Seminar: Is fructose toxic? The risks of a high fructose intake before and after birth.

The Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Department of Human Physiology and Biochemistry is organising the seminar “Is fructose toxic? The risks of a high fructose intake before and after birth.” The seminar will take place on Monday, 16 October,16:30-17:30, Auditorium 3 (16 Dzirciema iela).

Fructose is part of sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup and can be fruits, vegetables, and honey. For several decades, it has been considered a "bad" component of diet. Some even claim that it is toxic, while others contribute to the rise in type 2 diabetes solely to the increase of intake of high-fructose corn syrup. The truth is probably not as black and white and perhaps the real problem with fructose is not intake during adulthood, but perhaps maternal intake during pregnancy. During the seminar, a brief overview of fructose metabolism and possible mechanisms of its involvement in type 2 diabetes will be reviewed and new findings related to fructose intake and disease will be discussed.

Lecturer

Ole Hartvig Mortensen, PhD, associate professor at University of Copenhagen, Inflammation, metabolism & oxidation section (H-index: 26). His research focuses on the influence of lifestyle and diet on developmental programming of metabolism.