SynthesisNutrition reviews2016
Potential link between excess added sugar intake and ectopic fat: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in Nutrition reviews, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- The oral und systemic health risks of sugar consumption: an umbrella review.Clinical oral investigations · 2026Pooled it
- Dietary sugar consumption and health: umbrella review.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2023Pooled it
- Effect of Commercially Available Sugar-Sweetened Beverages on Subjective Appetite and Short-Term Food Intake in Girls.Nutrients · 2018Trial
- Review
- Diet quality is associated with adipose tissue and muscle mass: the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2024Article
- Fructose drives de novo lipogenesis affecting metabolic health.The Journal of endocrinology · 2023Review
- Review
- The Effects of Exercise and Restriction of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages on Muscle Function and Autophagy Regulation in High-Fat High-Sucrose-Fed Obesity Mice.Diabetes & metabolism journal · 2021Article
- Visceral adipose tissue is associated with poor diet quality and higher fasting glucose in adults with cystic fibrosis.Journal of cystic fibrosis : official journal of the European Cystic Fibrosis Society · 2019Article
- An Evidence Map of Research Linking Dietary Sugars to Potentially Related Health Outcomes.Current developments in nutrition · 2018Article
- Protocol for the scientific opinion on the Tolerable Upper Intake Level of dietary sugars.EFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority · 2018Article
- Isocaloric Dietary Changes and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in High Cardiometabolic Risk Individuals.Nutrients · 2017Review
- What have human experimental overfeeding studies taught us about adipose tissue expansion and susceptibility to obesity and metabolic complications?International journal of obesity (2005) · 2017Review
- The Twin White Herrings: Salt and Sugar.Indian journal of endocrinology and metabolismReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
contextThe effect of added sugar intake on ectopic fat accumulation is a subject of debate.
objectiveA systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted to examine the potential effect of added sugar intake on ectopic fat depots. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, CAB Abstracts, CAB Global Health, and EBM (Evidence-Based Medicine) Reviews - Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases were searched for studies published from 1973 to September 2014. DATA EXTRACTION: RCTs with a minimum of 6 days' duration of added sugar exposure in the intervention group were selected. The dosage of added sugar intake as a percentage of total energy was extracted or calculated. Means and standard deviations of pre- and post-test measurements or changes in ectopic fat depots were collected. DATA SYNTHESIS: Fourteen RCTs were included. Most of the studies had a medium to high risk of bias. Meta-analysis showed that, compared with eucaloric controls, subjects who consumed added sugar under hypercaloric conditions likely increased ectopic fat, particularly in the liver (pooled standardized mean difference = 0.9 [95%CI, 0.6-1.2], n = 6) and muscles (pooled SMD = 0.6 [95%CI, 0.2-1.0], n = 4). No significant difference was observed in liver fat, visceral adipose tissue, or muscle fat when isocaloric intakes of different sources of added sugars were compared.
conclusionsData from a limited number of RCTs suggest that excess added sugar intake under hypercaloric diet conditions likely increases ectopic fat depots, particularly in the liver and in muscle fat. There are insufficient data to compare the effect of different sources of added sugars on ectopic fat deposition or to compare intake of added sugar with intakes of other macronutrients. Future well-designed RCTs with sufficient power and duration are needed to address the role of sugars on ectopic fat deposition.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.