Your sweet tooth could be boosting your blood pressure

From soft drinks to cereal, Americans eat four times more sugar than we did a century ago. A new study, co-authored by a Colorado doctor, shows all that fructose could be making your heart sick. Fructose is found in table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.

Dr. Richard Johnson, with the University of Colorado Denver’s School of Medicine, gave high doses of fructose to a group of men over a two-week period.

In that short time, the men experienced significant average blood pressure increases and increases in metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors for heart disease and diabetes. "The good news is after the study we put everyone on a low-fructose diet and were able to bring everyone back to baseline," said Johnson.

He said most Americans need to cut their sugar intake by as much as one-third, to about 35 grams a day. The study also found a drug used to treat gout, allopurinol, helped lower the elevated blood pressure, but that use is still in the experimental phase.

Source: www.thedenverchannel.com