Added Sugar Raises Risk of Heart Disease

Too much sugar can be bad for you. That's something we've all been hearing from a long time, and there is little denying it. But likewise, it is difficult to determine just what is too much.

A new study lead by Quanhe Yang of the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta says that if you even drink one sugary drink a day, you've likely already passed your limit.

The study, published in this week's issue of the journal JAMA Internal Medicine says that 15 percent of the average adult's daily caloric intake comes from added sugars alone, with 37 percent of that sugar coming from soft drinks.

What's worse, the same study concluded that the increased added-sugar intake among the average adult over the past few years is directly correlated with a marked increase in cases of cardiovascular disease. It was noted that individuals who consume more added-sugar than recommended daily have a 30 percent increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

The study analyzed national diet surveys  between 1988 and 2010, collecting data on more than 30,000 Americans around the age of 44. They found that once added sugar consisted of more than 15 percent of an individual's daily caloric intake, that person's risk of cardiovascular disease began to spike rapidly.

Still, even with this grave news, little can be done state-side. Lobbies have been growing to push taxes on added-sugar, but as long as they have been around, they have met serious opposition and barriers protecting an industry that provides the U.S. with the 10000000+ metric tons of sugar it consumes annually, according to the Center for Agricultural Policy and Trade Studies.

New York state also once tried to limit the size of soft drinks thank could be provided in public restaurants, but that too met hard opposition when the law was invalidated by New York Supreme Court Judge Milton Tingling.

For now, the fate of sugar intake remains in the hands of the average American -- as does a likely massively sized soft drink.

The study was published by JAMA Internal Medicine on February 3.