the lead author of this study, an endocrinologist, asked a dietician to change the meal plans of 43 obese children. The new diet maintained the same total calories but substituted processed carbohydrates for foods with added sugars. Added sugar was limited to 10% of their daily calories.
Within nine days the children's blood sugar levels had fallen by more than 50%. Their levels of triglycerides dropped by 33% and their "bad" cholesterol was also lower.
The rapidity with which these changes occurred astonishes us, but this study demonstrates that excessive sugar increases the risk of the metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that increase the risk for heart disease, diabetes and stroke.