Candy (Photo : Reuters/Brian Snyder)
Today's children are showing higher rates of conditions and diseases such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease, and while fatty foods and higher obesity rates have been blamed, a new study reveals that calories from added sugar are unique and toxic. After the sweet added substance was removed from kids' diets their general health improved in only 10 days. Some results included lower cholesterol levels and better control of blood sugar.
The study was published in the journal Obesity. It was conducted by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
Lead author Robert Lustig and his UCSF research group studied 43 obese African-American and Latino children with high blood pressure and blood sugar levels. It lasted for 10 days.
The kids' daily diet included the same number of protein and fat calories as their regular home diet. However, they got their carbohydrates from starch instead of sugar.
The children ate natural sugars from whole foods such as fruit. However, the experimental diet included no added sugars from sources including sugarcane and corn syrup.
Processed foods replaced foods such as sweetened yogurt and donuts. New foods included baked potato chips and turkey hot dogs.
The children ate the same number of calories as before. However, after 10 days without added sugar their blood pressure and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or so-called "bad cholesterol" levels dropped, and their control of blood sugar improved, according to The Huffington Post.
Sugar can provide energy but not nutrition. Like alcohol it can cause many health problems when too much is consumed, and become addictive.
Dr. Sonia Caprio is a professor of pediatrics at Yale Medical School. She said that the UCSF study was small, but studied childhood obesity in an original way by focusing on the effects of sugar, according The Times of India.
Lustig explained that obesity is increasing globally at 1 percent each year. Meanwhile, diabetes is rising 4 percent yearly.
He pointed out that certain countries are either diabetic or obese. For example, China has a high 12 percent diabetes rate, yet a much lower obesity rate.
This video explains how sugarcane is processed into white sugar:
