Do sugary carbs make your heart sick?
Glycemic index, glycemic load, and risk of coronary heart disease: a pan-European cohort study.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Glycemic index (GI) showed only a weak association with heart disease risk (HR 1.04 per 5 units), and only in continuous analysis — not when comparing high vs. low groups.
Most public health messaging focuses on GI (e.g., 'choose low-GI foods'), but this massive study found it barely mattered — the real driver was glycemic load and total carbs/sugar.
Practical Takeaways
If you're overweight, try reducing daily intake of sugary drinks, white bread, and refined cereals — cutting 50g of glycemic load (e.g., one soda + one slice of white bread) may lower your heart risk.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Glycemic index (GI) showed only a weak association with heart disease risk (HR 1.04 per 5 units), and only in continuous analysis — not when comparing high vs. low groups.
Most public health messaging focuses on GI (e.g., 'choose low-GI foods'), but this massive study found it barely mattered — the real driver was glycemic load and total carbs/sugar.
Practical Takeaways
If you're overweight, try reducing daily intake of sugary drinks, white bread, and refined cereals — cutting 50g of glycemic load (e.g., one soda + one slice of white bread) may lower your heart risk.
Publication
Journal
The American journal of clinical nutrition
Year
2020
Authors
S. Sieri, C. Agnoli, S. Grioni, E. Weiderpass, A. Mattiello, I. Sluijs, María-José Sánchez, M. U. Jakobsen, M. Sweeting, Y. T. van der Schouw, L. Nilsson, P. Wennberg, V. Katzke, T. Kühn, K. Overvad, T. Tong, M. Conchi, J. Quirós, J. M. García-Torrecillas, O. Mokoroa, Jesús-Humberto Gómez, A. Tjønneland, Emiliy Sonestedt, A. Trichopoulou, A. Karakatsani, Elissavet Valanou, J. Boer, W. Verschuren, M. Boutron‐Ruault, G. Fagherazzi, A. Madika, M. Bergmann, M. Schulze, P. Ferrari, H. Freisling, H. Lennon, C. Sacerdote, G. Masala, R. Tumino, E. Riboli, N. Wareham, J. Danesh, N. Forouhi, A. Butterworth, V. Krogh
Related Content
Claims (10)
Eating foods that spike your blood sugar quickly may double your chance of getting heart disease, even if you don’t have other risk factors like high blood pressure or smoking.
Eating a lot of foods that spike your blood sugar quickly may raise your chance of getting heart disease—even if you’re otherwise healthy or don’t smoke or have high blood pressure.
Eating more carbs each day might raise your risk of heart disease — for every extra 50 grams of carbs (about the amount in a large potato or a big slice of bread), your risk goes up by 11%, even if those carbs don’t spike your blood sugar much.
Eating more sugar—like 50 grams extra a day—seems to go hand in hand with a higher chance of getting heart disease, which might mean sugary foods are part of why some diets lead to heart problems.
Eating foods that spike your blood sugar quickly might slightly raise your risk of heart disease, but only if you look at the numbers in a certain way—when you group people into categories, the link disappears.