Soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages can seriously damage heart health, a new review showed.
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The added sugar in sodas, fruit drinks, sweet teas and energy drinks affects the body in ways that increase risk of heart attack, heart disease and stroke, said review author Vasanti Malik, a nutrition research scientist at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
Consuming one or two servings a day of sugar-sweetened beverages has been linked to a 35 percent greater risk of heart attack or fatal heart disease, a 16 percent increased risk of stroke and as much as a 26 percent increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, the report concluded.
The report is part of a new focus on excess sugar as a risk for heart disease, said Marina Chaparro, a clinical dietitian at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood, Florida.
Sugar-sweetened beverages account for about one-half of added sugars in the U.S. diet, Malik said. One can of regular soda contains about 35 grams of sugar, which is equal to nearly nine teaspoons.
Manufacturers most often use either table sugar or high-fructose corn syrup to sweeten beverages, researchers said. Both sugar sources contain roughly equal parts of two simple sugars, fructose and glucose.
Researchers believe both fructose and glucose damage the heart. Glucose spikes blood glucose and causes insulin levels to rise, which can lead to the development of type 2 diabetes, Malik said. Diabetes is a risk factor for heart disease.
Fructose also causes heart health issues, but in more insidious ways. Its presence can prompt the liver to release triglycerides and "bad" LDL cholesterol into the bloodstream, Malik said. Too much fructose can lead to fatty liver disease.
Overconsumption of fructose can also lead to too much uric acid in the blood, which is associated with a greater risk of gout, a painful inflammatory arthritis. Inflammation also has been linked to heart disease. ■
Modified arctic air combined with a moisture-laden area of low pressure along the Gulf Coast will continue to allow for a broad area of winter weather impacts from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Southeast today into early Saturday morning.