Adverse Effects of Sugar
Reading the adverse effects of sugar can make you anxious for they are endless-
As stated previously, the liver can only metabolize sugar to an extent. The fructose that’s leftover is converted into fat in the liver1, raising our risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.2
1 in 11 adults of the age 20-79 years group have diabetes, that’s 463 million people!3
More than 11,500 people die every single day because of diabetes!3
It’s no surprise that sugar makes us fat. But increased sugar consumption can cause inflammation, it could lead to arthritis and joint pains.4 Inflammation can make us look old. Sugar attaches itself to proteins in our blood, causing harmful new molecules. These molecules directly damage the collagen, elastin and other fibers of our skin making it wrinkled and saggy.5
Sugar makes us addicted to itself. It lit up parts of our brain just like cocaine. Every time we consume it, the brain releases the pleasure chemical ‘Dopamine’. Fruits and Vegetables got no competition here with Sugar because they never release as much dopamine as sugar does.6, 7
It affects our mood, giving a sudden burst of energy by raising our blood sugar levels. When this level is lost, we feel anxious and stressed. To feel good again, we will crave for more sugar!
As time goes on, our sensitivity to dopamine decreases, causing our brain to need more to feel the same amount of pleasure.
And its effect on the brain is not only limited to anxiety, but it also affects how and how much we learn and remember. 8, 9
We may roll our eyes on this, but eating sugar rot our teeth as bacterias love to feast on the leftovers in our mouth after we eat those bunch of cake and candies.10
Whenever we eat, our pancreas produces insulin which regulates metabolism. Too much sugar disrupts the balance. Our body stops responding properly to that insulin as a result, the stressed-out pancreas starts pumping even more insulin eventually causing its breakdown leaving us with a sudden lethal rise in our blood sugar levels.11
Furthermore, this extra insulin in our bloodstream inflames the walls of our arteries, grows thicker than normal, becomes more stiff and rigid, bumping up our blood pressure, stressing our heart and damaging it in the long run.12
It disrupts the functioning of our kidneys, once blood sugar levels reach a certain level, kidneys fail to clear glucose out of our urine, this damages the kidney’s ability to clear sugar out.13
And this is not even the worst part. The nightmarish effect of excess sugar is that it can make us impotent! That’s true. As explained above, sugar in the bloodstream impacts the circulatory system and its ability to direct blood flow where it is needed. So, bye-bye erection!14
Now by the end of this, we wonder, why?
If the adverse effects of sugar are as harmful as drugs, why don’t we curb it?? Maybe a strict diet routine or something can solve this issue?
Diet routine is certainly the step in the right direction, but that won’t be enough.
The answer to this is a lot more complex and controversial than you could have imagined.
To be continue…
TL;DR - Long Story Short
Sugar’s adverse effects include (inhales) diabetes (duh!), liver problems, joint inflammation, skin problems, heart problems, blood pressure, addiction issues, depression, anxiety and mood swings, dental problems, kidney problems, impotence, etc (sighs)
1)Boyles, S. (2008, July 31). Fructose May Make You Fatter. Retrieved August 02, 2020, from webmd.
2)Staff, S. (2019, December 20). Overspill of fat shown to cause Type 2 diabetes. Retrieved August 02, 2020, from medicalxpress.com
3)International Diabetes Federation. IDF Diabetes Atlas, 9th Edition 2019.
4)Pi H, Zhou H, Jin H, Ning Y, Wang Y. Abnormal Glucose Metabolism in Rheumatoid Arthritis. Biomed Res Int. 2017;2017:9670434. doi:10.1155/2017/9670434
5)Lindberg, S. (2019, July 15). Yes, eating a lot of sugar can affect your skin. Here’s how. Retrieved August 02, 2020, from insider.com
6)Avena NM, Rada P, Hoebel BG. Evidence for sugar addiction: behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2008;32(1):20-39. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2007.04.019. Epub 2007 May 18. PMID: 17617461; PMCID: PMC2235907.
7)Wiss DA, Avena N, Rada P. Sugar Addiction: From Evolution to Revolution. Front Psychiatry. 2018 Nov 7;9:545. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00545. PMID: 30464748; PMCID: PMC6234835.
8)Avena NM, Bocarsly ME, Rada P, Kim A, Hoebel BG. After daily bingeing on a sucrose solution, food deprivation induces anxiety and accumbens dopamine/acetylcholine imbalance. Physiol Behav. 2008;94(3):309-315. doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2008.01.008
9)Chepulis LM, Starkey NJ, Waas JR, Molan PC. The effects of long-term honey, sucrose or sugar-free diets on memory and anxiety in rats. Physiol Behav. 2009;97(3-4):359-368. doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2009.03.001
10)Sheiham A, James WP. Diet and Dental Caries: The Pivotal Role of Free Sugars Reemphasized. J Dent Res. 2015;94(10):1341-1347. doi:10.1177/0022034515590377
11)Dansinger, M. (2019, September 09). Diabetes and Your Pancreas: What’s the Link? Retrieved August 02, 2020, from webmd.com
12)DiNicolantonio JJ, Lucan SC. The wrong white crystals: not salt but sugar as aetiological in hypertension and cardiometabolic disease. Open Heart. 2014 Nov 3;1(1):e000167. doi: 10.1136/openhrt-2014-000167. PMID: 25717381; PMCID: PMC4336865.
13)Gerich JE. Role of the kidney in normal glucose homeostasis and in the hyperglycaemia of diabetes mellitus: therapeutic implications. Diabet Med. 2010 Feb;27(2):136-42. doi: 10.1111/j.1464-5491.2009.02894.x. PMID: 20546255; PMCID: PMC4232006.
14)Cellek, S., Cameron, N., Cotter, M., & Muneer, A. (2012, August 23). Pathophysiology of diabetic erectile dysfunction: Potential contribution of vasa nervorum and advanced glycation endproducts. Retrieved August 02, 2020, from nature.com
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