Sugar - the worst ingredient in our diet

Sugar is the worst ingredient in the diet. It can have harmful effects on metabolism and contribute to all sorts of diseases.

1. Added sugars (like sucrose and high fructose corn syrup) contain a whole bunch of calories with no essential nutrients. Sugar is also very bad for the teeth, because it provides easily digestible energy for the bad bacteria in the mouth.

2. For people who are inactive and eat a Western diet, large amounts of fructose from added sugars get turned into fat in the liver.

3.When fructose get turned into fat in the liver, it is shipped out as VLDL cholesterol particles. However, not all of the fat gets out, some of it can lodge in the liver.This can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

4. When people eat a lot of sugar, it can cause resistance to the hormone insulin, which can contribute to many diseases including metabolic syndrome, obesity, cardiovascular disease and especially type II diabetes.

5. When our cells become resistant to the effects of insulin, the beta cells in our pancreas make more of it. Eventually, as insulin resistance becomes progressively worse, the pancreas cannot keep up with the demand of producing enough insulin to keep blood sugar levels down.

At this point, blood sugar levels skyrocket contributing to type II diabetes.

6. Many scientists believe that having constantly elevated insulin levels (a consequence of sugar consumption) can contribute to cancer because insulin is one of the key hormones in regulating cell growth and multiplication.

 

In addition, the metabolic problems associated with sugar consumption are a known driver of inflammation, another potential cause of cancer. Studies show that people who eat a lot of sugar are at a much higher risk of getting cancer.

7. Due to its effects on hormones and the brain, sugar has unique fat-promoting effects. This is because fructose does not cause satiety in the brain or lower the hunger hormone ghrelin nearly as much as glucose.

8. Sugar can be addictive for a lot of people because sugar causes a release of dopamine in the reward center of the brain.

9. Because of the effects of sugar on hormones and the brain, sugar dramatically increases the risk of becoming overweight or obese. Sugar is a leading contributor to obesity in both children and adults. The way sugar affects hormones and the brain is a recipe for fat gain disaster.

People who consume the most sugar are by far the most likely to become overweight or obese. This applies to all age groups.

The link is especially strong in children, where each daily serving of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with a whopping 60% increased risk of obesity.

10. The evidence is mounting that sugar, NOT fat, may be one of the leading drivers of heart disease via the harmful effects of fructose on metabolism.

Studies show that large amounts of fructose can raise triglycerides, small, dense LDL and oxidized LDL, raise blood glucose and insulin levels and increase abdominal obesity in as little as 10 weeks.

These are all major risk factors for heart disease. Many observational studies find a strong statistical association between sugar consumption and the risk of heart disease.