If you eat the wrong amount of carbohydrates, your blood vessels will age faster! This type of carbohydrate is too harmful to your blood vessels

Diabetic patients control carbohydrates in order to control blood sugar.

In fact, carbohydrates are not only related to blood sugar, but also closely related to the health of blood vessels in the human body. Only when blood vessels are healthy can one live longer.

Recently, a study from Oxford University suggested that different types and sources of carbohydrates will have different effects on cardiovascular disease.

Which carbohydrates affect blood vessel health? Which carbohydrates are good for health?

This type of carbohydrate is most harmful to blood vessels

Carbohydrates are the abbreviation of carbohydrates, which are chemically called "sugars".

Sugars can be divided into free sugars and non-free sugars.

Free sugars refer to sugars added to food or drinks (such as glucose, sucrose, fructose, etc.), as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrup, fruit juice and concentrated fruit juice. What we often call added sugars are free sugars.

Non-free sugars occur naturally mainly in fruits, vegetables and dairy products.

In a new study, researchers from the University of Oxford and other institutions found that eating too much free sugar can significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease and stroke.

The researchers analyzed and pointed out that higher free sugar intake may harm the cardiovascular system in the following ways:

Increased risk of obesity, a well-established risk factor for cardiovascular disease, including ischemic heart disease and stroke;

Increases blood pressure and fasting blood sugar, impairing cardiovascular health;

Increased triglyceride concentrations, which may be causally related to ischemic heart disease.

This carbohydrate helps protect blood vessels

The new study also found that eating foods rich in dietary fiber, such as whole grains, regularly can significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease and stroke.

The researchers pointed out that a higher intake of dietary fiber can help reduce body fat and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels; a higher intake of whole grains may help lower total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and glycated hemoglobin levels, thereby promoting cardiovascular health.

In addition to protecting blood vessels, a study showed that people who eat more high-quality carbohydrates (whole grains and beans such as oats, mung beans, and fruits and vegetables) have a 12% lower risk of all-cause mortality, while people who eat more low-quality carbohydrates (sweets, sweet drinks, refined rice and white flour, etc.) have a 13% increased risk of all-cause mortality.

A few tips to teach you how to eat carbohydrates

For both adults and children, the World Health Organization recommends limiting the intake of free sugars to less than 10% of total daily energy intake, and preferably further limited to less than 5%.

That is to say, for a person whose daily energy requirement is 2000 kcal, the amount of sugar consumed per day should be limited to less than 50 grams, and preferably not more than 25 grams [2].

If you want to control sugar, you can pay attention to the following 4 points:

1. Drink less or no sugary drinks

You should never use beverages instead of water. You can check the nutritional information table on the back of the product before purchasing.

2. Eat less sweet foods

Such as cakes, biscuits, desserts, cold drinks, candies, etc.

3. Use less sugar when cooking

For example, sweet and sour spare ribs, candied sweet potato, rock sugar and white fungus soup, etc., all have a lot of sugar added, so it is recommended not to eat them.

4. Watch out for hidden sugars

Some snacks such as potato chips and beef jerky may contain sugar, so you need to read the ingredient list carefully.

On this basis, you should also eat more high-quality carbohydrates.

The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)" recommends that adults consume 200 to 300 grams of cereals per day, including 50 to 150 grams of whole grains and miscellaneous beans; and 50 to 100 grams of potatoes per day.

It is recommended to combine coarse and fine ingredients when cooking. For example, you can add millet, oats, brown rice, etc. when steaming rice or making porridge; you can add some whole wheat flour, cornmeal, mixed bean flour, etc. when steaming steamed buns; you can also boil kidney beans, mung beans, and red beans until soft, and then season them appropriately to make delicious cold dishes or stews.

References

[1]Kelly Rebecca K, Tong Tammy YN, Watling Cody Z, et al. Associations between types and sources of dietary carbohydrates and cardiovascular disease risk: a prospective cohort study of UK Biobank participants.[J]. BMC medicine, 2023, 21(1).

[2] Fan Zhihong. Food Nutrition and Meal Planning. Beijing: China Agricultural University Press, 2022.

[3]Hou Wanying, Han Tianshu, Sun Xinyi, et al. Relationship Between Carbohydrate Intake (Quantity, Quality, and Time Eaten) and Mortality (Total, Cardiovascular, and Diabetes): Assessment of 2003-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Participants.[J]. Diabetes care, 2022, 45(12).

[4] Chinese Nutrition Society. Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022). Beijing: People's Medical Publishing House, 2022.

Source: Friends of Diabetes Magazine