December 2, 2015 – Sugar and Your Heart

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Anchor lead: Too much sugar is bad for your heart, Elizabeth Tracey reports

It’s no surprise that dietary sugar consumption is related to overweight and obesity, and the development of diabetes.  But Seth Martin, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, says evidence is emerging demonstrating just how deleterious sugar can be for your heart.

Martin: Sugar is not inherently bad but it’s the dose that makes the poison, so having too much sugar in short bouts, as may occur if someone has a big gulp soda or something from the fountain then that’s problematic, especially if that becomes a habit.  I certainly have seen a number of patients in my clinic where one of the main foods that they’re consuming is soda.  I think it’s not as well realized how detrimental that is to the heart and to health in general.  :30

Martin says November is Diabetes Awareness month, and he’s encouraging everyone to pay attention to how much sugar they consume so they can control their risk for diabetes and heart disease.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.