Too Many Sugary Drinks for Just Two Weeks May Raise Risk of Heart Disease
ColaWe all know that sugary drinks are unhealthy and can have a negative impact on our bodies and, for this reason, many avoid making a habit of drinking them in the long-term. However, a new study suggests that even just a couple of weeks of drinking too many sugary drinks can increase your risk of heart disease.
Researchers at the University of California split 85 participants, between the ages of 18 and 40, into four different groups. Over 15 days the different groups consumed sweet drinks with high-fructose corn syrup equivalent to 0%, 10%, 17.5% or 25% of their total daily calorie intake. The 0% group were given sugar-free beverages which contained aspartame, an artificial sweetener. At the beginning and end of the study, hourly blood checks were used to monitor changes in the levels of lipoproteins, triglycerides and uric acids – all of which are indicators of cardiovascular disease risk.
The results showed that sugary fizzy drinks increased circulating concentrations of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride, even in the group who were consuming the 10% dose, reinforcing the results of previous experiments which have shown that higher sugar intake increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Interestingly, the researchers also found that most of the increases in risk factors for the disease were larger in men than in women, regardless of body weight gain.
“These findings clearly indicate humans are acutely sensitive to the harmful effects of excess dietary sugar over a broad range of consumption levels,” says obesity specialist Dr Kimber Stanhope, of the University of California Davis.
“I am amazed we still refer to sugar as food because it contains absolutely no protein, essential fats, vitamins or minerals,” says British diet specialist Zoe Harcombe. “It has become a huge part of the human diet but is surplus to requirements. If you consume sugar instead of nutritious food you are losing nutrients, and if you consume it on top of nutritious food you are going to get fat – you just can’t win with sugar.”