The average American consumes almost 152 pounds of sugar a year, about three pounds a week or 42.5 teaspoons a day — more than triple the recommended amount.[1] While sugar consumption isn’t the only cause of the country’s obesity epidemic, it is definitely a major contributing factor — particularly in children. And the problem is not only obesity, says pediatric nephrologist Daniel I. Feig, M.D., Ph.D., who directs the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Division of Pediatric Nephrology at Children’s of Alabama, but all the downstream health effects of being overweight, including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, liver disease, kidney disease and type 2 diabetes.
One reason for the high sugar intake is economic. Over the past 35 years, the price of fruits and vegetables has tripled, he said, while the price of sugar-sweetened foods such as beverages fell 75%. “The availability of calories and nourishment in a low-sugar fashion is much more expensive than it was a few decades ago,” he said. “We can talk until we’re blue in the face in low-income, urban clinics about eating fruits and veggies, but that isn’t the only barrier to kids not eating them; their families can’t afford it.
Then there’s the issue of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), used as a sweetener and preservative in many foods. Research from Feig and others has found that HFCS is not simply sugar in another form but has a high relative fraction of fructose compared to glucose, which alters cellular carbohydrate metabolism. This results in a greater rise in triglycerides and uric acid than with sugar from sugar cane or sugar beets.
Researchers have also demonstrated that high levels of uric acid stiffen and thicken blood vessel walls, resulting in hypertension, as well as activating the renin-angiotensin system system, causing immediate vasoconstriction.
Clinical trials find that lowering uric acid levels in hypertensive adolescents, but not adults, improves blood pressure. “So we have a window of opportunity in children to reduce their long-term cardiovascular and renal risk factors by controlling sugar intake,” Feig said.
That’s why clinicians and nutritionists at the hypertension clinic at Children’s counsel patients and their families about the effects of sugar as well as where the sugar is found (i.e., the sweet tea that is ubiquitous throughout the South). “Adolescents get about 48% of their sugar from sugar-sweetened beverages,” Feig said, “so it isn’t a function of just telling them not to eat candy.”
“When I see a child in our hypertension clinic with obesity-related hypertension, about a third of the time very high sugar and caloric intake in their beverages, up to 2,000 calories a day, is a major contributing factor,” he said. “Simply eliminating those liquids could make a huge difference in their health.”
He cites a recent study that polled new parents about the sugar content of various foods. More than 80% of parents underestimated the sugar content of foods with a “health halo,” like fruit juice and yogurt. “We have an educational deficit in terms of dietary literacy,” he said.
“So a big push in our clinic is helping families learn more about the nutritional content of food.”
Blood Pressure Control
Learn more about the hypertension clinic at Children’s of Alabama.
[1] Department of Health and Human Services. How Much Sugar Do You Eat? You May Be Surprised! https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/nhp/documents/sugar.pdf.
No Comments