Friday, November 5, 2010

A Study On The Unhealthy Effects Of High Levels Of Sugar

By Don McGuire

Eating a diet that is high in refined sugar affects heart health adversely over time. Sure, it is fun to eat sweets but, according to a new study, doing this too often daily can lead to heart disease in the future.

This study reveals that people who incorporate extra sugar into their diets on a regular basis have a tendency to develop changes in their blood that contribute to heart disease. Changes observed in the blood lipids included elevated triglycerides, decreases in beneficial lipoproteins including HDL, or High Density Lipoprotein cholesterol.

Among the participants in the study, an average of 16% of the calories in their daily diets came from sugar. 6000 adults took part in the study which surveyed their daily dietary habits and then grouped them by cholesterol levels and sugar intake.

Participants consumed anywhere from 3 teaspoons of sugar daily and up to 46 teaspoons daily. That is a range of 45 calories worth of sugar toward nearly 1,000 calories of sugar consumed daily.

There are healthy sugars found in many foods naturally, such as fruits and some starchy vegetables and honey. Refined sugar is the real problem. There are maximum recommendations for daily intake of refined sugars. Women should take no more than six teaspoons daily and men use no more than nine teaspoons per day.

Many processed food companies add sugar, sometimes in large amounts, to the foods they produce. Hopefully studies like these will have some influence on this, motivating manufacturers to decrease sugar in the foods they sell. Some states have made efforts to combat the high rate of obesity by taxing soft drinks, aspiring to discourage use.

The average consumer drinks 50 gallons of sodas annually. With just a half-cent tax on these drinks, it is estimated that this could drop to an average of 40 gallons per year.

This study clarifies how eating too much sugar contributes to risks for heart disease, but that isn't the only damage such a diet can lead to. High sugar diets are also linked to diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and increased risk of stroke. So there are serious reasons to decrease sugar intake.

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