Worried about your cholesterol? You may need to cut back on your sugar intake, a new study suggests.
For years, medical experts have said that to reduce your cardiovascular disease risk, you need to watch your consumption of saturated (animal) fat and cholesterol. They also have known that high intake of added sugars is linked to many poor health conditions, including obesity, high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease and stroke.
But this is one of the first studies to take a close look at the association between added sugars and cholesterol in adults.
Researchers at Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta examined the added sugar intake and blood fat levels in more than 6,100 adults.
Added sugars included table sugar, brown sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, molasses, brown rice syrup, agave syrup and other caloric sweeteners in prepared and processed foods — for instance, in soft drinks, iced tea, candy, pastries, cookies and canned fruits. Not included: the sugars in fruit, 100% juice and other whole foods.
Findings in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association:
•Participants consumed an average of 21.4 teaspoons of added sugars a day, or more than 320 calories a day from these sources.
• About 16% of participants' total daily caloric intake was from added sugars. That compares with 11% in 1977-78.
•People with the higher intakes of added sugars were more likely to have lower levels of HDL (good) cholesterol and higher levels of triglycerides (blood fats).
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-04-21-sugar21_ST_N.htmand this on salt..
Too much salt: Report urges FDA to force rollback
By LAURAN NEERGAARD (AP) – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — Too much salt is hidden in Americans' food, and federal regulators plan to work with manufacturers to cut back — but they're not ready to go along with a major new recommendation that they order a decrease.
"We believe we can achieve some substantial voluntary reductions," FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "We are shaping a strategy and that strategy involves working in partnership."
Don't expect soups, pizzas and breakfast cereals — yes, they contain added sodium, too — to taste different any time soon. The Food and Drug Administration's plans are still being formulated, but the idea is for gradual change so consumer taste buds can adjust, as well as industry recipes and production methods.
Americans eat about 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt daily, more than double what they need for good health and enough to increase the risk of high blood pressure, strokes and other problems. Most of that sodium doesn't come from the table salt-shaker; it's hidden inside common processed foods and restaurant meals.
On Tuesday, the prestigious Institute of Medicine said the food industry has made little progress in voluntarily reducing sodium. The advisers urged the FDA to set maximum sodium levels for different foods in a stepwise rollback, so that eventually average consumption would drop by about half a teaspoon.
"This needs to be a mandatory standard," said Dr. Jane E. Henney of the University of Cincinnati, a former FDA commissioner who headed the IOM's study. Because salt is so "ubiquitous, having one or two in the industry make strong attempts at this doesn't give us that even playing field over time. It's not sustainable."
One in three U.S. adults has high blood pressure, which in turn is a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. And while being overweight and inactive raises blood pressure, too much salt is a big culprit as well. The American Medical Association has said 150,000 lives a year could be saved by cutting in half sodium levels in processed and restaurant food.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jWPzur4NCKW0O98FXg8DtBEyag8QD9F70R300
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