While you may know that consuming too many sugary foods and drinks can lead to weight gain and obesity, you may not realize that your sugar intake can also affect your cholesterol levels, making it a major contributor to heart disease.
How Does Sugar Affect Your Cholesterol?
The main culprit for high cholesterol is fat in your diet, especially saturated fat found in animal products. (That’s why your doctor may recommend limiting red meat if your cholesterol is high.) However, sugar also has an impact. It can increase your total cholesterol and affect the balance of LDL and HDL.
A diet high in sugar causes your liver to make more LDL, and a diet high in sugar also lowers HDL cholesterol.
It’s not clear exactly how excess sugar upsets the balance of cholesterol in the blood, but it involves activating certain chemical pathways that cause the liver to produce more LDL and less HDL. In addition, since excess sugar isn’t needed for energy, the liver converts sugar into fat in the form of triglycerides. Sugar also appears to inhibit an enzyme that helps break down and remove triglycerides from the body.
Eating too many sweets can upset the balance between “good” and “bad” cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease. But cutting back on sugar is possible.
How to Limit Sugar in Your Diet?
- If you have a sweet tooth, cutting back on sugar is like telling a caffeine addict to give up their morning cup of coffee: It’s not easy. Focus on the positive. Remind yourself that your efforts will help protect your heart. It’s all about being willing to make positive changes.
- It’s not necessary to avoid all sugary snacks, but moderation is important. Women should limit their added sugar intake to six teaspoons (one teaspoon of sugar equals 4 grams) or less per day. Most men should consume no more than nine teaspoons per day.
- Be aware that sugar can appear under many different names on food labels, including some with a false health halo. In addition to regular sugar, look for brown rice syrup, honey, molasses, agave, and coconut sugar, as well as corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup. All of these are added sugars, no different than regular white sugar to your body. Either way, the nutrition label will list total sugar as a separate item, regardless of its source. You should check labels even (or especially) on seemingly healthy foods, like protein bars and cereals. These can contain quite a bit of added sugar. If a product you’ve been eyeing turns out to be a sugar bomb, look for a low- or no-sugar alternative.
- Remember that sugary drinks are the most common source of added sugar. If you drink a lot of soda or other sugary drinks, consider replacing them with something else. Replace a can of unsweetened sparkling water with a can of soda or a sugary fruit-flavored drink. Diet soda is also an option, although some studies have shown that people who eat foods and drinks with zero-calorie sweeteners end up making up for the calories they save by eating more later in the day.
- You may also want to limit your intake of 100% juice. Even though it has no added sugar, it still contains a lot of (natural) sugar and calories per serving. For example, a cup of orange juice has 23 grams of sugar. To cut down on sugar and calories, try diluting your juice with a little water (plain or sparkling), or adding some fresh fruit to your water for flavor.
- And above all, don’t give up if you occasionally relapse. Few people can avoid sweets perfectly, and you shouldn’t expect them to. Small steps are better than no steps at all. Focusing on eating high-quality foods 90% of the time with the occasional less healthy treat is probably the most effective approach for most people.
