Kolhydratkvalitet, tarmflora och kardiometabol risk.

The role of sugar consumption for the development of cardio-metabolic diseases is still much debated. We expect to demonstrate whether sugar consumption below the recommended level of 10 % of energy intake is associated with adverse health effects, such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and intermediate risk markers. This project will also clarify if sugar consumption is linked to gut microbiota composition, and whether microbiota composition could explain why some individuals do not develop cardio-metabolic diseases despite having high sugar consumption. Individuals with few copies of the gene encoding amylase (AMY1) have lower levels of salivary amylase and may have difficulty digesting starch into glucose. We will study whether low activity of amylase (measured by number of copies of the amylase gene) combined with high starch intake increased the risk of cardiometabolic diseases. We will mainly use the well-characterized and large Malmö Diet and Cancer cohort (n=28,000), with 2,829 coronary events and 3,966 type 2 diabetes cases identified during 19 y follow-up, and the ongoing Malmö Offspring Study with currently 1000 participants. We will examine sugar (sucrose), sugar-rich foods, biomarkers for sucrose and fructose measured in blood and urine, and genetic factors associated with increased preference for sugar. This research project will hopefully contribute to better prevention possibilities.