Check out this Study. If true, it would mean a lot of us could stop A-Fib simply by cutting back on our sugar intakes. However, I believe you would have to cut back below your "Sugar Threshold", which is different for everyone and changes as you get older (see below). Here is the Study:
Here is the research I have done, which parallels results in the study:
After 9 years of trying different foods and logging EVERYTHING I ate, I found sugar (and to a lesser degree, salt – i.e. dehydration) was triggering my Afib. Doctors don't want to hear this - there is no money in telling patients to eat less sugar. Each person has a different sugar threshold - and it changes as you get older, so you need to count every gram of sugar you eat every day (including natural sugars in fruits, etc.). My tolerance level was 190 grams of sugar per day 8 years ago, 85 grams a year and a half ago, and 60 grams today, so AFIB episodes are more frequent and last longer. If you keep your intake of sugar below your threshold level your AFIB will not happen again (easier said than done of course). It's not the food - it's the sugar (or salt - see below) IN the food that's causing your problems. Try it and you will see - should only take you 1 or 2 months of trial-and-error to find your threshold level. And for the record - ALL sugars are treated the same (honey, refined, agave, natural sugars in fruits, etc.). I successfully triggered AFIB by eating a bunch of plums and peaches one day just to test it out. In addition, I have noticed that moderate exercise (7-mile bike ride or 5-mile hike in the park) often puts my Afib heart back in to normal rhythm a couple hours later. Don’t know why – perhaps you burn off the excess sugars in your blood/muscles or sweat out excess salt??
Also, in addition to sugar, if you are dehydrated - this will trigger AFIB as well. It seems (but I have no proof of this) that a little uptick of salt in your blood is being treated the same as an uptick of sugar - both cause AFIB episodes. (I’m not a doctor – it may be the sugar in your muscles/organs and not in your blood, don’t know). In any case you have to keep hydrated, and not eat too much salt. The root problem is that our bodies are not processing sugar/salt properly and no doctor knows why, but the AFIB seems to be a symptom of this and not the primary problem, but medicine is not advanced enough to know the core reason that causes AFIB at this time. You can have a healthy heart and still have Afib – something inside us is triggering it when we eat too much sugar or get (even a little) dehydrated. Find out the core reason for this and you will be a millionaire and make the cover of Time Magazine! Good luck!
- Rick Hyer.
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Not challenging the content but study was published in 2008. I believe you are correct in the sugar and salt connection. I find it interesting that in 11 yr, medicine has not paid much if any attention. Guess it’s more financially rewarding to sell drugs and invasive procedures. Ive been less than vigilant about my diet this last year and I’m experiencing some wt gain and palpitations. I’m thinking it’s my body giving me a heads up to knock it off on the poor choices.
My GP told me to restrict salt intake when I was pregnant with my first son. She said that it held water in the tissues.
I have long thought that sugar is addictive. If I open a box of chocolates I cannot just eat one. The taste of the first one makes me want more ------- and more. The answer is not to open the box in the first place.
You are right about sugar being addictive. I know several people that will not take that first bite because they will crave more, and they want to stay away from that craving and wanting. I have found that staying away from sweets gets easier and you don't really "crave" or "miss" the sweets after a while, but my brain still remembers how good it is - and seeing it in a store really wants me to indulge in it! It's very tough to say no. (Life reeks when we get old, hey??).
At least with a piece of fruit there are nutrients . Biscuits are empty calories . Better to not buy them. I try to limit fruit to 2/3 portions a day though it is harder in summer with peaches cherries etc. Just now our figs are starting to ripen and since I had my colectomy last year I can now eat them again. But they are supposed to be high in sugar.
I agree.....But I have asked "sugarisit"......what he/she actually eats!!!...as he mentions that even some vegetables iike carrots contain (albeit natural), sugar!!
I am not going to eat red meat that's for sure. I already live on fish and chicken BUT with loads of veg, (and fruit later), in an attempt to prevent me feeling hungry all the time.......
if you have figs in your garden, you must live somewhere hot???
In my research I have found that, as far as Afib is concerned, sugar is sugar. It doesn't matter where it comes from. I can easily trigger afib by eating too much agave, honey, maple syrup, berries, fruits, even veggies if they contain enough sugar (like peas, carrots, watermelons, muskmelons, etc.). So, although sugar from fruits is much better for you than refined sugars, it still triggers afib. Wish it didn't - I love fruits!
If you count the sugars in the fruits you eat, you should be able to find your tolerance level. Keep under your tolerance level and there should be no afib. (Of course this won't work if you take certain meds, as meds totally screw up your metabolism and all bets are off when it comes to sugars). Good Luck!
You have a good question. It gets to the point where I cannot eat hardly anything, and have lost about 12 pounds or so in the last few months because of it. To stay away from sugars I find myself eating more meats now, and since I am a vegetarian, I don't care for that very much. I can indulge in an apple now and then but that's not enough. I had 3 doctors tell me (since I am in a "low risk" for stroke category) to enjoy all the sugars I want and just live with the afib. So... I am currently seeing a nutritionist to see if I am short any vitamins, minerals, etc. If that doesn't do any good in a couple more months then I guess I will try the advice of my 3 doctors. Hopefully I can continue to stay away from the harsh meds.
- Rick Hyer.
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How can you possibly eat meat and justify it after being vegetarian?!
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Well, I'm not any more. But if you can't eat veggies and fruit, what else is there?
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There are nuts and beans and all sorts of things that have protein as well as vegetables and there is no way I would give up on fruit and veg (not sure why this has gone italic) as I can't believe just a reasonable amount would cause AF. I get an episode about every four to five days which are over in 1-2 hours or so with medication and cannot yet find particular triggers though this morning I was eating fruit with muesli and drinking orange juice. Last time it was after emerging from a bath a long time after eating but very glad it works for you. As we ahve learnt, we are all different. I've never overindulged in very sweet things as I don't like them. Hunter gatherers would presumably have eaten nuts and berries and other fruit and only ate meat on the special occasions when they caught something!
This is what I was thinking......fruit/veg etc must have staple diet before we started eating meat! I think my AF episodes were mostly stress related and nothing to do with sugar. Mine used to start when i sat down to relax or lay down to sleep. I am in PAF now......but meds keep my heart rate at between 67-75, with the odd jumpy thing occasionally!
My heart rate is generally in the 50s which is why the lowest dose of bisoprolol brought my heart rate down dangerously low. I just take flecainide as a PIP with bisoprolol if it continues to be fast but it would be nice to avoid further episodes and sadly taking flecainide regularly didn't prevent episodes and I don't like the idea of doubling the dose which would be taking the amount I take to stop episodes twice a day when I'm not having them! It would be great to have a rest from odd episodes though but I haven't found any regular triggers as mine occur at very different times. When asleep and waking me, when getting out of an evening bath, while eating breakfast, soon after dropping off to sleep, on arrival at the dentist (and I have no problems with check ups at all!). Was not overweight to start with - you are a lot lighter than me though I might be taller- I weigh 62/3 kg and had always ben fit and healthy before diagnosis (or rather before an episode of shingles the previous year!). I guess old age comes with problems but you look quite young!
If I ate more fat (or keto style diet) my cholesterol would soar, but I can't afford to lose any more weight...I am just under 9 stone (124 lbs). Anyway, I eat a lot of chicken and fish, but gave up red meat years ago. If i didn't eat fruit and veg, I would have another problem, and that would be with my digestive system!!
No, I am not on any meds. Some of them might alter your chemistry or alter how a gland or organ functions (which I highly suspect is the root problem with afib) so I would be hesitant to suggest anything if I were on anything. I, too, am pretty thin (142 pounds at 5' 7"). I have had 2 Nutritionists tell me I need more fats in my diet. They both eat a lot of dairy, nuts, and cheeses. I am trying this, plus other meats - fish, chicken, pork, sea foods. Don't like red meats, although partake in a Whopper now and then. It's very hard to keep sugars below 50 gr. a day, but I do it sometimes, and my heart returns to normal until I go over my threshold again.
Oh - the joys of getting old!!
- Rick Hyer.
Hi sugarisit,
Sugar and salt I believe are fairly modern features of our life and have been so for several hundred years .... as is of course tobacco ! all of which are foreign matter in terms of the human being. Our body design concept is one of hunter/gatherer/forager.
I read a book some years ago entitled 500 AD. It discussed findings of scientists who have excavated around castles in Britain and elsewhere in Europe. They examined the human skeletons found and soil deposits which would have been formed from human and vegetable waste. End result was that we come back to the hunter/gatherer/forager and the fact that skeleton bone structures of deceased humans suggested a very tall, large being - in contrast to the disease ridden decades of the 15th century onwards when people were generally much smaller in stature. Down to diet, sanitation and healthcare.
Back in the day I found my AF events were directly related to food I'd eaten. I learned about the vagus nerve. I consulted a Nutritionist and have followed fairly thoroughly, food plans/diets ever since.
Reviewing my medical history over the last 40 years I've always prided myself on being fit even though I smoked up until my early 40's. However, when I got into it I found emerging at intervals over the decades a range of digestive system issues which caused me to visit, on many occasions, food exclusions - diets, I suppose. As a result I'd already cut out all added salt in meals, for at least the last 25 years.
Then about 4 years ago I went for my regular 2 yearly eyesight test and the optician refused to prescribe new lenses, instead referred me to my GP for a blood sugar analysis. It seems the map at the back of the eye was saying, I was borderline 'PreDiabetic'. An HbA1C blood test confirmed this. I then went cold turkey, and as I did with salt, I cut out all added sugar. I did obsess about this as my father had mature onset diabetes which eventually killed him. So nowadays as a result of fairly major adjustments to my diet and occasionally consulting a Nutritionist I have now had only one AF event since April 2015 and that was in February 2018 - sleeping on my left side.
In the last 8 to 10 months I have relaxed my diet ( but still staying added salt and sugar free) and as a consequence this year, say March onwards I have experienced at different times, upward surges in both blood pressure and heart rate and on one occasion after a 280 mile trip I was laid up most of the day with my heart banging and pounding away like it was trying to get out of my chest, to the best of my knowledge I did not trip into AF. My HR maxed out at 146.
Since then I have returned to a more disciplined approach to food and diet. So, end of the day I need no convincing, that in my case, food/diet plays a big role in AF ........ BUT, BUT AND BUT this is not true for everyone.
Today, once or twice a year, and totally at random I do my own blood sugar testing at home to ensure I am staying on track, which I am and am still AF free. I might add that the day AF was diagnosed ( Jan 2010) my average BP was around 136/85 with HR of around 88. Nowadays, it's 126/70 and a HR of 65, aided and abetted by Bisoprolol and some BP capsules. By the way, I have never been a fruit eater, just occasionally I buy some grapes - a spur of the moment purchase.
My fasting blood sugar ( which the doc orders a test for every year ) has been in the prediabetic range for years now. Twice a year I buy 100 strips for my glucose testing machine and test intensively for a fortnight. The results are odd. I very rarely go over 140 at 1 hour post prandial and am usually under 120 two hours pp. This is considerably lower than the recommended levels given in the booklet that came with the meter. The highest levels are always after breakfast and my after dinner levels are nearly always less than the fasting glucose level. After some research I came across an explanation for this -Dawn Phenomenon. The body gives a kickstart to the glucose level to give you the energy to go out and hunt/gather your breakfast! If post prandial levels are ok slightly high fasting glucose is not necessarily an indicator of prediabetes.
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Thanks, John. Every time I am tested for sugars I test "normally" as well. But something inside is mis-processing sugars and if I exceed my personal threshold it triggers Afib. Unfortunately our thresholds are a moving target - they are reduced as we age, so what worked 5-10 years ago might not work now. At least that is the case with me.
This getting older stuff really reeks, hey??
- Rick Hyer.
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Do they test your insulin levels?
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Yes, my insulin and everything else related to sugars is "normal" - at least when they test it. Perhaps I should have them do the tests 2 hours after eating sugars (when my afib starts). I'm not on any meds so have no issues with those.
By the way - potatoes, bread (especially white bread) all break down into sugars, so perhaps they are contributing to your afib more than you realize. You just have to keep a close watch on what you eat, record it, and eventually you will see what, and how much, is triggering your afib.
- Rick Hyer.
It is not just sugar. A piece of bread or potato acts the same or worse than straight sugar. High fructose corn syrup, which is in so many products is even worse. I have been successful at keeping my A fib episodes at bay by keeping my total carbs down to between 30 and 40 per day. My wife is doing strict keto and keeping her total carbs down to 20 grams per day.
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Wow. You must be losing a ton of weight. I don't think I could stay alive by eating only that many carbs. Of course if you are keeping your carbs to 20 grams a day that means you are also keeping your sugars under 20 grams a day as well, unless you are not counting sugars in fruits and veggies. In any case, looks like you are beating the odds!!
Good Luck!
- Rick Hyer.
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I am counting all net carb grams. So, if I eat vegetables I deduct the fiber from the total carb grams. The only fruits permitted on this diet are low carb berries. This diet is also high in fat and moderate in protein. I try to stay in mild ketosis (not ketoacidosis) so that I burn my own fat for fuel instead of relying on carbs. I am fat adapted, so that allows me to also do intermittent fasting. After an early dinner I don't eat again for 18 hours. Not only does it help lose weight, but it gives my digestive system a rest. My wife is able to do 5 day water fasts, which she does for autophagy. It is amazing how it relieves all her aches and pains. Look up Dr. Jason Fung. He has The Obesity Code, The Diabetes Code and the Complete Guide to Fasting. They were eye opening books!
The study looked at a total 916 Norweigan men and women who were 75 and over. A sample too small and age restricted to apply to the globally diverse AF population. As the size of the over 75's population increases so will the incidence of disease including cardiac conduction and diabetes.
Given the homeostatic disturbance AF will cause over the years those of us with AF and under the age of 75 endocrine dysfunctions including Diabetes may be inevitable. Did the study discover something that was inevitable?
Not anything that was inevitable, just a cause-relationship between afib and mis-processing sugars. The one thing that does seem inevitable is that your tolerance for sugars seem to go down as you age, so afib will happen more often and last longer, which I have noticed is the case with me, and which all my doctors said happens to everyone. Oh - the joys of getting old!!
- Rick Hyer.
I am 75 and was diagnosed with paroxysmal AF two years ago. I have never been overweight and hardly have any sugar apart from in fruit and the occasionally honey and an echocardiogram showed nothing wrong with my heart- also used to take regular exercise and was considered very fit and healthy for my age. As someone else has mentioned, we need more research but as most seems to be funded by drug companies with the aim of selling us more drugs, there is, sadly, little encouragement for research of this kind. We'll have to arrange it between ourselves. How shall we go abut it? For myself, my problems seem to stem from an episode of shingles some three years ago. We are all different! Should we record each episode of AF with ideas of possible triggers?
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That's how I started out. That's why it took me 9 years to find out what was wrong. So that it doesn't take you 9 years you might want to zero in on sugars first, but who knows. The shingles could have changed your metabolism a little, or done damage to one of your organs or glands (which I think is the root problem). I know sugars triggers afib but I don't know which gland or organ is mis-processing sugar, and neither do the doctors. I guess you just have to find something you are willing to live with. (this getting old really reeks, hey??).
- Rick Hyer.
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I read about sleep apnoea too as I wee a good deal at night (though I can go for ages without during the day) but when I mentioned that to the doctor, she said it couldn't be that as I am not overweight (she is!) and I don't snore loudly- but I saw a post from a guy who is also in the sleep problems section and he had been diagnosed with that even though he wasn't over weight etc. I guess doctors are just trained to tick boxes and not to really think. I don't think I could bare to stop having fruit and we have some lovely grapes from our vine at the moment. I've given up the very small amount of alcohol I used to drink and had not had any proper tea or coffee for years before the diagnosis so am peeved to get this but as you say getting old is no picnic and things could be worse!
Thanks for posting! For the average person e.g. myself I think AF can trigger due to a build up of many factors rather than just one. I have cut sugar and gluten by 80% and feel better but no clue whether it this is key or a myriad of other lifestyle actions I have taken to deal with the matter including 200gms of Flecainide daily. All I know is I feel great..... but my PSA is rising - next test results on Friday!
Possibly could be something else, but I would eliminate sugar as a trigger before spending years looking for something else. (Also - dehydration triggers afib as well). Also - meds can change your chemistry so if you are on anything strong it may affect your other body organ or gland functions. At least you are doing one big correct thing - keeping a close watch on your body. So many people don't do that and just let a doctor tell them what's wrong. Good luck.
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