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By Dr. Liji Thomas, MD Reviewed by Benedette Cuffari, M.Sc. Dec 12 2024

Researchers uncover varying links between added sugar sources—like sweetened drinks, treats, and toppings—and risks for conditions such as heart failure, stroke, and aneurysms.

Study:  Added sugar intake and its associations with incidence of seven different cardiovascular diseases in 69,705 Swedish men and women. Image Credit: Sorapop Udomsri / Shutterstock.com

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of disease and death in Europe. Multiple studies support the association between CVD and unhealthy dietary habits; however, the impact of added sugar and different types of CVD remains unclear.

A recent study published in Frontiers in Public Health examines the risk of seven different types of CVDs associated with added and free sugar in foods and beverages. The regulation of sugar intake

The incorporation of sugar into food products can cause consumers to overeat high-calorie, nutrient-empty foods at the cost of nutritious foods. Furthermore, added sugar increases the risk of tooth decay and weight gain.

Nordic guidelines recommend that less than 10% of total energy intake is provided by added and free sugar, including sugars naturally occurring in fruit juice concentrates, fruit juices, honey, and syrups. Likewise, both the American and World Health Organizations recommend less than 10% added and free sugar intake, respectively.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) points to evidence that the risk of cardiometabolic disease rises with increased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Moderately strong evidence for obesity and high blood cholesterol levels with increased added and free sugar intake has also been reported.

Despite these observations, it remains unclear whether added and free sugar intake is directly associated with an increased risk of CVD. Moreover, the association with overall CVD risk does not correlate with the risk for individual cardiovascular conditions due to contradictory findings. Most studies that have examined this association have relied on a single measurement of added sugar consumption for their analyses and lack long-term follow-up data. About the study

The current study examines how the consumption of added sugar, sugar-sweetened foods (SSFs), and SSBs is associated with the risk of ischemic stroke (IS), hemorrhagic stroke (HS), myocardial infarction (MI), heart failure (HF), aortic stenosis (AS), atrial fibrillation (AF), and abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Related StoriesBaycrest study discovers role of thalamus in post-stroke recoveryWomen skip post-stroke medications more often than men, study revealsStudy highlights disparities in stroke costs across healthcare services in Latin America

The study included 69,705 individuals in two Swedish cohorts. Data on added sugar intake (ASI) were collected in 1997 and 2009 in over 60% of study participants. The average body mass index (BMI) was 25.3 kg/m2, with a mean age of 59.9 years.

SSFs were classified as treats such as pastries, ice cream, and chocolates or toppings like marmalades, jams, sugar, and honey. SSBs included sweetened sodas and fruit drinks, excluding pure fruit juices.

The mean ASI was 9.1% of energy intake (E%) in 1997. Being male, doing more exercise, and having less education were associated with greater ASI, along with older age and higher energy intake. Low-to-moderate added sugar intake

After compensating for the effects of age, sex, and energy intake, ASI was associated with all seven CVDs; however, these associations were weakened after adjusting for lifestyle factors, BMI, and diet.

The highest category of ASI, over 20 E%, was associated with a 31% increased risk of AAA compared to the lowest intake category of five E% or less. At over 15-20 E%, the risk of IS was 9% higher.

For most outcomes, the lowest ASI was associated with the highest risk. The risk for most CVDs was lowest at 5-7.5 E%. Thus, MI, AF, IS, HF, and AS risks were reduced by 5-9% in this category compared to the lowest intake.

With ASI exceeding 7.5-10 E%, the risk of HF and AF was reduced by 6% and 4%, respectively. At over 10-15 E%, the risk of HF, AF, and AS decreased by 5%, 4% and 17% respectively. Higher ASI was associated with a greater AAA and IS risk among obese individuals, whereas higher HF risk was observed in normal-weight individuals. SSB intake

SSB intake was linearly associated with the risk of IS, HF, AF, and AAA. Consuming over eight SSB servings each week increased AF, IS, HF, and AAA risk by 11%, 18%, 19%, and 31%, respectively.

Analysis of the 2009 survey indicated an increased risk of IS and HF with greater artificially sweetened beverage consumption but not SSBs. This could be due to the small sample size for sweetened beverages, as current literature indicates a positive correlation of SSBs with increased CVD risk. SSF consumption

The lowest CVD risk was observed in the highest treat intake category, whereas the highest risk was observed among those who consumed two or fewer treats each week.

Although the mechanism remains unclear, this association might be due to better social health. In Sweden, coffee and pastries are part of fika, customary social gatherings, and may not indicate an overall unhealthy lifestyle.

Topping intake showed a mixed pattern, as those who consumed toppings had a 10% reduced risk of HF as compared to the lowest intake category. AS risk was reduced by 14-20% with increasing ASI, whereas AAA risk increased by 34%. Conclusions

The study findings do not support lowering the recommendations for added sugar intake to below five E%.”

A low to moderate intake of added sugar is associated with lower CVD risk at 5-7.5 E% as compared to either over five E% or 10 E%. Both the sugar source and the studied clinical outcome affect the nature and direction of the association.

Future studies are needed to elucidate the mechanisms involved in these associations and the role of body weight. Furthermore, confounding factors like sodium intake, an independent CVD risk predictor, should also be considered. Journal reference: Janzi, S., Gonzalez-Padilla, E., Ramne, S., et al. (2024). Added sugar intake and its associations with incidence of seven different cardiovascular diseases in 69,705 Swedish men and women. Frontiers in Public Health. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2024.1452085.

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‘Chipocalypse Now’: Trump threatens ‘war’ on Chicago in immigration crackdown

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'Chipocalypse Now': Trump threatens 'war' on Chicago in immigration crackdown

Donald Trump has signalled his intention to send troops to Chicago to ramp up the deportation of illegal immigrants – by posting an AI-generated parody image from Apocalypse Now on social media.

There were protests in the city, the largest in Illinois, on Saturday night, with thousands of people marching past Trump Tower to demonstrate against possible immigration raids.

That came as the US president ramped up his threats to deploy federal authorities and military personnel in Chicago, as he has done in Los Angeles and Washington DC.

In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump shared an AI-generated image of himself as a military officer in the movie Apocalypse Now, with the title changed to “Chipocalypse Now” over flames and the city skyline.

The post – a screenshot from X – said: “‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning…’. Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”

Pic: Truth Social
Image:
Pic: Truth Social

Mr Trump signed an executive order on Friday to rename the Pentagon as the Department of War.

“The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, wrote in a post on X, responding to Mr Trump’s post.

“This is not normal. Donald Trump isn’t a strongman, he’s a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.”

Mr Pritzker previously said that he believed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids would coincide with Mexican Independence Day festivals scheduled for this weekend and next weekend.

Some Mexican festivals in the Chicago area were postponed or cancelled over the threatened stings.

A protest against threatened immigration raids in Chicago on Saturday. Pic: AP
Image:
A protest against threatened immigration raids in Chicago on Saturday. Pic: AP

A military deployment in Chicago has long been reported. Last month, the Pentagon was said to be drafting plans to send the US Army to Illinois.

In a statement responding to that report, originally from The Washington Post, Mr Pritzker said the state had “made no requests for federal intervention” and accused Mr Trump of “attempting to manufacture a crisis”.

Vice president JD Vance said on Wednesday that there were “no immediate plans” to send the National Guard to Chicago.

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ICE arrests 475 Hyundai workers

On Thursday, ICE agents carried out a raid at a Hyundai car battery plant in Georgia, saying 475 people, mostly South Koreans, were found to be illegally working there.

It marked the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE.

The day after the raid, ICE posted a video and photos of workers shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles getting on a bus.

South Korean junior foreign minister Park Yoon-joo told a US government official in a phone call that the video release was regrettable.

Seoul’s foreign ministry added the post came “at a critical time, when the momentum of trust and cooperation” between the two countries, forged through their first summit, “must be maintained”.

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Sports

‘Fearless’ Mateer’s risks pay off as OU tops U-M

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'Fearless' Mateer's risks pay off as OU tops U-M

NORMAN, Okla. — A week after John Mateer threw for the most yards in an Oklahoma quarterback debut against Illinois State, the transfer passer’s instinctive playmaking highlighted an imperfect performance that helped propel the No. 18 Sooners to a 24-13 win over No. 15 Michigan on Saturday night.

While Oklahoma smothered Wolverines freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood, Mateer completed 21 of his 34 passes for 270 yards with a passing touchdown and an interception. He also finished with a team-high 19 carries for 74 yards, adding a pair of rushing scores on either side of halftime in his second career start for the Sooners.

“You saw what he can do,” Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables said of Mateer. “He falls forward a lot. He’s got great strength and great skills. Tough guy. He’s fearless. He attacks everything without fear.”

Playing behind four new offensive line starters, including freshman left tackle Michael Fasusi, Mateer remained poised against the Michigan pass rush early, connecting on completions of 34, 31 and 21 yards across the Sooners’ initial pair of offensive drives. According to ESPN Research, Mateer finished 8-of-13 with 156 passing yards and a touchdown in blitzing situations Saturday.

Oklahoma opened the scoring on its opening possession via a pop pass from Mateer to wide receiver Deion Burks, who logged a team-high seven receptions for 101 yards. Mateer’s 2-yard rushing score with 22 seconds remaining in the second quarter handed Oklahoma a 14-0 halftime lead, and he used his legs again for a 10-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter.

Mateer’s 19 carries marked the fourth-highest single-game tally of his career and included three runs of at least 10 yards. With his pair of rushing scores, Mateer joined Lamar Jackson and D’Eriq King as the only FBS players to record at least one passing and rushing score in eight consecutive games since 2015, according to ESPN Research, dating to his breakout campaign at Washington State last fall.

“John’s a willing runner,” Sooners offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said. “He understands what it takes to win. They’re definitely designed QB runs in the game. At the end of the day, you’re just trying to win a football game, and John Mateer is willing [to run]. He probably took a big hit or two tonight. But hopefully all for the good of the team.”

Mateer’s night was not without mistakes. He was intercepted by Michigan defensive back TJ Metcalf in the first quarter after overthrowing tight end Will Huggins. Mateer was nearly intercepted again after halftime, and his third-quarter overthrow in the end zone beyond the hands of tight end Jaren Kanak cost the Sooners seven points as the Wolverines mounted a second-half comeback.

But Mateer’s risk-taking and flair for the extraordinary were also the drivers for Oklahoma in only the Sooners’ third win over a top-15 opponent under Venables. The Sooners led 14-7 early in the third quarter when Mateer shed a tackle in the backfield, rolled to his right and fired a 36-yard strike to wide receiver Isaiah Sategna. Mateer ran in his second touchdown and lifted the Sooners to a 21-7 advantage just two plays later.

“The thing with John, I trust that kid to like no end,” Arbuckle said. “He understands moments and situations. He knows when to take a chance, when not to take a chance. So whenever he lets one rip and puts the ball in what someone may say is a risky situation, whenever he does that, I have the utmost confidence that he’s making the right decision.”

Another one of Mateer’s risks paid off early in the fourth quarter, ultimately launching an 8:27 drive that allowed Oklahoma to drain the remaining minutes and any lingering hope of a Michigan comeback.

Facing second-and-10 from the Sooners’ 38-yard line, Mateer again rolled out and — with Wolverines linebacker Jaishawn Barham bearing down on him — made a daring throw off his back foot into heavy traffic to find Kanak for a 9-yard connection.

“[Kanak] kind of went to the open space and I threw it a little dangerous,” Mateer said. “But he made it happen.”

A timely bit of innovation, Mateer’s throw marked the start of a 16-play, 78-yard scoring drive that effectively iced Oklahoma’s Week 2 victory and showed off the very best of Mateer and what his game-changing playmaking ability can offer the Sooners.

Oklahoma visits Temple in Week 3 before embarking on a gauntlet of an SEC schedule at home against Auburn on Sept. 20.

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Business

Unions demand no retreat on workers’ rights after Rayner quits

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Unions demand no retreat on workers' rights after Rayner quits

Union leaders are demanding no eleventh-hour retreat by the government on workers’ rights now their champion Angela Rayner is no longer in the cabinet.

As delegates gather in Brighton for the TUC’s annual conference, the movement’s leadership is claiming four million people – one in eight of the UK workforce – are in “pervasive” insecure work.

And union bosses are urging the government to stand firm and reject attempts by Tories and Liberal Democrats to weaken the former deputy prime minister’s Employment Rights Bill in its final stages in parliament.

The TUC’s general secretary, Paul Nowak, has claimed Ms Rayner, who resigned on Friday over unpaid stamp duty on a seaside flat, was a victim of misogyny and was being hounded out by right-wing politicians and right-wing media.

Paul Nowak believes Angela Rayner was a victim of misogyny
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Paul Nowak believes Angela Rayner was a victim of misogyny


As well as Ms Rayner leaving the government, the other minister driving the bill through parliament, Jonathan Reynolds, was demoted in Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet reshuffle from the senior post of business secretary to chief whip.

Until last week, Ms Rayner had been expected to deliver the keynote Labour Party speech at the TUC on Tuesday, but it emerged midweek that the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, would be the speaker.

However, in Friday’s reshuffle she lost responsibility for adult skills – a key issue for the unions – to the new work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden, who will now head a new, beefed-up super-ministry promoting growth.

More on Labour

And ironically, the TUC conference in Brighton is taking place less than two miles from the luxury seaside flat in Hove, on which Ms Rayner’s avoidance of £40,000 in stamp duty led to her resignation as deputy PM, housing secretary and Labour deputy leader.

Just before parliament’s summer recess, the House of Lords backed by 304 votes to 160 a Tory-led amendment to Ms Rayner’s bill to reduce the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims from two years to six months, rather than from day one, as proposed by Ms Rayner.

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The rise and fall of Angela Rayner

Third reading of the bill in the Lords was last Wednesday, the day of Ms Rayner’s Sky News confession, and the bill is now set for parliamentary ping-pong, assuming the government overturns the Lords’ amendments in the Commons.

But in a pre-conference interview with Sky News, TUC chief and Rayner supporter Mr Nowak demanded no diluting of her bill, which also includes banning zero hours contracts which exploit workers and fire and rehire.

Read more:
Despite her exit, Rayner remains a powerful force
What a moment for Shabana Mahmood
Cooper picking up the reins at a challenging time

“We are now at a crucial stage in the delivery of the Employment Rights Bill, just weeks away from Royal Assent,” said Mr Nowak. “And our clear message to the government will be to deliver the bill and deliver it in full.

“Ignore the amendments from the unelected peers, Tory and Lib Dem peers in the House of Lords, that are aimed at gutting the legislation, weakening workers’ rights.

“Stand with the British public, deliver decent employment rights. That’s important in workplaces up and down the country, but it’s important because these are proposals that are popular with the British public as well.”

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson will be making a speech at the TUC's conference
Image:
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson will be making a speech at the TUC’s conference

The TUC says its analysis shows low-paid jobs in occupations such as the care, leisure and service sectors account for 77% of the increase in insecure jobs since 2011.

Black and ethnic minority ethnic workers account for 70% of the explosion in insecure work, according to the TUC, and southwest England and Yorkshire and Humber are insecure work hotspots.

Mr Nowak told Sky News: “We’ve got well over a million people now on zero-hours contracts. We’ve got millions of people who don’t have sick pay from day one and 70% of the kids who live in poverty have parents who go out to work.

“The government is absolutely right to be focused on making work pay. And the Employment Rights Bill is about putting more money in the pockets of working people, giving people more security at work.

“That’s good for workers, but it’s also good for good employers as well, so they’re not undercut by the cowboys.”

Speaking to Sky News last Wednesday, shortly after Ms Rayner’s tearful confession to Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby, Mr Nowak said: “There’s a real heavy dose of misogyny when it comes to Angela.

“Angela Rayner is playing a really important role in government and I wouldn’t want to see her hounded out of an important role by right-wing politicians and the right-wing media, who frankly can’t handle the fact that a working-class woman is our deputy prime minister.”

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