People
whose sugar intake is about a quarter or more of their total daily calories had
twice the risk of dying from heart disease than those who whose intake was 7
percent, according to the research. For those whose intake of added sugar was
about 19 percent, their risk of dying from heart disease was about 38 percent
higher.
The study is the first to link on a national level the
amount of sugar American adults eat to their risk of dying from heart disease
after taking into account weight, age, health, exercise and diet, said lead
study author Quanhe Yang, an epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Research has already linked sugar consumption to
diabetes, weight gain and obesity.
“Too much sugar can make you fat; it can also make you
sick, sick from diseases like cardiovascular disease, which is the No. 1 killer
in America,” said Laura Schmidt,
a school of medicine professor at the University
of California at San Francisco, in a telephone
interview. “Small amounts of sugar are fine. It’s consuming massive amounts of
sugar that’s a growing problem in America.”
The study also found that regular consumption of
sugar-sweetened beverages, seven servings or more each week was linked to an
increased risk of dying from heart disease. Heart disease, which can cause
heart attack, chest pain and heart failure, is the leading cause of death
worldwide for both men and women and kills more than 600,000 Americans each
year, according to the Atlanta-based CDC.
For more information, contact Susan Motika at susan.motika@state.co.us .
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