Health These are the most harmful sugars for the heart: they increase the...

These are the most harmful sugars for the heart: they increase the risk of stroke and heart attack

You know what abusing sugar is not good. Too much is directly related to weight gain, obesity, and the risk of a number of serious diseases, including cancer.

Now a macro-study provides new evidence in this regard. After following more than 110,000 people in the UK for nearly 10 years, he found that a Higher intake of free sugars in the diet increases the risk of stroke and heart attack.

The effect was not detected with sugars found naturally in foods. This indicates that the relationship between carbohydrates and cardiovascular diseases may depend on their quality, rather than their quantity.

In other words, as happens with calories, in relation to sugars It is not the same to spend the day eating pears than drinking cans of Coca Cola.

Although the team of researchers from the University of Oxford advises at work to consume less than 5% of energy intake from free sugars. From the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) they emphasize that there is no tolerable intake level for these, so it should be as low as possible.

What are free sugars?

Free sugars refer to “any sugar added to a food or drink”, remember from the British Heart Foundation (BHF). Also the one that is already in honey, syrup and fruit juice. They are said to be free because they are not inside the cells of the food.

It’s about that about what you put in your coffee every day, what you add to pastries, and also what goes in the juice that you take even if it is from pieces squeezed at home. Well, when the fruit becomes juice, that is, liquid, the sugars it contains leave its cells and become free sugars.

It is precisely these, which the World Health Organization (WHO) advises to cut in the diet and which until now have been most linked to harmful effects on health.

Industrial fructose consumption has been associated with a decrease in liver function, hypertensionand an increased risk of metabolic syndrome. Adverse effects have not been detected in the consumption of fructose naturally present in fruits.

Added sugars also come with extra calories, and eating too many calories could lead to obesity, which increases the risk of heart disease and other conditionsexplains the BHF.

6% higher risk of heart attack and 10% higher risk of stroke

According to the results of the current study, published in BMC Medicineeach 5% increase in the proportion of a person’s total calories from free sugars was associated with a 6% increased risk of heart attack and a 10% increased risk of stroke in the following decade.

The analysis was based on data on the dietary habits of 110,497 people aged 37 to 73, obtained from the UK Biobank.

According to Cody Watling, a PhD student at Oxford University and co-author of the paper, the most common forms of sugar consumed by study participants were “canned and sweet,” including products such as biscuits, buns and industrial pastries. Fruit juices, sugary drinks and desserts were also common.

The types of carbohydrates calculated included total sugars, which were separated into free and non-free sugars, and fiber. The sources of carbohydrates were divided into refined grain starch (starch content of white bread, white pasta and rice, other cereals, pizza or buns, among others) and whole starch (starch content of whole wheat and seeded bread, whole wheat pasta and brown rice, bran cereal, biscuit cereal, oat cereal and muesli).

As Watling explains in nbcnewsthe people at increased risk of heart disease or stroke consumed about 95 grams of free sugars per day, that is, 18% of your daily energy intake. This contrasts with the 5% of the total calories consumed, which is recommended by the WHO.

The study also detected a protective relationship with respect to fiber content. A consumption of 5 grams daily was associated with a 4% lower risk of heart disease. Other investigations have shown that this component of cereals, fruits, vegetables or legumes also helps to improve intestinal transit, control your blood sugar levels and even maintain weight.

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