The dangerous truth about added sugar

Sugar occurs naturally in all carbohydrates-containing foods, such as fruits and vegetables, grains, and dairy. Since these foods are slowly digested by your body, the sugar in them provides a steady supply of energy to your cells.

Consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains has also been shown to lower the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers.

However, problems arise when you consume too much added sugar, which is sugar added to foods by manufacturers to enhance flavour or extend shelf life.

Here’s an in-depth look at how sugar can harm your health

Weight gain

According to research. Sugary beverage drinkers consistently weigh more than non-drinkers. Sugar-sweetened beverages, such as sodas, juices, and sweet teas, are high in fructose, a type of simple sugar.

Fructose stimulates your appetite and desire for food more than glucose. Excessive fructose consumption may result in leptin resistance, an important hormone that regulates hunger and tells your body to stop eating, making it easy to consume a large number of liquid calories quickly. This can result in weight gain.

Increases Risk of Heart Disease

High-sugar diets have been linked to an increased risk of a variety of diseases, including heart disease.

Obesity, inflammation, and high triglyceride, blood sugar, and blood pressure levels are all risk factors for heart disease, according to research.

Furthermore, excessive sugar consumption, particularly from sugar-sweetened beverages, has been linked to atherosclerosis, a disease characterized by fatty, artery-clogging deposits.

Increases Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

Obesity, which is frequently caused by consuming too much sugar, is regarded as the most significant risk factor for diabetes. Furthermore, long-term high-sugar consumption leads to insulin resistance, a pancreatic hormone that regulates blood sugar levels. Insulin resistance raises blood sugar levels, increasing your risk of diabetes significantly.

Causes Acne

High glycemic index foods, such as processed sweets, raise your blood sugar faster than low glycemic index foods. Sugary foods rapidly raise blood sugar and insulin levels, resulting in increased androgen secretion, oil production, and inflammation, all of which contribute to acne formation.

Low-glycemic diets have been linked to a lower risk of acne, whereas high-glycemic diets have been linked to a higher risk. A study of 2,300 teenagers, found that those who frequently consumed added sugar had a 30% higher risk of developing acne.

Furthermore, many population studies have shown that rural communities that eat traditional, unprocessed foods have almost no acne when compared to more urban, high-income areas.

Accelerates the Skin Aging Process

Wrinkles are a normal part of the aging process. They will appear regardless of your health. Nevertheless, poor food choices, can exacerbate wrinkles and hasten the aging process of the skin.

When sugar reacts with certain proteins in the body, it triggers the formation of Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) which could cause damage to collagen and elasticin, the two proteins that help the skin stretch and retain its youthful appearance. As a result, the skin loses firmness and begins to sag.

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Causes Depression

A high-sugar, processed-food diet may increase your chances of developing depression. Sugar is addictive because it raises the levels of opioids and dopamine in the brain, a phenomenon known as “sugar rush.”

A high intake of processed foods, including sugary products, has been linked to an increased risk of depression and mood swings.

Leads to Fatty liver

Added sugar contains fructose which is converted into energy by the liver or stored as glycogen. However, the liver can only store so much glycogen before it converts it to fat. Excess fructose overloads your liver, causing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a condition characterized by excessive fat buildup in the liver.