Alarming! Heart attacks caused by sugar and not high cholesterol?

Although eating a lot of sugar and cholesterol can both lead to heart disease, evidence indicates that eating too much sugar—especially added sugars—may be a bigger risk factor than just having high cholesterol. Even in people with normal cholesterol, studies have demonstrated a substantial correlation between consuming large amounts of sugar and an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.

Here’s what the study says

A new study published in BMC Medicine reveals that diets high in free sugars, including those added to processed foods, sodas, fruit juices, and syrups, increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. The research, analyzing data from over 110,000 UK residents aged 37 to 73 over nine years, found that each 5% increase in free sugar intake was linked to a 6% higher risk of heart disease and a 10% higher risk of stroke.

The study excluded naturally occurring sugars found in whole fruits and vegetables from their analysis of free sugars.The research utilized data from the UK Biobank, examining multiple dietary assessments to estimate participants' carbohydrate intakes, particularly focusing on free sugars, and compared them to cardiovascular disease occurrences.

"The most common forms of sugar the study participants ate were preserves and confectionary," said study author Cody Watling, a doctoral student at the University of Oxford. Fruit juice, sugar-sweetened beverages and desserts were also commonly consumed sources.

The highest risk group consumed approximately 95 grams of free sugar daily, representing 18% of their daily energy intake, according to Watling.

How sugar increases the risk of heart attacks

Excessive sugar overloads the liver. Your liver turns dietary carbs into fat and metabolizes sugar similarly to how it does alcohol. This can eventually result in increased fat storage, which can cause fatty liver disease, which can contribute to diabetes and increase your risk of heart disease.



Excessive consumption of added sugar can cause chronic inflammation and elevated blood pressure, two pathological pathways leading to heart disease. Increased blood pressure, inflammation, weight gain, diabetes, and fatty liver disease are all consequences of consuming additional sugar, and they are all associated with a higher risk of heart attack and stroke.

"Avoiding sugar-sweetened beverages is probably the single most important thing we can be doing," said Walter Willett, a Harvard University professor of epidemiology and nutrition not involved in the study. He added that "a glass of fruit juice is the same thing as Coke," despite some health benefits from occasional small servings of orange juice.

"Say, for example, you take someone who identifies as female and they're small — their energy requirements for their body are a lot less than someone that's 6 [foot] 7, a man that's very tall. They're going to have to consume more food," Watling explained regarding why guidelines use percentages rather than gram measurements.

The study found positive associations with fiber consumption, showing that consuming 5 grams of fiber daily corresponded to a 4% lower risk of heart disease, though this correlation disappeared when accounting for body-mass indexes.

A relationship between a high-sugar diet and an increased risk of dying from heart disease was also published in a 2014 study in JAMA Internal Medicine. During the 15-year trial, the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease was 38% higher for individuals who received 17% to 21% of their calories from added sugar than for those who consumed 8% of their calories from this source.

How to avoid heart attack risk?
The research builds upon previous studies by including sugars from honey, syrups, and fruit juice in their analysis, rather than focusing solely on added sugars. The authors noted that the connection between free sugars and stroke risk requires additional research.

“What's really important for overall general health and well-being is that we're consuming carbohydrates that are rich in whole grains," Watling concluded, while "minimizing the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, as well as any kind of confectionary products that have added sugars."

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