Added sugar can increase heart attack risk

ATLANTA, April 21 (UPI) -- Added sugars -- especially in processed foods and beverages -- may increase heart disease risk factors, U.S. researchers said.

Study co-author Dr. Miriam Vos, assistant professor of pediatrics at Emory School of Medicine, and colleagues analyzed nutritional data and blood lipid (fat) levels in more than 6,000 adult men and women from 1999 to 2006.

The highest-consuming study subjects ate an average of 46 teaspoons of added sugars per day, while the lowest-consuming study subjects are an average of just 3 teaspoons daily.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found those who ate more added sugar were more likely to have higher cardiovascular disease risk factors -- including higher triglyceride levels and higher ratios of triglycerides to high-density lipoprotein, the "good" cholesterol.

"Just like eating a high-fat diet can increase your levels of triglycerides and high cholesterol, eating sugar can also affect those same lipids," Vos said in a statement. "It would be important for long-term health for people to start looking at how much added sugar they're getting and finding ways to reduce that."