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High-glycemic carbs – “the white foods” – can break your heart. Literally.

 
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Take note: If you eat a lot of simple carbs, you are hurting your heart. Plain and simple.

A new study published in today’s Archives of Internal Medicine studied 47,000 Italian adults and found that women who eat more white bread, white rice and pizza had double the risk of heart disease.

Those foods all have a high glycemic index, which means that they raise the levels of blood sugar quickly. The “white foods” – white flour and sugar and many foods made with them – are all high on the glycemic index.

The researchers studied 15,171 men and 32,578 women who have completed dietary questionnaires for many years. The same effect was not found in the men, though the men had more heart problems overall.

From BBC News:

The researchers found that the women whose diet had the highest glycemic load had more than double the risk of heart disease compared with those women with the lowest glycemic load. (Those with diabetes were excluded from the study.)

The authors concluded: "Thus, a high consumption of carbohydrates from high-glycemic index foods, rather than the overall quantity of carbohydrates consumed, appears to influence the risk of developing coronary heart disease."

The researchers believe that a high-glycemic diet may dampen 'good' cholesterol levels in women more than in men.

From CNN Health:

Only carbohydrates with a high glycemic index appear to hurt the heart. Carbs with a low glycemic index – such as fruit and pasta – were not associated with an increased risk of heart disease, which suggests that the increased risk is caused "not by a diet high in carbohydrates, but by a diet rich in rapidly absorbed carbohydrates," says the lead author of the study, Sabina Sieri, of the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, a national institute for cancer research in Milan, Italy.

The glycemic index ranks on a scale from 1 to 100 how quickly (or slowly) carbohydrates affect your blood-sugar levels. (White bread scores 100.) Foods that rank below 55 are considered to have a low glycemic index and produce only small fluctuations in blood glucose and insulin levels; foods that rank above 70 are said to have a high glycemic index and tend to cause unhealthy spikes in blood sugar.

During the eight years after the subjects filled out their questionnaires, 463 people in the study – 65 percent of them men – experienced heart problems (including heart attacks), had angioplasty or bypass surgery, or died of heart-disease-related causes.

The women who reported eating the most carbohydrates had twice the risk of developing heart disease as their counterparts who consumed the fewest carbs.
When the researchers broke the carbs into high and low glycemic index categories, the increased risk was even more apparent: Women who ate the most high glycemic foods had about 2.25 times the risk of developing heart disease than women who consumed the fewest. (To isolate the effect of the carbs on heart health, the researchers took body weight, physical activity, saturated fat intake, smoking, and a range of other health factors into account.)

More from the BBC:

Victoria Taylor, senior heart health dietician at the The British Heart Foundation, said that for women, choosing lower GI foods could be useful in helping them to reduce their risk of coronary heart disease.

She said: "They could try broadening the types of bread and cereals they eat to include granary, rye or oat; including more beans, pulses; and accompanying meals with a good helping of fruit and vegetables."

To learn more about the glycemic index, visit this website and click on “database”:

http://www.glycemicindex.com/

The BBC News story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8615537.stm

The CNN Health story:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/04/12/glycemic.diet.heart/?hpt=T2

Add a Comment2 Comments

Hi Marty - I am inspired by your post as I have just begun researching high glycemic carbs and chronic inflammation. I have been dealing with this over the last 5 years and finally made a huge discovery in my own health after completing a food detox/fast and slowly reintroducing food groups into my diet. I never would have imagined that my constant sinus, lung and swollen/goopy eyes were all derived from what I was putting into my mouth! Especially since most of the foods, I had been putting into my mouth all of my life. Do you have any additional resources you can point me to as I search for more answers and research this topic? Thanks so much for any help!

June 26, 2010 - 3:37am

Very smart post. This is at the crux of many problems we r facing in the US. Is it safe to say that high glycemic foods are 'pro-inflammatory?' I found the following: "The higher the glycemic the diet, the more insulin is released leading to a pro-inflammatory state and higher levels of CRP. By elevating your blood sugar, high glycemic foods also promote oxygen free radical processes. Free radicals are highly reactive molecules which can damage DNA, cause cancer growth and incite more inflammation. Americans are gorging themselves on high glycemic, pro-inflammatory sugars and refined carbohydrates; yeast bread comprises 15% of total carbohydrates, soft drinks/soda 9%, cakes/cookies/quick breads/doughnuts 7%, sugar/syrup/jams 6%, white potatoes 5% and ready-to-eat cereal 5%. (buddyslim.com). I personally am avoiding gluten and this new way of living has been a big help to me in many ways. The glycemic load is important to consider in regards to a healthy diet. Avoiding chronic inflammation is also important to me. And I am also learning more about avoiding fungus and excessive yeast in my system. Thanks 4 posting this valuable info! Marty

May 11, 2010 - 8:36pm
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We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.

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