Getting calories from sugar is bad for your health
Sugar-laden foods and drinks could triple your chances of dying from heart disease, according to a new study.
Scientists in the US found that consuming the equivalent of a can a day of sugar-sweetened fizzy drinks could increase your risk of having a heart attack.
For people obtaining a quarter of their calories from added sugar, the risk tripled compared with those whose sugar contribution was less than 10%.
Sugar consumption in the top fifth of the range studied doubled the likelihood of death from heart disease.
In the study, which looked at data on sugar consumption among tens of thousands of people in the US as well as death rates from heart-related problems, there was a significant link between the amount of sugar consumed and heart risk.
People who got a quarter of their daily calories from added sugar had more than three times the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than people who consumed far less sugar, found Dr Quanhe Yang and colleagues at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Dietary guidelines from the World Health Organisation recommend that added sugar should make up less than 10% of total calorie intake. Many processed foods and beverages are packed with sugar. A single can of fizzy drink, for instance, may contain 35 grammes of sugar providing 140 calories.
Writing in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, the authors concluded: "Our findings indicate that most US adults consume more added sugar than is recommended for a healthy diet.
"A higher percentage of calories from added sugar is associated with significantly increased risk of CVD mortality."
Prof Naveed Sattar from the British Heart Foundation told BBC News there could be many reasons why people who eat lots of sugar became unhealthy.
"Of course, sugar per se is not harmful - we need it for the body's energy needs - but when consumed in excess, it will contribute to weight gain and, in turn, may accelerate heart disease."
He said: "We have known for years about the dangers of excess saturated fat intake, an observation which led the food industry to replace unhealthy fats with presumed 'healthier' sugars in many food products.
"Helping individuals cut not only their excessive fat intake, but also refined sugar intake, could have major health benefits including lessening obesity and heart attacks.
"Ultimately, there needs to be a refocus to develop foods which not only limit saturated fat intake but simultaneously limit refined sugar content."
Tagged in Sugar Nutrition Heart Health