Too Much Sugar Can Cause Heart Damage

If you have a history of high blood pressure or heart problems, you would be wise to stay away from sugar. A new study says that too much sugar can lead to heart failure, according to Science Daily.

It was found that a molecule called glucose metabolite glucose 6-phosphate, or G6P — formed from consuming too much starch and sugar — causes stress to the heart, affecting the muscle proteins and resulting in poor pump function, which leads to heart failure.

When the heart is already stressed from high blood pressure and other diseases, too much glucose can be very harmful, says Heinrich Taegtmeyer, M.D., D.Phil., leading investigator in the study.

There are 550,000 new patients in the United States diagnosed with heart failure every year, and 5 million patients are succumb to it every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control.