Sugar linked to heart disease deaths in national study; most eat too much & soda’s a culprit

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FILE - In this Sept. 8, 2013 file photo, a vendor sells cotton candy at Safeco field during a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Seattle Mariners, in Seattle. A new study published Monday, Feb. 3, 2014 in the journal, JAMA Internal Medicine, says diets high in sugar are linked with increased risks for fatal heart disease, and it doesn\'t take that much extra sugar to boost the risk, anything more than a 20-ounce Mountain Dew soda a day. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren,File)

CHICAGO – A big national study says too much sugar could be deadly, at least when it comes to fatal heart problems.

It doesn’t take that much extra sugar to substantially raise the risk and most Americans get too much.

The risk is from sugar added to soda and processed foods, not found naturally in fruits and some other foods.

Having a cinnamon roll with breakfast, a super-sized sugary soda at lunch and a scoop of ice cream after dinner would put you in the highest risk category. That means a chance of dying prematurely from heart problems that’s nearly three times greater than for people who eat only foods with little added sugar.

The study appears in Monday’s JAMA Internal Medicine.

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