Providing important evidence for guidelines on limiting sugars in the diet

Revealing the mechanisms by which milk sugars exaggerate postprandial lipaemia: Implications for cardiovascular disease risk

Government health guidelines recommend limiting the amount of sugar in our diets, but do not include sugars we consume from milk, because we know very little about how they affect blood fat levels. Dr Gonzalez has previously shown that galactose (a component of milk sugar, called lactose) increases blood fat levels in men after eating and causes fat to build up in the liver. If this is the case, then consuming milk sugars alongside sucrose (which are both common ingredients in many drinks and snacks) could have important health implications. The study will involve 24 overweight or obese men and women at increased risk of heart and circulatory diseases and likely to be representative of the majority of the UK population. They will each be given a high-fat drink containing lactose, sucrose or another molecule called maltodextrin (a common sugar substitute), and a radioactive tracer to track where the fat goes in the body. Blood tests will be used to measure the effect of the drinks on blood fat levels. This project will provide important evidence for improving nutritional guidelines on sugars in milk-based drinks to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. This is particularly timely because policymakers are currently considering whether to include those drinks among products that must have a ‘sugar tax’.