"Obese children who cut sugar from their diets saw improvements in markers of heart disease after just nine days a study in Atherosclerosis found https For the study researchers evaluated  children ages  to  who were obese and at high risk for heart disease and Type  diabetes. The children were given food and drinks totaling the same number of calories fat protein and carbohydrates as their typical diets.  The only change was their sugar intake The researchers swapped foods high in added sugars like pastries and sweetened yogurts for options like bagels and pizza. This lowered dietary sugar from  percent to  percent and fructose from  percent to  percent of total calories. After nine days the researchers found a  percent drop in triglycerides a type of fat tied to heart disease a  percent reduction in a protein called apoCIII that is tied to high triglyceride levels and large reductions in small dense LDL cholesterol a risk factor for heart disease. Though this study is small and shortterm it builds on this groups previous research implicating added sugars httpswell.blogs.nytimes.comcuttingsugarimproveschildrenshealthinjustdays as a contributor to metabolic disorders and heart disease. Sugar calories are not like other carbohydrate calories said Dr. Robert Lustig a coauthor of the study and professor of pediatrics at Benioff Childrens Hospital at the University of California San Francisco. Without changing total carbohydrate or fat or protein we were able to accomplish this enormous improvement in their cardiovascular risk factors unrelated to weight loss he said."