--- title: Sugar Directly Affects Blood Pressure description: A new study shows sugar can send blood pressure soaring in two ways canonical: https://time.com/123245/sugar-goes-straight-to-your-blood-pressure/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-29T13:00:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:04:56.070Z article:section: Health og:title: Sugar messes with your blood pressure og:description: The new science is stacking up og:url: https://time.com/123245/sugar-goes-straight-to-your-blood-pressure/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d3f6d281aa313a3/6986910fcd68487172094d6a/487713407-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 487713407 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sugar messes with your blood pressure twitter:description: The new science is stacking up twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d3f6d281aa313a3/6986910fcd68487172094d6a/487713407-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sugar Goes Straight to Your Blood Pressure by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin May 29, 2014 1:00 PM CUT  Doughnut DoughnutJamieB—Getty Images/RooM RF by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin May 29, 2014 1:00 PM CUT Eating too much sugar can lead to obesity, and weight gain can contribute to high blood pressure—that’s been known for years now. But the latest research shows that the sweet stuff can affect blood pressure in an entirely different way, independent of its effect on weight. Scientists from University of Otago in New Zealand reviewed several randomized controlled trials that looked at sugar’s effect on blood pressure, and concluded that not only does sugar help pack on the pounds, but it independently impacts blood pressure and lipids. The study is one of the first to connect this one-two punch from sugar among people eating average diets—the participants were not provided measured amounts of sugar by the researchers but rather reported on how much sugar they consumed as part of their daily diet. It’s easy to underestimate how much sugar we eat, since it can hide in processed foods and add up. “Although the effects of sugars on blood pressure and lipids are relatively modest, our findings support public health recommendations to reduce added sugar in our diets as one of the measures which might be expected to reduce the global burden of cardiovascular diseases,” said lead study author Dr. Lisa Te Morenga [in a statement](http://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2014-05/uoo-sii051414.php "undefined"). The findings are published in the _American Journal of Clinical Nutrition._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/123245/sugar-goes-straight-to-your-blood-pressure/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/123245/sugar-goes-straight-to-your-blood-pressure/"},"headline":"Sugar Goes Straight to Your Blood Pressure","datePublished":"2014-05-29T13:00:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:04:56.070Z","description":"A new study shows sugar can send blood pressure soaring in two ways","url":"https://time.com/123245/sugar-goes-straight-to-your-blood-pressure/","keywords":["Nutrition","Heart Disease","Obesity","Blood Pressure","health","Sugar"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d3f6d281aa313a3/6986910fcd68487172094d6a/487713407-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d3f6d281aa313a3/6986910fcd68487172094d6a/487713407-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"487713407","caption":"487713407","creditText":"JamieB—Getty Images/RooM RF","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/nutrition/","name":"Nutrition"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/123245/sugar-goes-straight-to-your-blood-pressure/","name":"Sugar Goes Straight to Your Blood Pressure"}}]}] ```