unexpectedly disrupt gut health and promote inflammation and metabolic dysfunction, highlighting that balanced nutrition is more important than simply eliminating sugar,\u201d said Rasheed Ahmad, Ph.D., principal scientist and head of the Immunology & Microbiology Department at the Dasman Diabetes Institute, in Kuwait City, Kuwait. The institute was founded by Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences. Researchers investigated the effects of a sucrose-free low-fat diet compared to a sucrose-containing low-fat control diet in two groups of mice for 16 weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They evaluated glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, circulating metabolic hormones, the gut microbiome and inflammation in the colon and liver.<\/p>\n
Mice fed the sucrose-free diet developed impaired glucose control, insulin resistance, gut microbial imbalance, intestinal inflammation and fatty liver changes, despite having no significant differences in body weight compared with control mice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe findings suggest that complete removal of sucrose from a low-fat diet may negatively affect gut microbiota and metabolic health,\u201d Ahmad said. \u201cThe study highlights the importance of maintaining balanced dietary carbohydrates to support gut and immune homeostasis.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Until now, the consequences of restrictive diets that eliminate sugar from a low-fat diet were unknown.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis research may influence future dietary recommendations by emphasizing the importance of maintaining a healthy gut microbiome rather than focusing only on sugar restriction,\u201d Ahmad said. \u201cIn the long term, these findings could help improve strategies for preventing and managing metabolic disorders, fatty liver disease and chronic inflammatory conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStudies such as this reflect our institute\u2019s commitment to advancing evidence-based scientific discoveries that improve public health outcomes and deepen our understanding of metabolic disease,\u201d said Faisal Hamed Al-Refaei, MD, Acting Director General of Dasman Diabetes Institute.<\/p>\n
About the Endocrine Society
Endocrinologists are at the core of solving the most pressing health problems of our time, including diabetes, obesity, infertility, bone health, and hormone-related cancers. The Endocrine Society is the largest global organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions.<\/p>\n
With more than 18,000 members in 133 countries, the Society serves as the voice of the endocrine field. Through its renowned journals and ENDO, the world’s largest endocrine meeting, the Society accelerates hormone research, advances clinical excellence in endocrinology, and advocates for evidence-based policies on behalf of\u00a0\u00a0the global endocrine community. To learn more, visit our online newsroom<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eliminating sugar from your diet may be more detrimental than previously thought, according to an animal study being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[102,6636,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-637165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health","tag-nutrition","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}