How Does Too Much Sugar Affect Your Body?
You probably already know that eating a lot of sugar is not good for you. However, you might still be overdoing it. The average caloric intake is 270 calories per day, which is about 17 teaspoons per day, compared to the recommended limit of about 12 teaspoons per day or 200 calories.
Sugary drinks, candy, baked goods, and sweetened dairy products are the main sources of added sugar. But even salty foods, like bread, ketchup, and protein bars, can contain sugar, which makes it very easy to get an excess of the sweet stuff. To complicate matters further, it can be difficult to identify added sugars on nutrition labels as they can be listed under a number of names, such as corn syrup, agave syrup, palm sugar, cane juice, or sucrose.
Your Teeth
You probably rolled your eyes at age 12, but your mother was right, candy can rot your teeth. Bacteria that cause cavities love to eat sugar lingering in your mouth after you eat something sweet.
Regardless of its name, sugar is sugar and if an excess can negatively affect your body in several ways. Here's a closer look at how sugar is affecting your health, from head to toe.
Your Joints
If you have joint pain, here’s more reason to lay off the candy. - eating lots of sweets has been shown to worsen joint pain because of the inflammation they cause in the body. Plus, studies show that sugar consumption can increase your risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
Your Skin
Another side effect of inflammation - it may make your skin age faster.
Excess sugar attaches to proteins in your bloodstream and creates harmful molecules called “AGEs,” or advanced glycation end products. These molecules do exactly what they sound like they do: age your skin. They have been shown to damage collagen and elastin in your skin -- protein fibers that keep your skin firm and youthful. The result? Wrinkles and saggy skin.
Your Liver
An abundance of added sugar likely contains fructose or high fructose corn syrup. Fructose is process in the liver and in large amounts can damage the liver. When fructose is broken down in the liver it is transformed into fat. In turn this causes:
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD): This is seen as excess fat build-up in the liver.
Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH): is a fatty liver, inflammation and "steatosis," which is scarring of the liver. Scarring eventually cuts off blood supply to the liver. Many of these develop into cirrhosis and will need a liver transplant.
Your Heart
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When you eat excess sugar, the extra
insulin in your bloodstream can affect your arteries all over your body.
It causes their walls to get inflamed, grow thicker than normal and more stiff,
this stresses your heart and damages it over time. This can lead to heart disease, like heart failure, heart attacks, and strokes. Research also suggests that eating less sugar
can help lower blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease. Plus,
people who eat a lot of added sugar (where at least 25% of their calories comes
from added sugar) are twice as likely to die of heart disease as those whose
diets include less than 10% of total calories from added sugar.
Your Pancrea
When you eat, your pancreas pumps out insulin. But if you’re eating way too much sugar and your body stops responding properly to insulin, your pancreas starts pumping out even more insulin. Eventually, your overworked pancreas will break down and your blood sugar levels will rise, setting you up for type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Your Kidneys
If you have diabetes, too much sugar can lead to kidney damage. The kidneys play an important role in filtering your blood. Once blood sugar levels reach a certain amount, the kidneys start to release excess sugar into your urine. If left uncontrolled, diabetes can damage the kidneys, which prevents them from doing their job in filtering out waste in your blood. This can lead to kidney failure.
Your Body Weight
This probably isn’t news to you, but the more sugar you eat, the more you’ll weigh. Research shows that people who drink sugar-sweetened beverages tend to weigh more -- and be at higher risk for type 2 diabetes -- than those who don’t. One study even found that people who increased their sugar intake gaine لمd about 1.7 pounds in less than 2 months. Excess amounts of sugar can inflame fat cells causing them to release chemicals that increase weight.
Your Sexual Health
You may want to skip the dessert on date night. Sugar may impact the chain of events needed for an erection.
“One common side effect of chronically high levels of sugar in the bloodstream is that it can make men impotent,” explains Brunilda Nazario, MD, WebMD’s Lead Medical Director. This is because it affects your circulatory system, which controls the blood flow throughout your body and needs to be working properly to get and keep an erection.
. Your immune function can be affected by sugar
As if being sick wasn’t bad enough, studies have shown that sugar can interfere with the way your body fights disease.5 Bacteria and yeast feed on sugar, so excess glucose in the body causes these organisms to build up and cause infections.
. A high-sugar diet can lead to chromium deficiency
Chromium, a trace mineral, helps regulate blood sugar in the body. While it can be found in meats, seafood, and plant foods, 90% of Americans still don’t get enough chromium because of refining starches.6 Other carbohydrates can also rob foods of their chromium supplies, so limiting your carbs is your best bet for increasing those mineral levels
. Sugar affects cognition in children
Let’s not forget about our little ones! When New York City public schools reduced the amount of sugar in their lunches and breakfasts, their academic ranking increased 15.7% (previously, the greatest improvement ever seen had been 1.7%).11 The study also eliminated artificial colors, synthetic flavoring, and two preservatives, showing the importance of natural ingredients for children.
. Sugar increases stress
When we’re under stress, our bodies immediately kick into fight-or-flight mode, releasing large amounts of hormones. Surprisingly, the body has the same chemical response when blood sugar is low. After you eat a sweet snack, stress hormones begin to compensate for the crash by raising your blood sugar. The result? Unexplained anxiousness, irritability, and even shakiness.
. Sugar takes the place of important nutrients
According to USDA data, people who consume the most sugar have the lowest intakes of essential nutrients––especially vitamins A, C, B-12, and calcium. The trade-off is especially dangerous for children and teens, who simultaneously consume the most sugar and need the most nutrients.12
Now that you understand the negative effects of sugar on your body and mind, it’s time to be more careful when choosing foods. The first step is getting educated about how to find added sugars. When it comes to convenience and packaged foods, let the ingredients label be your guide—you’d be surprised how many low carb or “diet” foods contain added sugar.
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