Here’s another reason you need to get that sweet tooth under control: it’s slowly killing you. Sucrose consumption (table sugar and high fructose corn syrup as opposed to what naturally occurs in fruit) is on the rise. The fact that it’s added to most processed foods may be part of the reason why. What is interesting to researchers is that this rise mirrors the rise in hypertension. A cross sectional analysis of data involving dietary habits and hypertension revealed that added sucrose is associated with higher blood pressure even among those who don’t even have a history of hypertension. The evidence of this study is serious considering that hypertension is rapidly becoming an adolescent issue. This research may solve the mystery of those who have hypertension and are baffled by its development. Chronic disease has a starting point. If it involves your sweet tooth, then perhaps an ‘extraction’ is in order.
Increased Fructose Associates with Elevated Blood Pressure Diana I. Jalal, Gerard Smits, Richard J. Johnson, Michel Chonchol J Am Soc Nephrol. 2010 September; 21(9): 1543–1549. doi: 10.1681/ASN.2009111111 PMCID: PMC3013529 – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3013529/
