HHS HealthBeat (June 17, 2010)

Sugar and the heart

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

A study indicates that added sugar, such as what you find in soft drinks and processed foods can add to the risk of heart disease. Researchers say the added sugar can raise levels of fats and cholesterol in the blood. 

Miriam Vos of Emory University and her colleagues saw that in national data on more than 6,000 U.S. adults. They looked at results of blood tests, and analyzed how much added sugar people got based on what the people said they ate.

Vos says:

"Just like eating a high-fat diet can increase your levels of triglycerides and cholesterol, eating sugar can also affect those same lipids." (9 seconds)

Vos’ work was supported by the National Institutes of Health. The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association included researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: November 21, 2011