Sugar consumption affects organs throughout the body, including the liver & heart. It increases your risk of disease. It can affect your thought processes. It can even affect the appearance of your skin. Sugar messes with your functioning from head to toe- from a minor annoyance to life-threatening health conditions.
When you consume too much sugar, the extra insulin in your bloodstream can cause problems with your arteries throughout your body. It causes their walls to become inflamed, thicker than normal, and stiffer, which stresses and damages your heart over time. Heart disease, such as heart failure, heart attacks, and strokes, can result as a result of this.
Here are 8 reasons why eating too much
sugar is bad for health.
1.Effect on your brain:
Sugar has the potential to be addictive & could cause
neurochemical changes in the brain. When we eat sweet foods the brain’s reward
system – called the mesolimbic dopamine system- gets activated. Dopamine is a brain
chemical released by neurons and can signal that an event was positive. When
the reward system fires, it reinforces behaviors- making it more likely for us
to carry out these actions again. Dopamine “hits" from eating sugar,
promote rapid learning to preternaturally find more of these foods.
2. Effect on your skin:
Sugar damages your skin through a natural process called glycation. The sugar in your bloodstream attaches to proteins and produces harmful free radicals called advanced glycation end products (AGES). As AGES accumulate ( the more sugar you eat, the more they develop) they damage the proteins around them. Too much sugar can increase
inflammation, resulting in acne and conditions like rosacea.
3.May increase risk of heart disease:
When you eat excess sugar, the extra insulin in
your bloodstream can affect your arteries all over your body. It causes their
walls to get inflamed, grow thicker than normal, and stiffer, this stresses
your heart and damages it over time. This can lead to heart disease like heart
failure, heart attacks, and strokes. Too much sugar hardens arteries and damaged heart
tissues.
4.Can cause weight gain:
Consuming too much added sugar especially from sugary beverages, increases your risk of weight gain & can lead to visceral fat accumulation. Sugar provides on average 4 calories per gram without any nutrients. Added sugar in your diet may provide excess calories of which will be stored in the body as fat. Foods containing lots of refined sugar are high in calories but those calories are nutritionally empty.
5.Can lead to the fatty liver:
Large amounts of added sugar in the form of fructose overload your liver, leading to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease ( NAFLD ), a condition characterized by an excessive fat build-up in the liver.
6.Increase the risk of type-2 diabetes:
When you eat, your pancreas pumps out insulin. But
if you’re eating way too much sugar and your body stops responding properly to
insulin, your pancreas starts pumping out even more insulin. Eventually, your overworked pancreas will
break down and your blood sugar levels will rise, setting you up for type-2
diabetes.
7.Effect on your kidneys:
If you have diabetes, too much sugar can lead to kidney damage. The kidneys play an important role in filtering your blood. Once blood sugar levels reach certain amounts, the kidneys start to release excess sugar into your urine. If left uncontrolled, diabetes can damage kidneys, which prevents them from doing their job in filtering out waste in your blood. This can lead to kidney failure.
8.Other health risks:
Tooth decay: Eating too much sugar can cause cavities. Bacteria in your mouth feed on sugar and release acid byproducts. Which cause tooth demineralization.
Fertility: High blood sugar impairs reproductive function in both men and women.
Stomach: Eating too much-refined sugar negatively alters your gut microbiome.
Immune system: sugar causes inflammation and there is overwhelming evidence that sugar weakens the immune system.
What is a safe
amount of sugar to eat per day?
According to the American health association ( AHA ), the maximum amount of added sugar you should eat in a day is,
Men: 150 calories per day ( 37.5 grams or 9 teaspoons)
Women: 100 calories per day ( 25 grams or 6 teaspoons)
How to consume less sugar?
While sugar is naturally found in foods like fruits and vegetables, this type has little effect on your blood sugar and is considered very healthy. Fruits and vegetables also contain lots of healthy vitamins and minerals. The danger is from added sugars in processed food.
1.Read labels:
To see if a food has sugars added, you will need to check the ingredients list. Food companies also use more than 50 other names for added sugar, which makes it more difficult to spot.
Here are some of the most common:
- High fructose corn syrup
- Cane sugar or juice
- Maltose
- Dextrose
- Invert sugar
- Molasses
- Caramel
- Rice syrup
2.Cut back on sugar-filled drinks:
Sodas, energy drinks, and fruit drinks contribute an astounding 44% of added sugar.
Here are some better, lower-sugar drink options.
- Sparkling water with a squeeze of fresh lemon or time – homemade soda
- Water with mint and cucumber
- Tea and coffee: stick to unsweetened tea or black coffee.
- Herbal or fruit teas: drink them hot or cold with ice.
3.Avoid sugar-loaded desserts:
Most desserts don’t provide much in the way of nutritional value. They are loaded with sugar, which causes blood sugar spikes and can leave you feeling tired, hungry & cravings more sugar.
If you really feel the need for something sweet, try these:
- Fresh fruits: naturally sweet and full of fibers, vitamins, and minerals.
- Dark chocolate: in general, the higher the cocoa content, the lower the sugar.
- A handful of dates: they’re naturally sweet and extremely nutritious.
4. Eat whole foods:
Whole foods are free of added sugar and other additives commonly found in processed food. Eating more whole foods and cooking from scratch will reduce sugar intake.
5.check for sugar in canned foods :
Canned foods, including canned fruits and vegetables, may contain added sugar. Always read labels to ensure you choose the version without them.
Educating yourself on the effects of sugar on your body is the first step to taking control of your body sugar consumption.
Blog by Dr. Khushi Joshi( PT)
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