这些食物会使你的心脏承载太多的负重
Heart disease is the number one killer of American adults; it takes the lives of 610,000 people each year, which is more than lung cancer, breast cancer, and skin cancer combined. Although heart disease and related complications can be genetic, your heart health is greatly impacted by lifestyle factors -- especially by what you eat. Most people assume dietary cholesterol is the number-one heart offender - after all, keeping your "bad" cholesterol (LDL) down and your "good" cholesterol (HDL) is essential for heart health - but recent research proves there's no correlation between eating cholesterol and the levels of cholesterol in your blood. Instead, there are plenty of other foods that could be taking a heavy toll on your heart health without you realizing. 1. Added sugar The sweet stuff that's lurking in everything from candy to pasta sauce to ketchup is one of the worst offenders for your heart. "I am on a crusade against sugar," says Adam Splaver, MD, clinical cardiologist and co-founder of NanoHealthAssociates. "Anything that has glucose, fructose or any sort of sugar is bad for your heart as it increases inflammation and inflammation begets cardiovascular disease." The FDA recommends people no more than consume 50 grams of added sugar a day, but the American Heart Association recommends no more than 36 grams of added sugar for men and 25 grams for women for optimal heart health. If you're trying to protect your heart, it's best to keep it within the 25-36 grams range, using a book like Zero Sugar Diet, or develop a plan with your doctor. 2. High Fructose Corn Syrup Sugar, in general, is bad for your heart, but high fructose corn syrup could be one of the worst offenders. Dr. Splaver warns that fructose can overload your liver and cause insulin resistance. This can lead to metabolic disorders such as type II diabetes. 3. Baked goods "Baked goods have a double whammy of sugar and hidden saturated fat," Dr. Splaver says. "[They] generally have no nutritional value and often contain hidden saturated fat and hydrogenated shortenings, which may raise your bad cholesterol (LDL)." Some hydrogenated shortenings contain trans fats, which have been shown to raise cholesterol levels. |