(RxWiki News) How much sugar in your diet is too much? There has always been a disagreement because there hasn't been definitive evidence to link high-sugar diets with heart disease, until now.
People who eat too much sugar are more likely to suffer from heart disease or diabetes, but there was a question as to whether too much sugar actually promoted the development of these diseases.
"Don’t drink so many sugary beverages."
Senior author, Kimber Stanhope, Ph.D., from the University of California Davis, found that after only two weeks participants who ate 25 percent of their calories from fructose or high fructose corn syrup had higher cholesterol and triglyceride levels. High levels of both are risk factors for heart disease.
The upper limit of daily sugar intake according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 is 25 percent, but Stanhope says that’s way too high. The American Heart Association only recommends a fifth of that – five percent of calories from added sugar, she adds.
The study included 48 adults between the ages of 18 and 40. The participants were instructed to get 25 percent of their calories from glucose, fructose or high fructose corn syrup.
The researchers also found apolipoprotein B increased in participants in the fructose and high fructose corn syrup group. Apolipoprotein B is a protein involved with plaque buildup.
These findings suggest that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 should be re-evaluated because that much sugar can promote heart disease, Stanhope concludes.
The research is published in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).
