I'm a cardiologist — the 4 worst drinks for heart health including a ‘dangerous' Starbucks order
Dr. Evan Levine is a cardiologist in Scarsdale, New York with over 30 years of experience. He also runs a very popular TikTok channel where he frequently doles out brutally honest — and often a little comical — advice on topics like preventing a heart attack and which healthcare 'quacks' to ignore.
He recently shared a video revealing the 'ten most toxic drinks for your heart.' We spoke to Levine about which beverages made his top four — including a previous personal favorite — and why.
We'd hate to break your heart — but that caramel frap might be a poison arrow to your arteries.
'A grande iced frap used to be my favorite,' Levine told The Post. 'Until i realized i actually got a high off this stuff and then crashed within two hours.'
That's because it's got almost 100 mg of caffeine and 51 grams of sugar — the equivalent of 13 teaspoons.
'People may not realize but that's almost as much sugar as the Monster energy drink — 57 grams — but less than the 160 mg of caffeine.'
Still, Levine believes 'it's potentially dangerous stress on the heart for anyone with heart disease to drink these concoctions of caffeine and sugar and a perfect storm to induce palpitations.'
He notes that's especially true for anyone trying to get a little pick-me-up.
'Adding alcohol for a boost or a hangover cure only makes it worse,' he warns.
According to Levine, drinking booze is 'likely safe if you have one or less drinks a day if you have no heart problems, but alcohol intake increases blood pressure, triglycerides, atrial fibrillation and — in higher doses — is a direct toxin to the heart, so much so we have a phrase in cardiology — alcohol cardiomyopathy.'
Alcohol cardiomyopathy is a heart condition caused specifically by chronic heavy alcohol consumption — and it can be fatal.
Before you ask — yes, Levine concurs with the recent debunking of the common wisdom that a couple of glasses of red wine a day is good for your heart.
'There's nothing heart healthy here and all those studies — most sponsored by the alcohol or wine industry — were likely flawed observational studies, with an association with better outcome but not causation,' he said.
'Simply put: people who drank a glass of wine may have been more athletic or had some other unaccounted benefit.'
Looks like a can of pop is no better.
'Lets be simple here: a can of soda has 10 teaspoons of sugar in it or the equivalent amount of corn syrup,' he said. 'It's toxic.'
These huge doses of sugar — which mostly come in the form of corn syrup in the US — raise triglycerides, increase your weight, spike your blood sugar levels, and give your diabetes risk an uptick — all of which damage the heart, according to Levine.
'I want everyone to imagine drinking 1/5 of a cup of pure corn syrup because that's what you're doing every time you drink a can of Coke,' he said.
Last but not least — energy drinks might be battery acid for the heart.
'Drinks like Red Bull have about 1.5 times the caffeine as coffee but also contain almost eight teaspoons or more of sugar — or worse, corn syrup,' he said. 'The Monster energy drink has almost 15 teaspoons of it.'
A devastated mother has been sounding the alarm about energy drinks after her 28-year-old 'workout queen' daughter died at the age of 28 from a heart attack.
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