Women who eat more white bread, white rice, pizza, and other carbohydrate-rich foods that cause blood sugar to spike are more than twice as likely to develop heart disease than women who eat less of those foods, a study suggests.
Carbohydrates with a high glycemic index appear to hurt the heart. Carbs with a low glycemic index — such as fruit and pasta — were not associated with an increased risk of heart disease, which suggests that the increased risk is not caused a diet high in carbohydrates, but by a diet rich in rapidly absorbed carbohydrates.
The glycemic index ranks on a scale from 1 to 100 how quickly (or slowly) carbohydrates affect your blood-sugar levels. (White bread scores 100.) Foods that rank below 55 are considered to have a low glycemic index and produce only small fluctuations in blood glucose and insulin levels; foods that rank above 70 are said to have a high glycemic index and tend to cause unhealthy spikes in blood sugar.
In the study, researchers analyzed data from a large, ongoing study of nutrition and cancer risk. The researchers surveyed roughly 48,000 Italian adults about their diets in detail, noting the amount and types of carbohydrates they consumed on a regular basis. Not surprisingly — the study was conducted in Italy, after all — bread, pasta, and pizza were common sources of carbs.
During the eight-year follow-up period, women who reported eating the most carbohydrates had twice the risk of developing heart disease as their counterparts who consumed the fewest carbs
[Source]
Chapter: Heart Disease :: 1 August 2010
