When it comes to health, sugar has a mixed reputation. Sugar occurs naturally in all carbohydrates-containing foods, such as fruits and vegetables, grains, and dairy. It is OK to consume complete foods that include natural sugar. Plant foods are also abundant in fiber, vital minerals, and antioxidants, whereas dairy foods are heavy in protein and calcium.
Because these foods are slowly digested by your body, the sugar in them provides a consistent supply of energy to your cells. Consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains has also been demonstrated to lower the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and several malignancies.
Excessive sugar consumption
However, difficulties arise when you consume too much added sugar, which is sugar added to foods by manufacturers to enhance flavor or lengthen shelf life.
Soft drinks, fruit drinks, flavored yogurts, cereals, cookies, cakes, candies, and most processed foods are the leading sources in the American diet. However, added sugar can be found in foods that you might not think of as sweetened, such as soups, bread, cured meats, and ketchup.
As a result, we consume far too much refined sugar. According to the National Cancer Institute, adult men consume an average of 24 teaspoons of added sugar every day. This equates to 384 calories.
" Impact of excess sugar on obesity and diabetes is well documented, but one area that may surprise many men is how their taste for sugar can have a serious impact on their heart health," says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The effect on your heart
Dr. Hu and his colleagues discovered a link between a high-sugar diet and an increased risk of dying from heart disease in a 2014 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Those who consumed 17% to 21% of their calories as added sugar had a 38% higher chance of dying from cardiovascular disease over the course of the 15-year trial than those who consumed 8% of their calories as added sugar.
"Basically, the higher the intake of added sugar, the higher the risk for heart disease," said Dr. Hu.
The exact mechanism by which sugar impacts heart health is unknown, but it appears to have multiple indirect links. For example, excessive sugar overloads the liver. Your liver metabolizes sugar the same way as alcohol, and converts dietary carbohydrates to fat. This can lead to an increase in fat storage over time, which can lead to fatty liver disease, a contributor to diabetes and an increased risk of heart disease.
Excessive added sugar consumption can elevate blood pressure and chronic inflammation, both of which are pathological routes to heart disease. Excess sugar consumption, particularly in sugary beverages, promotes to weight gain by deceiving your body into turning off its appetite-control system since liquid calories are less fulfilling than calories from solid foods. This is why eating sugary beverages makes it easier for people to add extra calories to their usual diet. Thus the effects of added sugar intake — higher blood pressure, inflammation, weight gain, diabetes, and fatty liver disease — are all linked to an increased risk for heart attack and stroke.
How much is acceptable?
What is the appropriate amount of added sugar if 24 teaspoons per day is too much? It's difficult to say because sugar is not an essential nutrient in your diet. The Institute of Medicine, which establishes Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs), has not released a specific sugar RDA.
However, the American Heart Association recommends that women take no more than 100 calories (about 6 teaspoons or 24 grams) of added sugar per day and men consume no more than 150 calories (about 9 teaspoons or 36 grams). That's about the same as a 12-ounce can of Coke.
Removing additional sugar
Reading food labels is one of the most effective ways to keep track of your sugar intake. Look for the following names for added sugar and attempt to avoid or reduce the amount or frequency with which they are found:
brown sugar
corn sweetener
corn syrup
fruit juice concentrates
high-fructose corn syrup
honey
invert sugar
malt sugar
molasses
syrup sugar molecules ending in "ose" (dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, sucrose).
Total sugar, including added sugar, is frequently stated in grams. Take note of the sugar grams per serving as well as the overall number of servings. "It might only say 5 grams of sugar per serving, but if the normal amount is three or four servings, you can easily consume 20 grams of sugar and thus a lot of added sugar," Dr. Hu said.
Also, keep track of how much sugar you put in your food or beverages. Coffee and tea account for over half of all added sugar. According to a research published in the May 2017 issue of Public Health, almost two-thirds of coffee drinkers and one-third of tea drinkers use sugar or sweet flavorings in their beverages. The researchers also discovered that added sugar accounted for more than 60% of the calories in their beverages.
However, you should be cautious against being overzealous in your efforts to reduce added sugar, since this can backfire. You may find yourself reaching for other foods to satisfy your sweet cravings, like refined starches, such as white bread and white rice, which can increase glucose levels, and comfort foods high in saturated fat and sodium, which also cause problems with heart health.
Sources
* Ma X, Nan F, Liang H, Shu P, Fan X, Song X, Hou Y, Zhang D. Excessive intake of sugar: An accomplice of inflammation. Front Immunol. 2022 Aug 31;13:988481. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.988481. PMID: 36119103; PMCID: PMC9471313.
Assessed and Endorsed by the MedReport Medical Review Board