The 'Not So Sweet' Side of Sugar

Last April, the Journal of the American Heart Association, Circulation, published an article raising concern over the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. Cardiovascular mortality and total death rate were higher  (31% and 28% respectively) for those who consumed two or more sugar-laden drinks a day compared to those who barely touched the stuff.

To make matters worse for sugar consumers, a 34-page review of research conducted by a nutritional biologist of the University of California at Davis, explains the link between added sugar and metabolic disease. Researcher Kimber L. Stanhope, mainly funded by the National Institutes of Health (not the sugar industry), confers the effects of a high-sugar diet to be the following: cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, high blood levels of uric acid, and risk factors for kidney stones and gout. 

Jane Brody of the New York Times writes in her article, "The Downside of Having a Sweet Tooth," how recent news reports have swayed the general public into believing that sugar isn't bad. She writes "Companies that produce sugar-laden foods and drinks would like you to believe that ailments linked to sugars result from excess calories, not sugars themselves. Don't believe them; most reports holding sugar blameless are from sources tied directly or indirectly to financial support from the industries that depend on caloric sweeteners."

Read more here.