Reviewed Diettian Karen Ansel, Ms, Rdn
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The main points
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Sweet drinks are the most important source of added sugar in the American diet.
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Their sugar can increase triglycerides, which is blood fat that increases the risk of heart disease.
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They can also increase blood sugar and abdominal fat and solve more nutritious options.
When it comes to heart health, most people focus on cholesterol. However, triglycerides are just as important. Triglycerides are a type of fat in the blood that our bodies use for energy. High triglycerides can increase the risk of your heart disease, resulting in small cholesterol -containing particles in the walls of arteries. This can cause inflammation and contribute to the formation of arterial blocking plaque. Decrease on fat can look like an obvious first choice. However, one of the best -storey triglycerides co -authors is actually sugar sweet drinks such as baking soda, sweet tea, syrup -cut coffee and sports drinks. The connection is so strong that studies have found that people drinking just 12 ounces of sugar sweet drinks a day are 48% more prone to increased triglycerides.
That’s a lot! So, we talked to registered nutritionists to find out how to cut sugar sweet drinks can help reduce high triglycerides. Here’s what they told us, as well as a realistic strategy to improve your triglycerides for a healthier heart.
How sweet sugar drinks can increase the risk of high triglycerides
They increase blood sugar and insulin levels
Studies have shown that high consumption of sugar sweet drinks is strongly associated with insulin resistance. This may seem just in the blood sugar, but insulin resistance can also affect the amount of triglycerides. How is it? Although sweet drinks are overloaded with sugar, they rarely contain fat, protein or fibers to facilitate glucose digestion and absorption. As a result, glucose is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream, causing blood sugar and insulin rapidly fell. Over time, this can lead to resistance to insulin, which changes lipid metabolism, causing high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol and elevated small, dense LDL-Cholesterol particles. All of this can help heart disease.
They give more sugar than your body can arrange
Although triglycerides are a type of fat, they are mainly formed from eating carbohydrates and excess sugar. Consider what happens after drinking a 12 -ounce can of cola. Its 37 grams of pure sugar is far more than your body can handle one sitting, especially when combined with other carbohydrates and sugar from a meal or a snack. What does the body do with all that sugar? “Excess sugar in the body is considered as glycogen. When these stores are full, our liver converts excess sugar into fatty acids and combines with other molecules, forming triglycerides,” explains Melissa Jaeger, RD, LD.
They often contain high fructose corn syrup
Numerous sweetened drinks are made with a large fructose corn syrup, which can be further harmful to your blood fat and glucose than table sugar. In one study, adults who drank three drinks daily with three fructose were higher in their blood to triglyceride transfer particles, nor volunteers who used the same amount of glucose rich drinks.
What exactly makes fructose so problematic? When we consume too much fructose, for example, from HFCS ground drinks, the liver turns all that fructose into fat through a process called de novo lipogenesis. This happens when there is more sugar than the liver can be stored in carbohydrates, and they are faster with fructose rather than glucose.
They can increase abdominal fat
Deep abdominal fat, called visceral fat, can cause all kinds of concerns for your health. Visceral fats quickly release fat into the blood, while fat, stored under the skin (as in hips or thighs), is stored and released much slower. As a result, abdominal fat is particularly harmful, increasing the risk of a large health condition of the metabolic, including increased triglycerides.
Studies have found that higher added sugar consumption can be a powerful volume of visceral fat accumulation. For example, one study found that people who consumed a lot of added sugar from sugar sweet drinks, while other sources were 27% more prone to abdominal obesity, as well as 28% more prone to obesity.
They are easy to consume too much
Sugar Sweet drinks are the most important source of added sugar, which is about 21% of our total sugar intake. One important reason: “It’s easy to combine calories from sweet drinks,” says Mandy Tyler, M.ed., Rd, CSSD. “Although they can taste refreshing, they are not inclined to fill you.” Consider how you feel when you eat a piece of cake and drink a glass of sweet tea. It is much faster and easier to drink that sugar in liquid form.
They change the healthier options
“While our bodies can use some sugar drinks to allow direct energy source, these drinks also provide extra calories with low nutritional value or no diet,” says Jaeger. Sweet drinks such as baking soda, sweet tea, energy drinks, sweet lattes and even some fruit -flavored drinks often change healthier options such as water, milk or nutrient -rich cocktails.
Strategies for Improvement of Triglycerides
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Limit or Avoid Alcohol: “When you drink alcohol, your liver burns fat to first process alcohol,” explains Katie Schimmelpfenning, RD, LD. “As a result, slowing down your blood may contain more fat, especially triglycerides.”
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Get regular physical activity: Physical activity, especially aerobic exercise, helps reduce triglycerides by improving glucose and fat metabolism. Not sure where to start with? “Consider walking at lunch, stairs, standing at the grocery store or enjoying a family walk after dinner,” says Taylor McClelland Newman, MS, RD, LD.
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Eat more fiber -containing foods: “The fiber helps to reduce triglycerides by slowing digestion and reducing fat and sugar absorption,” says Schimmelpfenning. Eating high fiber food with each dish and snacks can help you achieve the recommended daily between 25 and 38 grams.
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Add fat fish: The American Heart Association recommends eating at least two 3 ounces of fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring, anchovies and sardines. Studies reveal their long chain omega-3 fat, EPA and DHA, can help reduce triglycerides.
The essence
Drinking sugar sweetened drinks regularly may be a major contribution to high triglycerides. Excessive sugar can increase triglycerides by increasing blood sugar, insulin and abdominal fat, and giving more sugar and fructose than your body can effectively metabolize one sitting. In addition, sweet drinks are easy to consume too much and usually change more nutritious alternatives. This does not mean that you can never enjoy a small cup of sweet tea or soda. However, when limited to sweet drinks, along with lifestyle changes such as alcohol restriction or avoidance, exercise and eating more fatty fish and foods rich in fiber can help maintain your triglycerides and protect your heart.
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