Added sugar intake and chronic disease risk in plausible diet reporters in the US adult population, 2003–2006

Intake of added sugars (AS), not naturally occurring nutritive sweeteners, has been increasing in the past decades in the US population and it may be associated with the increased risks for chronic disease risks. We examined the relationships between tertiles (T2 and T3) of AS intake and risks for overweight/obesity (BMI, waist circumference), cardiovascular disease (hypertension, high levels of triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol, LDL, and low HDL), high fasting glucose, and metabolic syndrome for adults ages 19+ from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003–2006. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratios using SAS survey procedures, controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, education, and income. Results indicated that there was no significant association between increased AS and overweight/obesity, hypertension, or fasting glucose; however, there was a significant protective effect for high TG (T2, 0.74;T3, 0.67), low HDL (T3, 0.53), and metabolic syndrome (T3,0.46) but 50%‐increased risk for high total cholesterol (T2, 1.46;T3, 1.41) compared to T1. These data indicate that individuals consuming high AS diets have no increased risk for abdominal obesity or high BMI although high AS intake is associated with blood lipid profiles.