Heart disease carbohydrate consumption

In recent years the consumption of carbohydrates in the form of refined sugar has received significant attention from health professionals. The annual consumption of sugar in the United States is about 50 pounds per person or just under 1 pound per week. The adverse effects of excessive sugar in the diet include obesity, increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, tooth decay, and disruptive behavior such as hyperactivity in children. Because of these problems, the food industry has used a number of synthetic or artificial sweeteners in place of sugar. These artificial sweeteners may reduce the use of sugars, but they have also been... 

During the more than two decades that pectin research has been carried out, two areas of investigation with potential benefit to human health have been in lipid metabolism (Table II) and carbohydrate metabolism (Table III). Pectin has been shown to decrease serum cholesterol in humans (6-11) as well as other animal species (10). High levels of serum cholesterol are generally considered to be a risk factor associated with ischemic heart disease (11-13). Consumption of pectin to reduce cholesterol levels in the blood might be expected to reduce the incidence of heart disease especially when serum cholesterol is elevated. 

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