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Excess free fructose and childhood asthma

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 69, page 1371 (2015)Cite this article

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I read the article that appeared in your March 2015 issue titled, ‘Associations of sugar-containing beverages with asthma prevalence in 11-year-old children: the PIAMA birth cohort’1 with great interest. Further insights could be gained if Berentzen et al. would be able to elaborate on their research by separating intake frequencies of apple juice (AJ) and orange juice (OJ) in their regression analyses. In their study, researchers suggested that the association between sugar-containing beverage (SCB) intake and childhood asthma might be explained by the ‘sugar hypothesis’—that an inflammatory pathway initiated by the sugar in SCB might explain the correlation with asthma.1 Results of other recently published research do not support a role for the ‘sugar hypothesis’ in association with childhood asthma.

By conducting separate analyses of these two juices, Berentzen et al. would be able to distinguish between two very distinct types of sugars in 100% juices. Specifically, per 100 g, the amount of total sugars in AJ and OJ are comparable; AJ contains 9.6 g and OJ contains 8.8 g of total sugars.2 Whereas analysis of their excess free fructose (EFF) contents suggests these juices are very different from one another. Specifically, per 100 g, AJ contains 3.1 g of EFF and OJ contains 0.2 g of EFF. Therefore, per 100 g, AJ contains 16 times more EFF than OJ.2

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References

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  1. Independent Researcher, Eugene, OR, USA

    L R DeChristopher

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  1. L R DeChristopher
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Correspondence to L R DeChristopher.

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DeChristopher, L. Excess free fructose and childhood asthma. Eur J Clin Nutr 69, 1371 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2015.101

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