Free sugars cause more inflammation at a cellular level, which promotes heart disease and stroke

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By and large, I stay within the World Health Organization sugar-consumption guidelines. WHO recommends no more than 25 grams of sugar per day. I’m keen not to produce more inflammation at the cellular level. I’m really pleased I came across this evidence-based research.

Click here for previous posts about the value of evidence >

To the extent that it is followed, evidence has currency in the marketplace of ideas.

A March 10, 2015 CBC article is entitled: “Avoiding sugar every day: 5 things you need to know: Calgary Eyeopener medical contributor on how to stay away from the sweet stuff.”

Excerpt from the above-noted article:

New guidelines on sugar consumption from the World Health Organization specifically target “free sugars” — those that are processed and added to foods, as well as those that are naturally occurring in honey, syrups, and fruit juices.

Free sugars increase the fluctuations of insulin levels and cause more inflammation at a cellular level, which promotes heart disease and stroke.

 [End of excerpt]

Updates

A Jan. 17, 2016 Guardian article is entitled: “Sweet nightmares: a guide to cutting down on sugar: Sugar is making us fatter and sicker. Yet we still don’t realise how much we’re eating. As the government considers imposing a tax, we look at how to cut down without missing out. Plus: alternative recipes.”

A March 5, 2016 CBC article is entitled; A Canada’s Food Guide should seek inspiration from Brazil: researcher: New Senate obesity report suggests introducing a sugar tax in Canada.”

A Sept. 13, 2016 CBC article is entitled: “Sugar industry paid scientists for favourable research, documents reveal: Harvard study in 1960s cast doubt on sugar’s role in heart disease, pointing finger at fat.”

A Sept. 16, 2016 CBC article is entitled: “It’s time to eliminate treats in schools: health experts: Downplay food, give children a chance to be more active with extra recess time, games.”

An Oct. 7, 2016 Guardian article is entitled: “Junk food shortening lives of children worldwide, data shows: Obesity, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure at unprecedented levels due to spread of fast food and sugary drinks.”

An Oct. 10, 2016 Toronto Star article is entitled: “Doctors’ Notes: Watch out for “free” sugar in foods; Knowing how much sugar you’re eating is complicated — more complicated than it should be.”

A Dec. 16, 2016 CBC article is entitled: “Sugar’s on the food label, but you’ll have to guess how much has been ‘added’: Lobbying by food industry means Canada food labels won’t list ‘added sugar'”.

A January/February 2017 Atlantic article is entitled: “The Sugar Wars: Science can’t prove it and the industry denies it, but Gary Taubes is convinced that the sweet stuff kills.”

A Jan. 16, 2017) CBC The Current podcast, entitled “Is sugar killing us? Author Gary Taubes makes his case,” provides a great overview of the distinction between evidence (that is, the facts of the matter, in this case related to the science related to nutrition) and the frame within which scientific facts are positioned.

An April 25, 2017 Science Daily article is entitled: “Parents’ use of emotional feeding increases emotional eating in school-age children.”

A summary of the research report from the Society for Research in Child Development, on which the article is based, reads:

“Emotional eating is not uncommon in children and adolescents, but why youth eat emotionally has been unclear. Now a new longitudinal study from Norway has found that school-age children whose parents fed them more to soothe their negative feelings were more likely to eat emotionally later on. The reverse was also found to be the case, with parents of children who were more easily soothed by food being more likely to feed them for emotional reasons.”

An April 25, 2017 Guardian article is entitled: “Backlash after report claims saturated fats do not increase heart risk: Relying on low fat foods to avoid heart disease is misguided, say cardiologists, but critics say comments ignore evidence.”

An April 26, 2017 CBC article is entitled: “Pass the butter: Cutting saturated fat does not reduce heart disease risk, cardiologists say: Focus should instead be on eating ‘real food,’ walking and reducing stress.”

A BBC article, accessed June 22, 2017, article is entitled: “How much sugar is in your snack?”

A Jan. 26, 2017 Atlantic article is entitled: “The Startling Link Between Sugar and Alzheimer’s: A high-carb diet, and the attendant high blood sugar, are associated with cognitive decline.