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A study from Dr. Kevin Gordish, presented at the Experimental Biology 2016 conference, indicates that added sugars and salts increase the risk for increased blood pressure resulting in “fructose-linked hypertension.”
The study analyzed groups of rats whose diets mimicked the American diets high in sugary beverages and salt. One group of rats were fed drinking water with 20% fructose and another group was fed plain water, but given high salt diets in the second week, resulting in increase blood pressure and leading to hypertension.
Gordish explained that the fructose intake, similar the amounts of sugary beverages we consume, decrease the body’s ability to get rid of excess salt and increase sodium retention.
“The specific combination of fructose and high salt introduced in the second week rapidly increased blood pressure, resulting in hypertension. Fructose-linked hypertension was associated with increased sodium retention, decreased sodium excretion and diminished factors that help rid the body of excess salt. This observation of fructose-linked hypertension was only seen a diet with fructose and high salt and not a normal salt diet,” Gordish said in a news release.
“Fructose intake, similar to amounts consumed within the American diet, predisposed normal rats to a rapid onset of salt-sensitive hypertension. Fructose-linked hypertension was unambiguously due to fructose (and not glucose). Further, fructose had distinct deleterious effects in the kidney not seen with the same amount of glucose.”
Ultimately, the diets high in sugar and salt that many American’s eat may lead to future health risks.
By The Numbers
1
Supermarket
for every Latino neighborhood, compared to 3 for every non-Latino neighborhood
