About the Authors

MyPhuong T. Le

Affiliation Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research and Center for Pharmacogenomics, College of Pharmacy, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America

Maximilian T. Lobmeyer

Affiliation Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research and Center for Pharmacogenomics, College of Pharmacy, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America

Marcus Campbell

Affiliation Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research and Center for Pharmacogenomics, College of Pharmacy, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America

Jing Cheng

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America

Zhiying Wang

Affiliation Human Genetics Center and Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas, United States of America

Stephen T. Turner

Affiliation Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States of America

Arlene B. Chapman

Affiliation Renal Division, Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America

Eric Boerwinkle

Affiliation Human Genetics Center and Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas, United States of America

John G. Gums

Affiliation Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research and Center for Pharmacogenomics, College of Pharmacy, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America

Yan Gong

Affiliation Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research and Center for Pharmacogenomics, College of Pharmacy, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America

Richard J. Johnson

Affiliation Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension, Department of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, Colorado, United States of America

Julie A. Johnson

johnson@cop.ufl.edu

Affiliation Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research and Center for Pharmacogenomics, College of Pharmacy, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America

Competing Interests

RJJ has a patent application on inhibition of fructokinase as a mechanism to treat sugar craving and metabolic syndrome. The following lists the patent applications of RJJ: 1) U.S. Provisional application. TARGETING KHK FOR AMELIORATING OBESITY AND SUGAR CRAVING AND IMPROVING KIDNEY FUNCTION. Inventors Richard Johnson, Miguel Lanaspa, and Takuji Ishimoto. Serial No. US2011/046938. 2) U.S. Provisional Application. METHODS FOR FRUCTANASE AND FRUCTOKINASE INHIBITION. Inventors: Richard Johnson, Stephen Dreskin & Miguel Lanaspa-Garcia. Serial No. 61/563,806; Docket No. 11906-003; Ref: CU2981H-PPA1. RJJ also has two lay books, The Sugar Fix: The High-Fructose fallout That Is Making You Fat and Sick (Rodale and Simon and Schuster, 2008), and The Fat Switch (Mercola.com, 2012). None of the other authors declared a conflict of interest. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Primary responsibility for final content: JAJ. Conceived and conducted the PEAR trial: JAJ STT ABC EB JGG. Conceived and conducted GERA1 and GERA2 trials: STT ABC EB. Conceived and designed specific experiments in this paper: M. Le RJJ JAJ. Performed the experiments: M. Le M. Lobmeyer MC. Analyzed the data: M. Le JC ZW YG. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: JAJ STT ABC EB JGG YG JC ZW. Wrote the paper: M. Le.