ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Junk food, red meat, sugars are well known to be bad for your heart and health. There are some foods you would never have thought could be harmful for your heart.
The cool and refreshing taste of soda can tingle your taste buds, but the added sugars are terrible for your health. Diet soda may seem like a good alternative with zero sugars and calories, but …
As Amy Crawford Faucher, MD, Primary Care-Family Medicine explains, “There has been some information that shows that actually making that switch doesn’t help as much as you think it should.”
A study out of France found that regular consumption of artificially sweetened drinks, such as diet soda, increases you risk for heart disease by 20 percent compared to non-drinkers. A different study found your risk for diabetes increased by 67 percent. Another surprising food – chicken. It has long been thought to be a healthy alternative to red meat, but chickens today contain as much as 10 times the fat compared to chickens from a century ago, giving them similar levels of saturated fat to beef. These saturated fats can increase your risk for high cholesterol.
Kristi Fitzgerald, Genetic Counselor at Nemours duPont Hospital says, “It puts people at risk for premature cardiovascular diseases like heart attack and stroke and can be lethal.”
That’s why the American Heart Association recommends limiting even lean cuts of beef or skinless chicken to less than six ounces a day. And, think margarine is better than butter? Think again! Margarine contains trans fats, which raises bad cholesterol and lowers good cholesterol, increasing your risk for heart disease. Olive oil and avocado oil are much healthier alternatives.
One more food that’s not as heart healthy: energy bars. Many energy bars contain ultra-processed foods such as corn syrups, citric acids, and added sugars, which can increase risk for heart disease.
Contributors to this news report include: Milvionne Chery, Producer; Roque Correa, Editor.
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/26/health/diet-drinks-bad-for-heart-wellness/index.html
https://www.steponefoods.com/blogs/news/5-surprising-foods-that-are-bad-for-your-heart
https://www.healthline.com/health/high-cholesterol/chicken-vs-beef#Cooking-with-less-cholesterol
https://www.eatthis.com/worst-foods-damaging-heart/
