NEW YORK (Dispatches) --  Mice fed diets high in sugar developed worse colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and researchers examining their large intestines found more of the bacteria that can damage the gut’s protective mucus layer.
 This new study points to sugar -- particularly the glucose found in high fructose corn syrup developed by the food industry in the 1960s and then increasingly used to sweeten soft drinks and other foods -- as a prime suspect. "The incidence of IBD has also increased in Western countries, particularly among children, over this same period,” according to the study.
UT Southwestern researchers fed mice a solution of water with a 10 percent concentration of various dietary sugars -- glucose, fructose, and sucrose -- for seven days. They found that mice that were either genetically predisposed to develop colitis, or those given a chemical that induces colitis, developed more severe symptoms if they were first given sugar.
The researchers then used gene-sequencing techniques to identify the types and prevalence of bacteria found in the large intestines of mice before and after receiving their sugar regimen. After being given sugar treatments for seven days, those fed sucrose, fructose, and -- especially -- glucose showed significant changes in the microbial population inside the gut, according to the study.