Study links sugar to hypertension

LOS ANGELES - Blood pressure has been rising in the United States for more than 100 years. At the turn of the last century, about 5 percent to 10 percent of American adults were diagnosed with hypertension. Today, it's about 30 percent.

Why? Perhaps because there's so much more added sugar in our diets now than there was a century ago. Studies have linked consumption of fructose, the ingredient that makes up 50 percent of table sugar and 55 percent of high-fructose corn syrup to high blood pressure in rats.

But in people, the link has been elusive.

Researchers from the University of Colorado Denver checked to see whether added sugar intake was linked to blood pressure among the thousands of representative Americans who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2003 and 2006.

By comparing the diets and systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading) of all volunteers, they found that those who ate and drank more fructose from added sugars (as opposed to healthy sources like fresh fruit) had higher blood pressure. Volunteers with higher blood pressure also tended to have larger waistlines.

Those who consumed at least 74 grams of fructose a day (about 2 1/2 20-ounce bottles of Coca-Cola) from added sugars were more likely to be hypertensive.

The correlation held up even when controlling for factors such as total calories consumed, physical activity, other health problems and consumption of salt, alcohol and carbohydrates.

The findings were published online Thursday by the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Los Angeles Times