European Journal of Nutrition & Food Safety

Background: The widespread use of high fructose corn syrup [1] and increasing sucrose intakes have led to significant increases in fructose intakes in Western societies [2]. Increasing fructose consumption has been implicated in the development of hypertension [3]. Furthermore, these effects have not been studied in groups with an established higher risk of hypertension and CVD, such as individuals of black West African origin (BWAO). This study examined the effect of high fructose and glucose consumption on theblood pressure of healthy men of BWAO compared to age and BMI matched men of white European origin (WEO). 
Methods: A double-blinded randomised crossover study was performed in healthy males of WEO (n=8) and BWAO (n=7), aged 30-50 years. Participants attended two separate controlled feeding days (8 hours). During the study days each participant was fed standardised meals such that 20% of their individual energy requirements came from fructose or glucose. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were assessed using the Ateriograph 24™ (Tensiomed) and differences between treatment (fructose and glucose) and ethnicity(WEO and BWAO) were assessed for statistical significance with IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0 usingbetween-subjects one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Ethical approval was granted by King’s College London Research Ethics Committees (BDM/12-13-7).
Results: Table 1 outlines the baseline characteristics of the participants. The BWAO and WEO men were matched for both age (p=.45) and BMI (p=.82) (Table 1). SBP (p=.02) and DBP (p=.03) was significantly higher in BWAO men assessed at baseline (Table 1). SBP was significantly higher in BWAO men over the study day (p=.019) and there was a trend towards significance with fructose treatment (p=.099). There was also a trend towards significantly higher DBP in BWAO men (p=.059) but no observed effect between treatment groups (p=.127).
Discussion and Conclusion: Our key finding was higher SBP in BWAO men across the duration of the study day. There was a trend toward higher SBP following acute fructose consumption in both BWAO and WEO men. The higher SBP and DBP observed in BWAO men at baseline and treatment induced elevations in blood pressure (BP) resulted in a greater period of time above the WHO hypertensive cut- off point.The clinical relevance of this requires further investigation. Furthermore the precise effects on BP may be masked in individuals having higher (but not hypertensive) BP, contributing to the lack of significant effects following fructose consumption.