Sugar tied to fatal heart woes; soda's a culprit
February 3
BY LINDSEY TANNER
AP Medical Writer

CHICAGO — Could too much sugar be deadly? The biggest study of its kind suggests the answer is yes, at least when it comes to fatal heart problems.

http://media.kansascity.com/smedia/2...dk6.St.55.jpeg
TED S. WARREN,FILE | AP PHOTO
FILE - In this Sept. 8, 2013 file photo, a vendor sells cotton candy at Safeco field during a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Seattle Mariners, in Seattle. A new study published Monday, Feb. 3, 2014 in the journal, JAMA Internal Medicine, says diets high in sugar are linked with increased risks for fatal heart disease, and it doesn't take that much extra sugar to boost the risk, anything more than a 20-ounce Mountain Dew soda a day.

It doesn't take all that much extra sugar, hidden in many processed foods, to substantially raise the risk, the researchers found, and most Americans eat more than the safest amount.

Having a cinnamon roll with your morning coffee, a super-sized sugary soda at lunch and a scoop of ice cream after dinner would put you in the highest risk category in the study. That means your chance of dying prematurely from heart problems is nearly three times greater than for people who eat only foods with little added sugar.

For someone who normally eats 2,000 calories daily, even consuming two 12-ounce cans of soda substantially increases the risk. For most American adults, sodas and other sugary drinks are the main source of added sugar.

Lead author Quanhe Yang of the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention called the results sobering and said it's the first nationally representative study to examine the issue.

Scientists aren't certain exactly how sugar may contribute to deadly heart problems, but it has been shown to increase blood pressure and levels of unhealthy cholesterol and triglycerides; and also may increase signs of inflammation linked with heart disease, said Rachel Johnson, head of the American Heart Association's nutrition committee and a University of Vermont nutrition professor.

Yang and colleagues analyzed national health surveys between 1988 and 2010 that included questions about people's diets. The authors used national death data to calculate risks of dying during 15 years of follow-up.

Overall, more than 30,000 American adults aged 44 on average were involved.

Previous studies have linked diets high in sugar with increased risks for non-fatal heart problems, and with obesity, which can also lead to heart trouble. But in the new study, obesity didn't explain the link between sugary diets and death. That link was found even in normal-weight people who ate lots of added sugar.

"Too much sugar does not just make us fat; it can also make us sick," said Laura Schmidt, a health policy specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. She wrote an editorial accompanying the study in Monday's JAMA Internal Medicine.

The researchers focused on sugar added to processed foods or drinks, or sprinkled in coffee or cereal. Even foods that don't taste sweet have added sugar, including many brands of packaged bread, tomato sauce and salad dressing. Naturally occurring sugar, in fruit and some other foods, wasn't counted.

Most health experts agree that too much sugar isn't healthy, but there is no universal consensus on how much is too much.

U.S government dietary guidelines issued in 2010 say "empty" calories including those from added sugars should account for no more than 15 percent of total daily calories.

The average number of daily calories from added sugar among U.S. adults was about 15 percent toward the end of the study, slightly lower than in previous years.

The authors divided participants into five categories based on sugar intake, from less than 10 percent of daily calories — the safest amount — to more than 25 percent.

Most adults exceed the safest level; and for 1 in 10 adults, added sugar accounts for at least 25 percent of daily calories, the researchers said.

The researchers had death data on almost 12,000 adults, including 831 who died from heart disease during the 15-year follow-up. They took into account other factors known to contribute to heart problems, including smoking, inactivity and excess weight, and still found risks for sugar.

As sugar intake increased, risks climbed steeply.

Adults who got at least 25 percent of their calories from added sugar were almost three times more likely to die of heart problems than those who consumed the least — less than 10 percent.

For those who got more than 15 percent — or the equivalent of about two cans of sugary soda out of 2,000 calories daily — the risk was almost 20 percent higher than the safest level.

Sugar calories quickly add up: One teaspoon has about 16 calories; one 12-ounce can of non-diet soda contains has about 9 teaspoons of sugar or about 140 calories; many cinnamon rolls have about 13 teaspoons of sugar; one scoop of chocolate ice cream has about 5 teaspoons of sugar.

Dr. Jonathan Purnell, a professor at Oregon Health & Science University's Knight Cardiovascular Institute, said while the research doesn't prove "sugar can cause you to die of a heart attack", it adds to a growing body of circumstantial evidence suggesting that limiting sugar intake can lead to healthier, longer lives.

Yep

High blood sugar is dangerous.

Quickly metabolized BS (not high carbs) is fine in small amounts.

No berries? Blueberries and Strawberries FTW son!

Schnozberries?

Are we talking sugar or HFCS or both?is there a difference?

Good luck.

Everything you buy at the store either contains sugar (causes heart disease), corn syrup (causes heart disease and diabetes), or some artificial sweetener (causes cancer, thyroid disease, liver disease, and has many yet-to-be-discovered side effects).

The only way to completely be healthy is to eat nothing from a store or restaurant.

Good luck with that.

Some of the links from my 'diabetes' file may be useful to you folks - even if you don't need to know all this RIGHT NOW, you may find a 'diet tip' or 2 to help. Long story short, if you don't lose the weight your chances of becoming type 2 diabetic are about 95% these days, thanks to our current crop of food additives, our lack of walking, etc...grow it and eat it, move it or lose it.

This fellow wrote a book called 'wheat belly' about losing wheat from your diet - he was interested in how sugar affected his cardiac patients and found that wheat was not good for 'em either. His blog has some good info - get the book from the lie-berry
http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/

Some low glycemic foods - the 'glycemic index' shows how much the various sugars/chemistry of foods affects our body (mostly what gets into the blood and how fast it hits
http://type1diabetes.about.com/od/fo...Superfoods.htm

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1MqdI1...a-infographic/

Linus Pauling won a bunch of Nobel prizes for his work w/vitamin C - here's some info on 'micro-nutrients' that may affect what you eat, what vitamins you choose to take. It pays to have a clue on this stuff if you're already sick...and it might keep you from getting sick if you're not
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/

This fellow is the best diabetic writer I've found, for explaining stuff easy enough to understand the danged chemistry we're forced to live by as we lose weight
http://www.mendosa.com/
http://www.healthcentral.com/diabete...ng-blood-sugar

And here's some info on 'too much fruit sugar' the site owner is semi-nutso IMHO but not completely nuts so I read his stuff but bring an extra grain of salt, so to speak
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...y-18-2010.aspx

I've been on a whole food diet for close to 3 years now. It's not that hard, but it is hella expensive.

If it comes in a bag or a box I don't eat it. The exception is that I often chow down on cheese.

Me at the store - produce section, meat, dairy, checkout, loan officer, car.

The closest whole food store is nearly 60 miles away, making it that much more expensive. It's just really not an option for a family of 5. We do as much fresh produce as possible and we buy our meat locally and have it processed locally.

At the end of the day, breathing causes cancer though so I don't see spending so much time and money on food when we're all gonna die anyway.

Ive read reports of people beating cancer by removing all sugar from their diet. Supposedly cancer can not grow with out it and will die on its own eventually once the fuel(sugar) is removed.

My dad has an older medical book that makes these claims and were backed up by lab tests. When I was younger I thought it was all hogwash, but the older you get the more you see how everything works including the medical industry.
I certainly wouldn't want to be the guinea pig to test this, but I think there is enough out there that proves you should limit refined sugars as much as possible regardless.

You don't have to go to Whole Foods to eat a whole food diet.

But it sounds like you're more than half way there anyway. Local meat is a great way to save and frozen produce might not be perfect but it's a shit ton better than a box of frankenfood that has 37 ingredients (none of which are actually food).

You should limit refined everything, not just sugar. ;)

We're working on eliminating GMO's right now.