Nine-day sugar-free diet improved teens’ health
Reducing consumption of added sugar, even without reducing calories or losing weight, has the power to reverse a cluster of chronic metabolic diseases, including high cholesterol and blood pressure, in children in as little as nine days, according to a study by researchers at UC San Francisco and Touro University California.
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions – increased blood pressure, high blood glucose level, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal cholesterol levels – that occur together and increase risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
In the study, 43 children between the ages of 9 and 18 who were obese and had at least one other chronic metabolic disorder were given nine days of food, including all snacks and beverages, that restricted sugar but substituted starch to maintain the same fat, protein, carbohydrate, and calorie levels as their previously reported home diets.
Baseline fasting blood levels, blood pressure, and glucose tolerance were assessed before the new menu plan was adopted.
The study menu restricted added sugar (while allowing fruit), but substituted it by adding other carbohydrates such as bagels, cereal and pasta so that the children still consumed the same number of calories from carbohydrate as before, but total dietary sugar was reduced from 28% to 10%, and fructose from 12% to 4% of total calories, respectively. The food choices were designed to be “kid food” – turkey hot dogs, potato chips, and pizza all purchased at local supermarkets, instead of high sugar cereals, pastries, and sweetened yogurt.
After just nine days on the sugar-restricted diet, virtually every aspect of the participants’ metabolic health improved, without change in weight. Diastolic blood pressure decreased by 5mm, triglycerides by 33 points, LDL-cholesterol (known as the “bad” cholesterol) by 10 points, and liver function tests improved. Fasting blood glucose went down by five points, and insulin levels were cut by one-third.
