The Kinds of Carbohydrates You Eat Affect Heart Risk
| When you talk about a heart-healthy diet, you usually hear about fats and cholesterol in the diet. New research from a large study in Italy indicates that people who eat the most highly refined carbohydrates have twice the risk of a heart attack compared to people who eat less of these foods.
How fast carbohydrates are absorbed into the blood stream is measured in terms of glycemic index. Those carbohydrates that are absorbed quickly and cause the blood sugar to rise rapidly are called "high glycemic foods." Examples include sugars and soft drinks, as you would expect, but also some other foods you might not expect such as French fries, white bread, white rice, and other refined foods. When blood sugars rise rapidly, insulin levels and blood triglycerides also rise rapidly. At the same time, HDL cholesterol drops. All of these changes raise the risk of heart disease.
The EPICOR study in Italy examined the diets of 32,578 women over a 7.9-year period. Researchers found that women eating the most high-glycemic foods (measured as glycemic load) were 2.24 times more likely to develop coronary heart disease, have a heart attack, or die from heart disease than were those who ate fewer of these foods. As dietary glycemic load increased triglyceride levels also increased and HDL cholesterol levels fell.
This data is similar to the findings in the Nurses' Health Study by Harvard. They found a high-glycemic load also doubled the risk of heart disease. It's interesting to note that when you compare low to high intake of saturated fat there was only a 38 percent increase in heart disease. It appears that the kind of carbohydrate you eat is as dangerous as, or more dangerous than how much saturated fat you eat.
The researchers conclude, "The role of carbohydrate as a risk factor for coronary heart disease in women was found to depend on the carbohydrate type, with an increased risk association for carbohydrate intake from high-glycemic foods but no association for carbohydrate intake from low-glycemic index foods. This increased risk from high-glycemic carbohydrates seems to affect women more than men."
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Source:
Sieri S, et al. Dietary glycemic load and index and risk of coronary heart disease. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2010;170(7):640-647.
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