Is sugar secretly bad for you?
Added sugars and risk factors for obesity, diabetes and heart disease
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Added sugars don’t uniquely cause weight gain when calories are matched.
Most public health guidelines blame sugar for obesity, but this review says: if you swap sugar for pasta or rice at equal calories, weight gain is the same.
Practical Takeaways
Swap sugary drinks for water or unsweetened tea — but don’t panic if you have a cookie. Focus on total calories and whole foods, not just sugar.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Added sugars don’t uniquely cause weight gain when calories are matched.
Most public health guidelines blame sugar for obesity, but this review says: if you swap sugar for pasta or rice at equal calories, weight gain is the same.
Practical Takeaways
Swap sugary drinks for water or unsweetened tea — but don’t panic if you have a cookie. Focus on total calories and whole foods, not just sugar.
Publication
Journal
International Journal of Obesity
Year
2016
Authors
J. Rippe, T. Angelopoulos
Related Content
Claims (6)
Chronic consumption of ultra-processed foods, refined carbohydrates, and added sugars drives systemic inflammation, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia, prompting maladaptive dietary counter-reactions.
Eating normal amounts of sugar doesn’t make your blood pressure go up, raise uric acid (which can cause gout), or cause fat to build up in your liver — unlike what some people claim.
When you eat the same number of calories from sugar or from bread or rice, you don’t gain more weight from the sugar — so sugar isn’t uniquely fattening.
Eating normal amounts of table sugar or corn syrup in your food and drinks doesn’t make you more likely to get overweight, diabetes, or heart disease than eating the same number of calories from other carbs like bread or pasta.
Lab studies that give people pure fructose or pure glucose don’t reflect what people actually eat — we usually consume sugar as table sugar or corn syrup, which are mixtures, so those lab results don’t apply to real life.