Sugar, except from fruits and veggies, ups risk of CHD

Consumption of total sugar, total glucose equivalents (TGE), added sugar, and fructose from added sugar and juice appears to increase the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), reveals a study. However, intake of total fructose equivalents (TFE) and fructose from fruits and vegetables does not.

A total of 76,815 women from the Nurses’ Health Study (1980‒2020) and 38,878 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986‒2016) were included in this analysis.

Using semiquantitative food frequency questionnaires, the authors measured sugar and carbohydrate intake, including TFE (from monosaccharides and sucrose), TGE (from glucose monosaccharides, disaccharides, and starch), and other sugar types, every 2 to 4 years.

Overall, 9,723 cases of incident CHD were recorded over 40 years. Isocaloric substitution models with total fat as a comparison nutrient showed hazard ratios (HRs) for CHD of 1.31 (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.20‒1.42; p_trend<0.001) for TGE and 1.03 (95 percent CI, 0.94‒1.11; p_trend=0.25) for TFE when comparing extreme quintiles of intake.

Notably, TFE from fruits and vegetables showed no impact on CHD risk (p_trend=0.70), but TFE from added sugar and juice did (HR, 1.12, 95 percent CI, 1.04‒1.20; p_trend<0.01). Additionally, intakes of total sugars (HR, 1.16, 95 percent CI, 1.07‒1.26; p_trend<0.001) and added sugar (HR, 1.08, 95 percent CI, 0.99‒1.16; p_trend=0.04) positively correlated with CHD risks.