While it’s common knowledge that saturated fats can raise your cholesterol, there can be another culprit. A died high in sugary foods. From sweetened coffee every morning to a can of soda to go along wih your evening meal the added sugars in your daily diet may take a toll on your cholesterol over time. Excessive sweet can affect your balance of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ cholesterol.
Added sugars are different from the ones naturally found in fruits for example and are sweeteners like white sugar, brown sugar, honey, artificial sweeteners made from high fructose corn syrup. Added sugars contain lots of calories without any nutrients. These empty calories besides affecting your weight are raising your chances for diabetes and impact your cholesterol levels.
What is cholesterol
Cholesterol is a waxy fat -like substance that our liver makes. It helps build protective layers around the cell in our body. It also contributes to the production of certain hormones as well as vitamin D and bile. In other words, despite its bad reputation, cholesterol is very important for our body.
Our liver makes all the cholesterol that our body requires. However the diet is very important causing the levels of cholesterol to rise.
How can sugar impact Cholesterol levels
Besides saturated fats sugar also has an impact. It may raise your total cholesterol and affect the balance of LDL & HDL. Diets high in sugar cause the liver to create more LDL and also lowers HDL cholesterol. (LDL contributes to the build up of plaque in our arteries while HDL helps rid our body of LDL by absorbing it and carrying it back to the liver)
Exactly how excess sugar upsets the balance of cholesterol in the blood isn’t fully understood but it involves the activation of certain chemical pathways that lead the liver to make more LDL and less HDL. In addition since the extra sugar is not needed for energy, the liver converts it to fat in the form of triglycerides. Sugar also appears to inhibit an enzyme that helps break down and remove triglycerides from the body.
From www.healthcentral.com and www.webmd.com
