Diabetes, heart disease, obesity in children linked to high consumption of sugar: study

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Type 2 diabetes has grown to be recognized by health authorities as an "emerging epidemic," Health Day reports. In 2012, 29.1 million Americans had diabetes, and as much as 8.1 million were left undiagnosed, the American Diabetes Association said.

A recent study by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco and Touro University California reveals that by reducing sugar consumption even without lessening the amount of calories or losing weight leads to the reduction of risk for chronic metabolic diseases such as high cholesterol and blood pressure among children in as short as 10 days, EurekAlert reports.

Livescience reports that 43 obese children, who were identified via the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health Clinic (WATCH) at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco, were analyzed for the study. the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health Clinic (WATCH) at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco youth were chosen because they were at higher risk for certain conditions linked to metabolic syndrome, including high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. The participants, aged 9 to 18 all had at least one other chronic metabolic disorder, such as hypertension, high triglyceride levels or a marker of fatty liver.

The researchers controlled what the participants ate for 9 days, giving them food that restricted sugar, but replaced starch to maintain the same protein, carbohydrate, and calorie levels as their home diets, which was previously reported.

Researchers recorded the participants' baseline fasting blood levels, blood pressure, and glucose tolerance before implementing the new food plan. While the food plan restricted sugar, it replaced sugar with other carbohydrates to meet a number of calories from carbs like before. Total dietary sugar was reduced from 28 percent to 10 percent.

Participants were asked to weigh themselves daily, and in case they were losing weight, they were instructed to eat more of the provided food to maintain their weight throughout the 9 days, TIME reports.

Lead author Robert Lustig, MD, MSL, pediatric endocrinologist at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco, said, "When we took the sugar out, the kids started responding to their satiety cues. They told us it felt like so much more food, even though they were consuming the same number of calories as before, just with significantly less sugar. Some said we were overwhelming them with food."

Researchers found that at the end of the 9 day period, the participants' metabolic health improved without changing weight. Diastolic blood pressure went down by 5mm, triglycerides dropped 33 points, LDL or bad cholesterol went down by 10 points, and liver function tests showed an improvement. Fasting blood glucose levels dropped by 5 points and insulin levels also decreased by one third.

"Everything got better," Lustig said. "All of the surrogate measures of metabolic health got better, just by substituting starch for sugar in their processed food — all without changing calories or weight or exercise."

"This study demonstrates that 'a calorie is not a calorie.' Where those calories come from determines where in the body they go," he explained. "Sugar calories are the worst, because they turn to fat in the liver, driving insulin resistance, and driving risk for diabetes, heart, and liver disease. This has enormous implications for the food industry, chronic disease, and healthcare costs."