The Study
Dietary Glycemic Index, Glycemic Load, and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease, Stroke, and Stroke Mortality: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis
This study looked at lots of people over many years and found that those who ate lots of sugary, starchy foods tended to have more heart problems and strokes — but it didn’t make people change their diets to prove it caused the problems. So we can say these foods are linked to heart issues, but we can’t say they definitely cause them.
Analysis score
Maximum 100 for a systematic review with meta-analysis.
Where the score came from
Eating lots of foods that spike blood sugar quickly (like white bread or soda) may raise your chance of heart disease and stroke, especially if you're a woman or overweight.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 548 / 100
Quality score
The highest quality evidence. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses that pool randomized controlled trials, giving the most reliable summary of experimental evidence.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — for women and overweight people, cutting sugary carbs could meaningfully lower heart disease risk.
- 2High-sugar diets: 28% more heart disease risk, 19% more stroke risk.
- 3Every 50 extra GL units = 5% more heart disease risk.
- 4Women: 49% higher risk.
- 5Overweight people: 49% higher risk.
- 6GI alone didn't strongly affect stroke.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
PLoS ONE
Year
2012
Authors
Jingyao Fan, Yiqing Song, Yuyao Wang, R. Hui, Weili Zhang
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.
If you're overweight or obese, eating a lot of sugary or starchy foods might raise your chance of heart disease by almost half—but if you're a normal weight, those foods don’t seem to make a difference. Your weight changes how those foods affect your heart.
Eating lots of foods that quickly turn into sugar—like white bread or sugary snacks—might raise your chance of getting heart disease, and the more of these foods you eat, the higher your risk goes.
Eating lots of sugary and starchy foods seems to raise the risk of heart disease much more for women than for men, which might mean men and women’s bodies react differently to these foods.
People who are overweight or obese get a much bigger risk of heart disease from eating lots of sugary, starchy foods than people who are a normal weight — like 49% more risk vs. just 3% more.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.