But there is a substance that you might be using that could be putting you at major risk of heart failure. Fructose has been identified as something that can cause some pretty serious health risks, including heart failure, and those that use it regularly should know the risks before they use it.
The Dangers of Fructose
In recent years, food and nutrition workers had lauded fructose as the solution to a nation that was addicted to sugar. The food industry claimed that fructose was an alternative to glucose – regular sugar – and those who were trying to cut down or lose weight could use it safely.
But now, evidence appears to contradict that in a big way. To understand the reason behind the danger first requires that we understand a little bit more about what fructose is.
Fructose is in much of the fruit and is about half of what makes up the sugar that we put in our coffee, but don’t think that you’ll have to stop eating fruit and sweetening up your joe, because that’s not the fructose that’s dangerous. Instead, it is the fructose being put in processed foods.
No one knows why the fructose that occurs in fruit doesn’t cause heart problems like the stuff in processed foods, but researchers do know that this fructose actually causes changes on a molecular level that makes the heart cells grow and increases the risk of serious heart problems.
The Institute of Technology in Switzerland just published a study that showed some of the problems that processed fructose can cause.
The Way That the Body Processes Glucose and Fructose
Part of the problem lies in the way that fructose is processed. While glucose is used by the body to fuel brain function, but causes a spike in blood sugar levels, fructose does not. Because there was no danger of causing type II diabetes with fructose, the levels went up in processed foods, usually through the inclusion of high-fructose corn syrup.
But since this fructose is much more easily turned into fat, problems abound including obesity, high blood pressure and resistance to insulin. So, the goal of adding more fructose to prevent diabetes actually increased the risk
What You Can Do to Prevent Problem
If you want to prevent problems like this, you should avoid getting fructose from processed foods. Eating foods that contain high-fructose corn syrup could put you at serious risk for heart problems and it could be the trigger for heart failure if risk factors are high.
But eating fruit is not only permissible, it is highly recommended, because even though fruit contains fructose, there isn’t any risk for the same heart problems, and in fact, most people would benefit from increasing the fruit in their diet.
source: healthyfoodhouse
