There’s No Sugarcoating this Cardiovascular News

A new study shows that too much sugar dramatically increases heart disease risk factors.

It’s hardly earth shattering to learn that too much sugar can make people sick.  However, a new study by researchers at Emory University and the CDC is described as the first of its kind to examine the link between the consumption of added sugars and lipid measures, such as HDL-C, triglycerides and LDL-C.

Co-author Dr. Miriam Vos, who is assistant professor of pediatrics at Emory School of Medicine, told the press that:

“Just like eating a high-fat diet can increase your levels of triglycerides and high cholesterol, eating sugar can also affect those same lipids.”

For the study, Vos and colleagues looked for links between added sugar consumption, blood fat levels and cardiovascular risk factors in data on 6,113 adults who took part in the 1999 to 2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

They did not look at natural sugars found in fruit and fruit juices, only added sugars and caloric sweeteners.

Highlights from the study showed:

•         People who received at least 25 percent of their daily calories from any type of sweetener had more than triple the normal risk of having low HDL levels than those who consumed less than five percent of their calories from sweeteners.

•         Beyond that, those whose sugar intake made up 17.5 percent or more of daily calories were 20 to 30 percent more likely to have high triglycerides.

•         The links between sweets and blood fats were independent of the fat and cholesterol provided in high-fat foods and other risk factors for heart disease.

Overall, they concluded that Americans consume an average of 21.4 teaspoons of added sugars daily – about 16 percent of total calories.

For more specifics, click here.

Does Physician Involvement in Social Media Pose a Threat to Cardiovascular Marketing?

Physicians’ online activity is on the rise.

• In a recent study by Google, 86% of U.S. physicians said they use the Internet to gather health, medical or prescription drug information.
• They’ve joined the social networking revolution too. According to a survey by Mediamix International, 34% of physicians now use social media.

For the most part, I’m excited by these statistics.   Most of the heart and vascular marketers I know have been trying to encourage physician involvement in online activities for a long time.

But is there a downside?

I’ve been hearing a few horror stories lately.

• A marketing director friend recently told me about a patient who appeared at a cardiologist’s office without an appointment.  When the office staff politely told him that he must have his dates mixed up, the patient said, “Oh no, I’m supposed to be here.  I’ve been chatting with Dr. Jones on Facebook, and he told me to stop by.”
• Cases of doctors being sued for giving online advice in venues such as Facebook are also starting to surface.

Should these fears discourage marketers from involving physicians in social media efforts?

I hope not.

Physician and staff involvement adds credibility and knowledge that is hard to find in other sources. Online physician discussions offer amazing opportunities for both patient acquisition and retention.

But, it’s important to use common sense.

American Medical News recently published a post by Arthur R. Derse, MD, on this subject in its ethics forum.

I plan to share this with some of our clients as we plan for future campaigns.   I think it offers some great reminders that communications must be HIPAA compliant and that they should avoid giving specific advice to individual patients.

As Dr. Derse says, the bottom line is that online physician involvement in social networks should begin with the tweetable Hippocratic aphorism, “First, do no harm.”