Health Risks of Excess Sugar Consumption

Almost all processed foods and products contain sugars and all sorts of sugar substitutes. Some of the products you even least expect contain sugar. Ranging from your peanut butter to your milk. Since a lot of people rely on processed foods than real organic foods, and these processed foods contain sugar or sugar substitutes. Therefore, their daily calorie and sugar intake heighten.  However, dieticians have advised that calorie intake through the excessive consumption of sugar should be reduced to the barest minimum.

Medical professionals believe that one of the culprits of certain chronic health conditions like type 2 diabetes and obesity is excessive blood sugar.

The following are reasons why excess sugar is bad for your health.

Obesity

Excess consumption of sugar can make you put on unnecessary weight, which automatically leads to obesity if it is not monitored and controlled. The rate at which people get obese in the world today is on the rise, and excess sugar consumption, mostly from sweet beverages, is suspected to be the major cause.

Some beverages like sodas and fruit juices are packed with a simple sugar known as fructose. When this simple sugar is consumed in high amounts, your hunger increases simultaneously, and the need to eat more food or anything edible engulfs you. This is in contrast to glucose, which is the major sugar in starchy foods.

In addition, when fructose becomes too much in your blood, it can inhibit the function of the hormone that regulates hunger in your body. Thus, it prevents the hormone from telling you when to stop eating.

Since sugary foods do not manage your hunger, and it makes you eat, even more, you tend to begin to add unnecessary weight, which would eventually lead to obesity if proper care is not taken.

According to research, people who do not drink sugary beverages weigh lesser than people who do.

Some other researches found that sugar and other sugar substitutes increase the visceral fat in the deeper part of your belly, which can expose you to the risk of developing heart diseases or diabetes.

Heart Disease

One of the risk factors of heart diseases is the excessive consumption of sugar and sugar substitutes like aspartame, saccharine, and so on. While heart disease, on the other hand, is on the list of the top or major causes of death worldwide.

According to studies, all the risk factors of heart diseases like; inflammation, obesity, high blood sugar are all caused by high sugar meals and edibles.

Another heart-related illness that has been associated with excessive consumption of sugar is atherosclerosis- a condition whereby the arteries are clogged with fat. The research found that people who consume between 18 to 20% calories from sugar and sugar substitutes have about a 40% chance of dying from chronic heart-related issues, compared to those consuming only 7 to 8 grams daily.

By calculation, an average sugary drink contains about 52 grams of sugar, which is about 15% higher than your required daily intake of calories. Automatically, one bottle of a sugary drink per day could expose you to heart-related illnesses which could kill you.

Acne

Though from few studies, however, a link has been created between the excessive consumption of sugar and refined carbs and the excess growth and development of acne. Also, foods with a high glycemic index increase blood sugar rapidly compared to foods with a low glycemic index.

When sugary foods enter the body, the blood sugar level skyrockets and increase insulin, encourage oil production and androgen secretion, which are the major culprits of acne.

Research carried out among teens showed that those who consumed more sugar had more acne cases than those who did not. While some other studies found that people in rural areas where there are fewer sugary processed foods have fewer acne cases, compared to those who live in high-income urban areas where processed foods are easily and unapologetically substituted for real and organic foods.

All these studies put together to prove that excess sugar diets are associated with the development of acne.

Type 2 Diabetes

Over the years, the predominance of type 2 diabetes has tripled. Although, there are other causal factors associated with this. However, excessive sugar consumption is the leading cause of type 2 diabetes.

One of the highest risk factors of type 2 diabetes is obesity, and obesity, on the other hand, is caused by sugar-laden meals and beverages.

In addition, when the insulin becomes resistant and reluctant to function due to excess blood sugar, the risk of diabetes grows.

Cancer

The development of certain cancers has been linked with the consumption of excess sugar. To begin with, sugary foods and beverages cause obesity, which heightens your cancer risks. Insulin resistance and inflammation from high blood sugar can also expose you to the risks of certain kinds of cancers.

The research found that people with high sugar consumption had risks of developing small intestine, pleural and esophageal cancers.

May Induce Depression

A healthy diet equals a healthy mood. When you consume poor diets and feed poorly, your chances of slipping into depression may heighten. In such a manner, consuming high sugar meals can increase your risks of being depressed.

May Speed Up Aging

Aging fast is definitely one thing almost every human does not want. Everybody wants to remain and stay young and vibrant for as long as they can. Hence the popular aphorism “the panic of growing older.” Well, if you do not want to look older than your age, and if you want to remain as youthful as you can, a number of factors have to be considered. One of which is poor feeding habits and diets.

When wrinkles begin to grow on your face, regardless of how young or old you are, you begin to panic. Not feeding well can speed up the rate at which old age signs pour into your life.

Studies found that the reaction between protein and sugar in your body can birth compounds like advanced glycation end products, which are still being suspected for playing important roles in quick aging. Excessive consumption of refined carbs and excessive sugar can cause premature wrinkling and aging of the skin.

In addition, this aforementioned compound causes damage to the tissue responsible for the elasticity of the skin. At this point, the damages make the skin lose its firmness and elasticity.

Zaps Energy

It is no longer news that high carbs and sugary foods increase insulin and blood sugar levels, which fortunately and interestingly provides energy.  However, this sudden energy is deceptive as it does not last. Meals or diets that are packed with sugar but do not have protein, fat, or fiber in them tend to provide a short-lived energy boost. This sudden energy boost is usually followed by a crash, that is, a sudden drop in your energy levels. In other words, as much as they provide you with sudden energy, the energy tends to disappear suddenly, too, just as it came.

Consequently, blood sugar instability or fluctuations can lead to a simultaneous fluctuation in energy levels.

In order to avoid this, it is best to choose a meal or diet that is low in sugar and carbs but rather high in protein and fiber. With this, energy stability can be achieved.

Fatty Liver

Fructose is either stored as glycogen in the liver, or it is converted to energy in the body. When fructose, a simple sugar, becomes too much in the body, the risks of fatty liver increases. This is because, unlike glucose, which is popular and is used by several cells of the body, fructose is acted upon by only the liver. Thus, when the fructose content in the blood is high, it tells on the liver. The liver takes the one it can process and convert, while the remaining excesses are turned into fat. Hence the fatty liver that results from excessive consumption of sugar (fructose especially.)

In conclusion, consuming excess sugar can be detrimental to your health. As much as sugar is essentially needed for the body, you must be careful not to consume it in excess amounts. A great number of health issues have been associated with high carb and sugar diets, some of which include; heart diseases, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Prevention is better than cure. It is best to reduce your excessive sugar intake to treating and managing chronic illnesses caused by the excessive sugar consumption that you could have avoided.