Sugar linked to increased heart risks

Eating sugar and other sweeteners added to packaged foods may add to heart-disease risk by changing cholesterol levels and increasing blood fats, an Emory University study said.

Those who consumed food with higher levels of sugar showed a risk ranging from 50 percent to 300 percent higher of reduced levels of the good cholesterol that protects against heart disease, according to the research.

Higher sugar intake also increased triglycerides, the blood fats that raise heart disease risk, said Jean Welsh, lead author of the research released Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The research is one of the first large studies to show added sugar changes cholesterol levels, which are risk factors for heart disease, Welsh said. U.S. consumption of sugar averages about 16 percent of daily calories from food, equivalent to about 21 teaspoons of sugar and more than double the amount recommended by the American Heart Association.

"People need to be aware of how much sugar they're consuming. It does make our food taste better, but it is a source of calories that doesn't provide any nutrition," Welsh, a registered nurse and doctorate candidate in nutritional epidemiology at Emory University in Atlanta, said. "We need to understand what compromises we make to our health based on the diet we consume."

The No. 1 source of sugar for most Americans is from drinks such as soda, sweetened teas and sports drinks, Rachel Johnson, a Heart Association spokeswoman and a professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont in Burlington, said Tuesday.

Other major sources of sugar include candy, cakes, cookies, sweetened cereals and sweetened dairy products like flavored yogurt.

Previous research has shown that one kind of cholesterol, called high-density lipoprotein or HDL, protects against heart attack, according to the American Heart Association. A second kind of cholesterol, called LDL for low-density lipoprotein, increases the risk, as does high levels of triglycerides. Heart disease is the top killer of both women and men in the U.S., according to the National Institutes of Health.

Researchers in the study included 6,113 adults who were part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2006. Participants were divided into five groups based on their intake of sugar, whether table sugar or sweeteners added to products bought at the store. Those in the lowest group consumed an average equivalent of three teaspoons a day, while those in the highest averaged 46 teaspoons a day.