"While visions of sugar plums danced in the"....WAIT...STOP...HOLD the presses! Sugar plums? Is Santa trying to kill you???For decades we have been warned about too much salt in our diets in regards to high blood pressure and heart disease.  The message has been loud and clear extra salt = extra bad!

But there is another white granular out there that might be even worse.  A new study found that sugar, including high fructose corn syrup, could slip past salt on the naughty list.  The research found that those who got 10 to 25 percent of their calories from added sugars had a 30 percent increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, while those who got 25 percent of more of their calories from sugar had an almost threefold increased risk. Translation-you have to know your numbers and read your labels and do the math!

 

Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post via Getty Images
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The American Heart Association recommends that women have no more than six teaspoons of added sugar each day and men no more than nine added teaspoons. But most Americans eat much more than that, with estimates suggesting that Americans eat anywhere from 77 to 152 pounds of sugar each year, which works out to 24 to 47 teaspoons of sugar per day.

 

Wow.

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