29 Jul 20 Reasons to Reduce Your Sugar Intake Now
Reduce your sugar intake!!! But why??
We often hear “sugar is bad” but what are the reasons? There are actually more than a hundred ways it affects us. The following are 20 ways sugar affects our mind and bodies.
- Ageing: Sugar attaches to proteins in your body to form what is known as advanced glycation products. These glycation products then damage collagen and elastin which reduce the firmness of skin. The result is wrinkles!
- Metabolic syndrome: One of the markers of metabolic syndrome is high fasting plasma glucose. Excessive sugar intake overtime can raise fasting glucose levels giving rise to metabolic syndrome.
- Immune system: The amount of sugar in a can of soft drink has been shown to suppress the immune system by 30% for up to 3 hours after ingestion. If your sugar intake continues throughout the day that time is lengthened which is not good news for keeping illness at bay.
- Minerals: Because sugar is a refined substance. In order to digest it minerals are leached from the body such as calcium and magnesium. Magnesium is responsible for serotonin and energy production. Mineral deficiency of any kind will impact your body in some way.
- Cancer: Excess sugar creates an acidic environment in the body and cancer cells thrive in this acidic environment.
- Weight Gain: Sugar provides high amounts of energy in small serves. Excesses intake results in weight gain.
- Addiction: Sugar affects opioids and dopamine in the brain which results in addiction and withdrawl when it is stopped.
- Mood swings: The crashing effect from coming down from a sugar hit in turn effects mood.
- Brain fog: The drop in blood glucose levels after a sugar high effects cognition and gives rise to brain fog effecting memory, concentration and clarity of mind.
- Tooth health: When sugar demineralises the body of calcium your teeth which contain large amount of calcium will also be leached weakening dental structure.
- Alters cholesterol ratios: Sugar lowers high density lipoproteins (HDL’s) the bodies “good cholesterol”. With cholesterol you need HDL’s to be higher than the less favourable LDL cholesterol for optimal health.
- Imbalance gut bacteria: Excess sugar causes fermentation by products which dysbiotic bacteria thrives on. Dysbiosis has a range of effects on the body such as lowered energy, sluggishness and digestive disorders.
- Yeast infection: Sugar feeds candida which is responsible for yeast infections such as thrush.
- Eyesight: Excessive sugar can lead to damage to the capillaries in the eyes which over time can result in changes in vision.
- Hormone imbalance: Sugar stimulates insulin. When insulin rises cortisol is released. Increases in cortisol in turn unbalance hormone levels.
- DNA: A study showed that human genes remember a sugar hit 2 weeks after occurrence and prolonged sugar intake is capable of permanently altering DNA.
- Contribute to heart disease: Excessive sugar stores in the liver as triglycerides. This type of fat can travel through the blood stream and attach to the walls of artery’s contributing to plaque formation. An initiating factor in heart attack.
- Fatty liver: Excess glucose gets stored in the liver which can lead to the inflammatory liver condition known as fatty liver.
- Constipation: Refined sugar foods in general lack fibre or are found in high amounts in diuretic substance such as coffee and alcohol. Both low fibre and dehydration caused by diuretics are precursors to constipation.
- Life span: The above conditions caused by high sugar intake inturn lead to a shortened life span.
REFERENCES
- Journal of Experimental Medicine (2008) Transient high glucose causes persistent epigenetic changes and altered gene expression during subsequent normoglycemia. 29; 205(10):2409-17
- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1973) “Role of Sugars in Human Neutrophilic Phagocytosis.”
