By Uwa Ede-Osifo; Edited by News Gate Team
A study released Monday offers even more evidence of the harmful health effects of sugar.
The study, which was written up in the journal BMC Medicine, discovered that diets high in free sugars, which includes sugar added to processed foods and drinks as well as sugar contained in fruit juice and syrups, increase a person’s risk of heart disease and stroke.
Related Posts:
The study used information on the eating habits of more than 110,000 British citizens aged 37 to 73, whose health results were then monitored over a period of around nine years.
According to the findings, there is a 6% rise in the risk of heart disease and a 10% increase in the risk of stroke for every 5% increase in the percentage of a person’s total energy intake that comes from free sugars.
The majority of the sugar consumed by study participants, according to Cody Watling, a doctorate student at the University of Oxford, was found in “preserves and confectionery,” which includes cookies, sweet pastries, and scones. Desserts, fruit juice, and beverages with added sugar were also typical, he continued.
Whole fruits and vegetables and other naturally occurring sugars were not included in the analysis since they are not regarded as “free sugars.”
Watling and his team used information from the UK Biobank, a sizable database of medical records that included numerous assessments of the diets of individuals. The assessments were evaluated to determine the participants’ estimated carbohydrate intakes, which were then further broken down by carbohydrate type to concentrate on free sugars.
The incidence of cardiovascular disease among the individuals was then compared by the authors to that.
According to Watling, the individuals with the highest risk of heart disease or stroke consumed roughly 95 grams of free sugar daily, or 18% of their total daily caloric consumption.
In contrast, U.S. recommendations state that added sugars shouldn’t account for more than 10% of a person’s daily caloric intake.
The single most crucial action we can take, according to Walter Willett, a Harvard University professor of epidemiology and nutrition who was not involved in the study, is to refrain from drinking sugar-sweetened beverages.
Willett continued, “A glass of fruit juice is the same as Coke,” despite the fact that occasionally consuming a small glass of orange juice has some health benefits.
Watling claimed that recommendations for sugar consumption are based on percentages of total energy because a restriction in grams does not take into account the differences in dietary requirements among individuals.
“Someone who is short and who identifies as female, for instance, would require much less energy for their body than a man who is 6 [foot] 7 in height, who is a very tall man. More food must be consumed by them “said Watling.
Contrary to sugar intake, the Oxford researchers discovered a positive relationship with fiber: Consuming 5 grams of fiber per day was linked to a 4% lower risk of heart disease, although this relationship was not maintained when researchers took into account the body mass indices of the participants.
A substantial body of prior research has also discovered hazards connected to diets heavy in sugar and benefits linked to consumption of fiber. By include sugars found in honey, syrups, and fruit juice in the analysis rather than focusing simply on added sugars, the authors of the current study claim that their work advances the body of prior studies.
However, they pointed out that more study is needed to fully understand the link between free sugars and the risk of stroke.
Still, Watling said, the study demonstrates that the types of carbs people choose to eat may matter more than the total amount.
“What’s really important for overall general health and well-being is that we’re consuming carbohydrates that are rich in whole grains,” he said, while “minimizing the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, as well any kind of confectionary products that have added sugars.”
By Uwa Ede-Osifo; Edited by News Gate Team
