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Discovery: Fructose: the Bittersweet Sugar

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Ingredients list on a drinks bottle, Credit: Associated Press

17/03/2014 GMT

Fructose: the Bittersweet Sugar

BBC World Service - Discovery, Fructose: the Bittersweet Sugar

Is fructose a 'toxic additive' or a healthy fruit sugar?

Headlines say that fructose is as 'addictive as cocaine' and responsible for the obesity epidemic. Yet the EU says the fruit sugar is healthy. Mark Porter explores the truth.

If you believe the headlines fructose is 'addictive as cocaine', a 'toxic additive' or a 'metabolic danger'. So how has a simple sugar in fruit and honey got such a bad name and is there any evidence behind the accusations that it has caused the obesity epidemic? Meanwhile, a new health claim approved by the European Food Safety Authority for foods or drinks substituting fructose for other sugars, comes into force. 

Dr Mark Porter talks to leading world experts to sift through the evidence in Fructose: The Bitter Sweet Sugar.

Picture: Ingredients list on a drinks bottle, Credit: Associated Press

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