Ground Floor Health

Inflammation and chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes go hand in hand. Over the last decade treatment has focused on decreasing the amount of inflammation in the body as well as treating the symptoms of disease. Research has sought out causes to increased inflammation from many different areas of life including dietary and lifestyle issues.

Several observational studies have shown a positive relationship between the sugar content (glycemic load) of food and the levels of inflammatory markers in the blood. C-Reactive Protein (CRP), haptoglobin, Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR), and transferrin are several inflammatory markers that can be measured in the blood and used to determine the effects of diet and lifestyle on inflammation. They can also be used to measure treatment efficacy. In healthy humans, CRP has shown a strong relationship to dietary glycemic intake; implying that the types of foods we consume may influence the levels of inflammation in the body and perhaps our susceptibility to diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

In August the Journal of Clinical Nutrition published an original study that compared the effects of a high sucrose diet to one high in artificial sweeteners on the levels of inflammatory markers in the blood. Forty-one participants enrolled in the study and were randomized to two groups. The first group received daily food and drink supplements high in sucrose while the second group had supplements high in artificial sweeteners. The majority of the treatment supplements were derived from soft drinks. The two groups were matched for body mass index (BMI). The study was conducted over a 10-week period.

After the completion of the study, it was determined that sucrose intake in the treatment group had increased by 151% while the control group (given artificial sweeteners) had an overall decrease in sucrose consumption by 42%. These changes resulted in an average weight increase of 3.5 pounds in the sucrose group and a loss of 2.6 pounds in the artificial sweetener group. Inflammatory marker concentration increased in the sucrose group and decreased in the artificial sweetener group. Haptoglobin increased by 13%, transferrin by 5%, and CRP by 6% in the sucrose group. In the control group the markers decreased by 16%, 2%, and 26% for haptoglobin, transferrin, and CRP respectively.

The authors expected a greater increase of CRP in the sucrose group because of evidence presented in previous studies. However, CRP decreased the most dramatically in the control group that had a diet low in sucrose. Perhaps more information could have been gained if a third group consuming a standard diet would have been included in the study. This study does show a positive relationship between dietary intake of sugars and the levels of inflammatory markers in the blood. More studies are needed to determine exact relationship.