Sugar may very well be Public Health Enemy No. 1: It's a major factor in a plethora of diseases, ranging from type 2 diabetes to heart disease. Now, a new study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise suggests that frequent exercise could be the antidote. The researchers found that ramping up your level of physical activity may be enough to undo the negative health effects of eating high amounts of fructose.
The scientists had 22 young people consume an extra 75 grams of fructose per day—an amount close to the average intake of added fructose—by drinking two 20-ounce lemon-lime sodas. Then they asked them to perform two separate exercise regimens for two weeks at time: one where they were highly active (about 12,500 steps a day) and another where they were relatively sedentary (about 4,500 steps per day). After each two-week period, the researchers tested the people for changes in their vitals after eating a high-fructose meal.
When inactive, the people experienced a significant boost in trigylcerides—but saw no such change when they were exercising heavily. The study participants experienced a 30 percent drop in levels of IL-6—a marker of inflammation—when active, while their levels increased by 116 percent when they were exercising less. Insulin concentration was also 19 percent lower during the active intervention than in the inactive one.
These outcomes suggest that ramping up your gym time may be enough to counteract the negative metabolic effects of overdoing it on fructose, the scientists say. (Hey, we all have those eat-every-sweet-in-sight days.) The explanation: Exercise temporarily spikes your levels of IL-6, which then triggers the release of anti-inflammatory chemicals, potentially leading to a long-term decrease in inflammation. Plus, regular exercise helps insulin do its job (so you need less of it).
This is no excuse for loading up on sugar (and it's worth noting that this study didn't look at weight gain), but these findings do give you a reason to continue forking out cash for a gym membership.