Your Health: Sugarcoated advice for Halloween

A sugar tip for today

With today being Halloween, some information on sugar might be appropriate. As you inhale your collected candy, keep in mind that some sugar is OK; too much is asking for trouble.

We need some sugar. In the form of glucose, sugar provides the fuel our cells, especially those in our brain, need to function, says The Washington Post. But most of our sugar should come from food sources such as fruits and whole grains, says Christine Gerbstadt, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association and author of “Doctor's Detox Diet: The Ultimate Weight Loss Prescription” (Nutronics 2011).

Consistently eating too much sugar can, over time, lead to cardiovascular trouble. “Sugar influences blood release of fat or lipids,” Gerbstadt says. Eating a diet high in sugar increases the risk of developing high levels of triglycerides, the “fluffy fat” that can get caught up in arteries and form plaques or globules of fat, she says. When those plaques break loose and travel to the heart, brain or kidney, they can cause heart attacks, strokes or kidney failure, Gerbstadt says.

There are also misconceptions about sweets. “Sugar, by itself, does not cause diabetes,” says Stephanie Dunbar, director of clinical affairs for the American Diabetes Association.

Gerbstadt agrees. She says that by virtue of candy's high calorie content, overindulging on it can make us overweight; being overweight is in turn a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Another misconception is that candy is the main culprit. The dietary guidelines note that nearly 36 percent of our added sugars come from sodas, energy drinks and sports drinks, while only 6 percent come from candy.

Reducing red meat

A growing number of studies show that eating red meat daily can raise our risk of heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes, according to The Washington Post.

Recent research shows that making one small change in your daily diet can make a difference.

Consider the latest findings:

• A Harvard study found that eating red meat every other day, instead of daily, can substantially cut your risk for heart disease. Women who ate two servings of red meat a day had a 30 percent higher risk of heart disease compared with women who ate it just three or four times a week.

• A study of 200,000 men and women ages 25 to 75 found that replacing just one serving of red meat a day with either nuts, grains or low-fat dairy lowered the risk of Type 2 diabetes by about 20 percent. Conversely, eating just one hot dog or sausage or two strips of bacon daily increased the risk for diabetes by 51 percent.

• Harvard researchers who followed 84,136 women ages 30 to 55 found that eating one serving per day of nuts instead of red meat was linked to a 30 percent lower risk of cardiovascular heart disease; subbing one serving of fish for red meat meant a 24 percent lower risk, poultry a 19 percent lower risk, and low-fat dairy a 13 percent lower risk.