Last week in JAMA Internal Medicine, a study (summarized here by the Globe and Mail) came out linking a high intake of “added” sugar (over 25% of total daily calories) to a *tripled* risk of heart disease in Americans. This is huge!
Added sugar is defined as all sugar, corn syrup, honey and maple syrup added to foods. It does not included naturally occurring sugar.
For the most part, we health care professionals hold to the idea that moderation is key. But maybe we need to rethink this with sugar. It is thought that up to 72% of adults eat enough sugar (between 10-25% of their calories) to increase their cardiovascular risk by 30%.
If you add that to the 10% of adults eating over that 25% line, a whopping 82% of American adults are significantly increasing their risk of dying from heart disease just by eating too much sugar. And I don’t think Canadians are that different.
Curbing a sweet tooth can be an incredible challenge for many. But here is yet another reason (maybe the best one yet) to work on it.
Alex Verge, ND
p.s. I apologize for posting this close to Valentine’s Day!!
