Excess sugar and refined carbohydrates found to significantly increase risk of heart failure

Friday, July 12, 2013 by: John Phillip
Tags: sugar consumption, heart disease, cardiovascular health

(NaturalNews) Common sense dictates that excess consumption of sugary drinks and foods, along with a regular diet of refined carbohydrates that convert to glucose when broken down by pre-digestive enzymes in the mouth is not only bad for the waistline, but also triggers the initial stages of many chronic diseases. Metabolic syndrome, diabetes and dementia have all been linked to too much dietary sugar intake, and now researchers have the first evidence that eating too much sugar over the course of many years dramatically increases the risk of developing and dying from heart failure.

A research team from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston has published the result of a study in the Journal of the American Heart Association that demonstrates how consuming too much sugar can lead people down a pathway to heart failure. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 550,000 new cases of heart failure will be diagnosed this year in the US, and five million will succumb to the disease. The one-year survival rate after diagnosis is less than fifty percent, making it a virtual death sentence that may be avoidable with appropriate dietary modifications during our early decades of life.

High blood glucose levels alter heart muscle protein structure to weaken pumping capacity

Scientists have found that a single, small glucose metabolite molecule known as glucose 6-phosphate (G6P), causes stress to the heart that changes the muscle proteins and causes poor pump function leading to heart failure. Further, the researchers determined that G6P accumulates in the circulating blood and tissue stores as a result of excess sugar and starch consumption over an extended period of time. As an aside, past studies have also clearly shown that high circulating levels of glucose dramatically increases the risk of cancer and metastatic growth as sugar is the primary and preferred fuel source for cancer cells.

Researchers from the American Heart Association state that the increase in sugar consumption has led to more diabetes and heart disease over the past decade. Ineffective treatments using deadly pharmaceuticals have no effect on the progress of the disease and often cause more serious medical problems. The study team examined heart tissue removed from patients undergoing ventricular implants and found that G6P can cause significant damage to the heart muscle. Damage to the heart is exacerbated by a preexisting diagnosis of diabetes or high blood pressure.

Heart disease and heart failure are not inevitable, even when there is a long family history of disease. Lifestyle and dietary modifications that include elimination of sugary drinks, sweet treats and processed carbohydrates that immediately overwhelm our metabolism with a surge of glucose are essential to prevent an untimely death from cardiovascular disorders and heart failure. Check your progress by monitoring post-meal blood glucose readings to avoid exceeding a reading above 100 mg/dl, two hours after eating.

Sources for this article include:

http://jaha.ahajournals.org/content/2/3/e004796

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/262014.php

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130614165135.htm

About the author:
John Phillip is a Certified Nutritional Consultant and Health Researcher and Author who writes regularly on the cutting edge use of diet, lifestyle modifications and targeted supplementation to enhance and improve the quality and length of life. John is the author of 'Your Healthy Weight Loss Plan', a comprehensive EBook explaining how to use Diet, Exercise, Mind and Targeted Supplementation to achieve your weight loss goal. Visit My Optimal Health Resource to continue reading the latest health news updates, and to download your copy of 'Your Healthy Weight Loss Plan'.