It can actually help promote cardiovascular health!
Sugar: The Real Cause of Heart Disease
Sugar: It’s delicious, addictive, and deadly.
And while we have lived through a multi-decade era where sugar was positioned as little more than “empty calories”... an era when high-sugar foods like breakfast cereal got the Heart Association Seal of Approval... while farm-fresh eggs, butter, cheese and beef were demonized.
The truth is that sugar – NOT saturated fat – is a primary cause of heart disease.
Let’s take a look at the research…
Sugar Boost Triglycerides
Triglycerides are a form of fat found in your blood. They’re also a critical measure of cardiovascular health. A study published in Circulation shows high triglycerides can increase heart disease risk by 61%.
And nothing raises triglycerides more than fructose…
When fructose is metabolized in the liver, triglycerides are one of the main byproducts. This is why triglycerides soar on fructose… and it can happen FAST!
A study of healthy medical students showed a high-fructose diet caused triglycerides to double in just six days!
And fructose not only increases your production of triglycerides… it also impairs your ability to remove them from your system. This was evidenced in a study published in the American Journal of Physiology. It showed that when rats were fed a fructose-rich diet, their triglyceride production increased 20%.
But due to impaired clearance, this relatively modest increase in production resulted in blood levels SIX TIMES higher than baseline!
And there’s another way eating sugar harms your heart…
Sugar Creates Massive Free Radical Damage
Researchers at Kobe University examined the roles of fructose and glucose in the production of free radicals. When the scientists introduced glucose, free radicals increased 568%. That is bad enough… and a very good reason to consume less sugar!
But it’s not nearly as bad as the results they recorded on fructose. In fact, when the researchers introduced fructose, the same free radicals increased 4,704%!
Given these results, it should be no surprise that the Journal of Clinical Investigation showed 17-times higher oxidized cholesterol levels from fructose, compared to glucose!
And speaking of cholesterol…
Sugar Elevates “Heart Attack Particles”
Despite propaganda otherwise, cholesterol is necessary and mostly beneficial.
But there is a particularly dangerous kind, called very low density lipoprotein (VLDL). These compounds are so tiny, they can lodge under the cell walls of your arteries, causing inflammation, plaque… and heart disease.
And fructose provides the building blocks for these deadly particles.
A study published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examined the effects of a high-fructose diet on healthy males. The researchers recorded an average 72% VLDL increase in one month!
Sugar Consumption Elevates Blood Pressure to “Extreme” Levels
Nearly one-third of adults suffer high blood pressure. And while most doctors urge you to cut salt, they should say… “Watch the sugar!”
A review of studies in Open Heart shows that dietary sugar is more strongly associated with high blood pressure than sodium. And fructose deserves much of the blame.
A study published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology showed that subjects who consumed 74 grams of fructose (the average daily consumption for an adolescent) had 77% greater risk for “extreme” high blood pressure!
So, don’t believe the decades of lies about saturated fat and dietary cholesterol. These essential compounds do not cause heart disease. The primary risk factor is sugar.
And with that, let’s discuss a healthy sweetener that actually supports good cardiovascular health.
Erythritol: The “Almost Sugar” that Acts as a Heart-Protecting Antioxidant!
Does being healthy mean you have to forego the cookies, cakes and desserts you love to bake, savor, and celebrate with?
And while the name might sound a bit “scientific” erythritol is a natural and healthy sweetener.
Not only does it occur naturally in fruits such as grapes, melons and peaches. It’s also found in fermented products like wine, beer and soy sauce.
It is even found – and PRODUCED – in human tissues.
That means your body already “recognizes” erythritol
Commercially available erythritol comes as a white, granular powder that can be used as a cup-for-cup replacement for sugar in all of your favorite recipes. It tastes very similar to sugar, yet has a glycemic index of zero and no calories.
Better yet, research shows that erythritol has “strong antioxidant activity.” A recent study published in the journal Nutrition found that erythritol guarded against free radical damage in cells. It also helped protect against the vascular damage that occurs in diabetes.
The researchers state that:
“The protective effects of erythritol need not be restricted to diabetes. Its unique free radical scavenging properties could be beneficial in other chronic disorders in which oxygen radicals are responsible for tissue damage.”
So, unlike sugar, which sends free radicals soaring thousands of percent and causes extreme oxidative damage, erythritol is a sweetener that can actually protect cells from the ravages of free radicals!
Here are a few more quotes from several studies, published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. These scientists say that erythritol:
“…demonstrates a protective effect on the lining of blood vessels.”
“…may help protect against vascular damage.”
“…may be clinically useful, especially to those with diabetes.”
“…can help diabetic patients and benefit them considerably.”
Another study showed that this natural sweetener reduced the production of “adhesion molecules” in the lining of arteries. In other words, it helps to keep plaque from forming!
You don’t have to take my word for it. Just consider what Nora Simmons, Managing Editor of the Nutrition Business Journal, says about the first time she tried this natural sugar alternative:
“It bakes, dissolves, browns, even candies just like sugar. I had pecan pralines made with this stuff and they were just as crunchy, candied and decadent as any my friends from Louisiana have ever made for me. But these won’t spike my blood sugar or give me cavities! And there’s no bitter aftertaste. You can’t even tell this isn’t sugar.”
