Sugar and fizz aggravate blood pressure

Tuesday May 25th, 2010

People with blood pressure problems may benefit from cutting out sugary drinks, researchers said last night.

Although sweet drinks and foods are usually regarded as bad for the heart, researchers say a new study makes a direct link between sugar and blood pressure.

Doctors said for many people cutting out two sugary drinks daily would reduce blood pressure and cut the risk of dying from stroke by eight per cent and from heart disease by five per cent.

The findings come from a study of more than 800 people with mild blood pressure problems conducted over 18 months in Louisiana, USA. Most were overweight.

During the study participants managed to cut their drinking of sweet drinks by an average of half a drink a day.

The researchers include fruit drinks, fizzy drinks, lemonade and fruit punch as sweet drinks if they are sweetened with sugar or corn syrup.

They found that cutting out one drink a day led to a reduction of 1.8 millimetres of mercury in systolic pressure and a 1.1 mm reduction in diastolic pressure, according to the report in the journal Circulation.

Researcher Dr Liwei Chen, of the Louisiana State University, New Orleans, said: "Our findings suggest that reducing sugar-sweetened beverages and sugar consumption may be an important dietary strategy to lower blood pressure and further reduce other blood pressure-related diseases."

Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association May 24 2010

Tags: Diet & Food | Heart Health | North America

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