Too much sugar consumption can lead to high risk of heart disease
Highlights
- Your diet can affect your heart health
- Too much sugar can increase your body weight
- Eat a fruit to beat sugar cravings
Is dessert your favourite part of the meal? Sweet delicacies might be a tasty treat for your taste buds but can take a toll on your health. Consumption of too much sugar can majorly affect your body weight and trigger the risk of obesity. Most foods high in sugar are deprived of nutrients. Sugar consumption in large quantities can also contribute to acne, higher risk of type-2 diabetes and low energy levels. If you are one of those who enjoy a sweet treat too often then you must know it is harmful for your heart health too. Heart is one of the most important organs inside the human body that works all the time. To understand the ill-effects of sugar on heart health, we spoke to Dr.Bimal Chaajer who is a Cardiologist. Read on to understand the link.
Ill-effects of sugar on heart health
Too much sugar consumption contributes to a higher risk of several chronic health issues including diabetes, obesity, hypertension and unhealthy cholesterol levels. These are the major risk factors for heart disease.
1. Anything that you consume is converted into energy through the production of insulin. If the sugar is consumed in excess, the insulin will not consume it and the additional calories are stored as fat. The extra fat causes metabolic dysfunction in the body thereby making them insulin resistance. Extra weight puts you at a higher risk of heart disease.
Extra body weight can contribute to heart disease
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2. High abdominal fat leads to increased production of bad cholesterol, which saturates the blood vessels. This blood gets deposited on the inside of the blood vessels; thus leading to an increased risk of forming blood clots in the body. On the other hand, HDL (good) cholesterol works to remove deposits from your blood vessels. This restricts the free flow of blood making it hard for the heart to function properly. So, maintain good cholesterol is important to reduce your risk of a stroke and other heart related problems.
Also read: Know Why Your Cholesterol Is High: Best Foods, Lifestyle Tips For Cholesterol By Our Expert
3. Extra sugar in your diet may contribute to high blood pressure. Hypertension disturbs the normal functioning of the heart. It makes the heart work faster to pump more blood. This condition can, in turn, lead to straining of the heart, causing damage to the blood vessels, and increasing your risk of stroke.
A healthy diet can help control high blood pressure
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Follow a heart-friendly diet at home. Some simple at-home steps can help you achieve this goal. Make an attempt to control bad cholesterol with a high intake of fiber-rich foods. Oats, whole-grain bread, including your whole-grain flours and cereals, peas, fruits and vegetables will increase your routine dose of fiber. Take small steps to gradually increase the amount of fiber in your digestive system.
Also, don't binge on fast food as they are high in saturated and trans fats. Even, restrict your appetite on cookies, snack foods, fried food, baked goods, popcorns and fried foods.
It is advised to control your sugar cravings with fibre-rich foods or a fruit. It can help cut the risk of diseases linked with it.
Also read: Craving Sugar? Try These Simple Tricks To Say Goodbye To Sugar
(Dr. Bimal Chaajer is a Cardiologist and Director at SAAOL Science and Art of Living- Heart Centre)
Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.