Effect of mental stress on cardiovascular function at rest and after ingestion of fructose or sucralose in healthy, white European males

Aim: Ingestion of fructose and mental arithmetic can increase blood pressure (BP); the present study assessed the effect of fructose ingestion on cardiovascular (CV) response to mental stress. Effects were compared with sucralose used as a control. Materials and methods: Ten healthy, white European males were studied twice. A Finometer recorded CV parameters, noninvasively, throughout the study period. After the 30-min baseline, a mental arithmetic task (MAT), a series of arithmetic questions displayed as PowerPoint slides, was presented. Subjects, while resting on a bed, answered 20 questions in 2 min; 15 min after MAT-1, volunteers consumed 500 mL of lemon-flavoured drink containing either fructose (0.75 g/kg body weight) or sucralose. Thirty minutes after drinking, MAT-2, using different questions, was administered; measurements continued for 30 min afterwards. The same protocol was repeated with new questions on a different day with the alternative drink, containing either fructose or sucralose. Results: Fructose and sucralose increased BP and total peripheral resistance (TPR). MATs increased BP, heart rate, and cardiac index, whereas TPR decreased. CV responses to mental arithmetic were not affected by fructose or sucralose, except for an attenuated increase in SBP during MAT-2 after fructose. Conclusion: Pressor effects of fructose (or sucralose) and MATs are not additive.