Is added sugar worse than salt for heart health?

By Caroline SCOTT-THOMAS

- Last updated on GMT

 "Reducing processed-food consumption would be consistent with existing guidelines already in place that misguidedly focus more on the less-consequential white crystals (salt)," the paper's authors wrote
"Reducing processed-food consumption would be consistent with existing guidelines already in place that misguidedly focus more on the less-consequential white crystals (salt)," the paper's authors wrote

Related tags Nutrition

Sugar in processed foods may have a larger impact on heart health than salt, argues a paper published in the journal Open Heart.

Emphasising sugar reduction, and fructose reduction in particular, would have greater benefits for heart health than salt reduction strategies, claim the paper’s authors, James DiNicolantonio from Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute and Sean Lucan from Montefiore Medical Center in the United States.

They also suggest that salt reduction policies are misguided, and that people may even eat more processed foods when salt levels are reduced.

However, other researchers have called the paper’s premise ‘disingenuous’ and ‘exaggerated’, saying that both sugar and salt should be reduced.

Professor Francesco Cappuccio at the University of Warwick said: “I would agree with the authors on some important points: that high-sugar diets may contribute substantially to cardiovascular disease, and that added sugars are the problem.

“However the emphasis on reducing sugar, and not salt, is disingenuous. Both should be targeted at population level for an effective approach to cardiovascular prevention.”

The US researchers, who reviewed a selection of evidence to come to their conclusions, said that reducing consumption of added sugars would help cut high blood pressure rates, and could also help address broader problems related to cardiometabolic disease”.

Professor Tom Sanders at King’s College London said: “In my opinion the effects of added sugars are exaggerated in this article. Cutting salt intake and losing weight will lower blood pressure, but the evidence for a direct effect of added sugar is tenuous.”

The paper’s authors argue that added sugars should be addressed more directly in dietary guidelines.

“High-sugar diets may contribute substantially to cardiometabolic disease. While naturally occurring sugars in the form of whole foods like fruit are of no concern, epidemiological and experimental evidence suggest that added sugars (particularly those engineered to be high in fructose) are a problem and should be targeted more explicitly in dietary guidelines to support cardiometabolic and general health,”​ they wrote.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that no more than 10% of a person’s total calories should come from added sugars, but earlier this year it said​ that halving that recommendation, to 5% of calories, “would have additional benefits”.

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2 comments

Only one magic bullet

Posted by Practical RD,

All the research continues to point toward one conclusion about our health: a whole foods plant-based diet is the best protection against most chronic illness. Every time the scientists try to extract a healthy (or unhealthy) component out of any whole, natural food, things go awry. Trust Mother Nature!

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Americans are 'sugarcoated'

Posted by Angela Chui,

Americans have too much sugar in all sweet treats and drinks to a point that every dessert tastes the same because sugar covers multitudes of flavors! For this reason, I always make my desserts from scratch and cut the sugar level by 1/3 to 1/2 from most recipes. My kids finally get to taste real lemonade in Europe because it doesn't taste like 'sugary water'.

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