Too much Sugar - A common addiction adversely affecting health
Too much sugar- A common addiction adversely affecting health
Who doesn't like the taste of sugar?
The
problem is that we can easily become addicted to it and consume so much that it
can become detrimental to our health.
How to reduce
sugar intake
How to overcome
sweet cravings
However, consider the copious amounts of added-sugar
(with calories) consumed in soft
and sports drinks, fruit juices, and almost all processed foods. Realize too that sugar
is not only in the foods typically acknowledged as sweetened, but its presence
also permeates
many other processed foods. E.g. Prego
spaghetti sauce lists sugar as its second highest ingredient content after
tomatoes (containing ~ 2 ½ tsps. / half cup)
Sugar consumption has escalated over the decades
In 2011, the USDA estimated the
average American consumed 12 teaspoons sugar /day.
That's over 1 ½ tons of sugar in a lifetime!
However, intake of
added-sugar (caloric sweeteners)
between 1999 and 2008 has SUPPOSEDLY decreased
significantly. A study by Welsh and colleagues concluded that
added-sugar intake,
although still higher
than recommended, had reduced primarily because of a reduction in consumption of sweetened
beverages (except energy drinks, which increased).
Welsh, 2011 ), but read on . . .
Data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
NHANES surveys and USDA Economic Research Service food disappearance records
provided data for this graph in a
2017 article by academic researcher Dr. Stephan Guyenet , which shows added-sugar consumption on the
decline as obesity increased.
This USDA data was altered. Robert
Greer, a lawyer who writes about food politics responded
to Guyenet in an article entitled "No,
sugar consumption hasn't fallen " that the USDA had altered the data at the (documented) request of the sugar
industr y. "Around 2011, the USDA changed its methodolgy for determining how much
sugar Americans consume, by revising its estimate of how much cane and beet
sugar was "lost" (i.e. produced but not eaten) from 20% to 34%. The industry
association argued that estimates should be even lower . " The result: a
reported 14% reduction in average per capita sugar consumption in the U.S.
from ~ 88 lbs / person to ~76lbs / person. Mr Greer concludes in an update
to his article evaluating new more credible evidence, that sugar consumption
may have fallen slightly off already
sky-high levels since around 2000.
Since 2000, added-sugar (contains calories)
has been replaced with no/low calorie non-nutritional
sweeteners (NNS). Although NNS contain no or few calories,
the artificial
NNS have never-the-less been shown to cause weight gain and their
consumption does correlate with obesity.
Do you think the U.S. has a weight or diabetes problem?
An estimated almost 1/3 of Americans aged 20 - 74 are now
obese, an additional 1/3
are overweight. Obesity rate has doubled since 1975.
Ogden
CL, Carroll MD, McDowell MA, Flegal KM. Obesity among adults in the United
States—No statistically significant change since 2003-2004. NCHS Data Brief No.
1. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics;
2007 .
p. 1-8
An estimated 1 out of 3 U.S. children are obese!
This author is irritated that the U.S. Department of Family and Children
will diligently investigate a claim brought by a teacher who thinks a child
looks too thin and underfed, but it is not considered a possible abuse when a child is seen to be significantly overweight
Obesity is the number one reason why applicants
fail to qualify for military service. A report by retired admirals and generals found
that 27% potential young recruits (~15,000 /year) fail their entrance physicals
due to being overweight and a whopping 75% of young people would not qualify to
join the military for the same reason.
Report by Mission: Readiness, an organization made up of retired admirals and
generals
Average global body weight is 136 pounds compared to 177 pounds in North
America. C alculated by scientists
using 2005 WHO data
Compare
less than 3 cases of diabetes per 100,000 people in the U.S. in 1893
to today, with diabetes striking
almost 8,000
i.e. 8.3% of the population!
"2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet,"January 26, 2011,American
Diabetes Association
Consuming too much added-sugar is one dietary factor involved in several adverse
health consequences
Other health-detrimental dietary factors include:
excessive fructose consumption
Excess sugar has detrimental effects on hormones controlling blood sugar and
appetite
Sugar
decreases the receptor INSULIN
and LEPTIN - causing high blood sugar / INSULIN resistance
(IR), which can lead to:
•
High blood
pressure and high cholesterol
•
Heart disease
•
Diabetes
•
Weight gain
•
Premature
aging
Sugar increases INSULIN for
the purpose of removing sugar from the blood into cells where it can be
metabolized.
▲
INSULIN
works mainly at the level of most
individual cells. INSULIN
tells each cell whether to burn or store fat or sugar and whether to utilize
produced energy for:
(i) Maintenance and repair - equates to increased longevity;
Or (ii) Reproduction
▲ Chronically high
INSULIN levels reduce sensitivity of
INSULIN receptors. This is referred to as
INSULIN resistance (IR), with consequential high blood glucose
levels and so called metabolic
syndrome, increasing risk of such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity and
premature aging
Sugar increases
LEPTIN
(the "satiety" hormone, produced by fat cells). At first sight, this may seem like a good thing, but read on . . .
▲
LEPTIN
works at the level of the whole body of cells. communicating with the brain
▲
LEPTIN sends signals
that:
(i) Reduce ▼ hunger,
(ii) Increase▲ fat burning
and (iii) Reduce▼ fat storage
▲
However, due to
chronically high levels LEPTIN,
in almost all overweight and obese people their LEPTIN
receptors have become resistant (even though
they have excess LEPTIN), LEPTIN signal is not being "heard"- i .e. the body can no longer
"hear"the messages telling it to stop eating and burning fat - and so it
remains hungry and stores more fat
LEPTIN - Weight Control Hormone
Sugar consumption triggers addiction process
Eating sugar
triggers the brain to produce opioids initiating the addiction process.
i.e. the brain
becomes addicted to stimulating release of its own opioids in just the same way
as partaking of morphine, heroin, cocaine, alcohol, cannabis and nicotine
Long-term stimulation of the brain's pleasure center
(nucleus accumbus) drives the
addiction process. On
consumption of an addictive substance such as sugar,
the pleasure centure receives a DOPAMINE
signal and you sense pleasure. Receiving pleasure is in fact essential to your
will to live, but you can overdo this need by chronically supplying the addictive substance . . . such that the
prolonged DOPAMINE exposure causes the
signal to weaken and you need more
of the addictive
substance to get the same effect. This is called TOLERANCE. If you stop
providing the addictive substance you go into WITHDRAWAL .
TOLERANCE + WITHDRAWAL = ADDICTION
This biochemical force is not
likely to be overcome with cognitive willpower, according to Dr. Robert Lustig,
professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, who has
been a pioneer in understanding sugar metabolism.
It is
speculated that high sugar diets also overstimulate the two sweet receptors on
the tongue - which in turn may be
over-stimulating the brain's reward signals
Sugar makes you fat
Over-consumption of sugar causes obesity.
Today's level of added-sugar consumption (mostly sucrose and HFCS) is undoubtedly a major
factor in the growing numbers of those who are obese.
Chronic overconsumption of sugar contributes to
receptors become insensitive to the messages of INSULIN
and LEPTIN. i.e. promotes weight gain
Body stores excess sugar
(and other carbs) as fat. The body converts
different forms of sugar into
glucose , which it uses to provide energy, especially if you are active.
If you consume more sugar than you are using, a limited amount is stored for
later use in the liver and muscles, but when those small "storage bins" are
full, sugar is converted to fat and stored where we can all see it!
Carrying excess weight
around will increase your risk for deadly conditions.
E.g. heart
disease, kidney disease, and diabetes.
Today's obesity problem may be more a
result of fructose replacing glucose
consumption in mega amounts. Fructose consumption has increased significantly
in the last 4 decades:
• HFCS has replaced 50% of U.S. sucrose
consumption since the early 70's. SInce this time it
should also be noted that caloric intakes of sugar, fats and carbohydrates have
also increased
• Fructose is metabolized differently to
glucose and places a significant burden on the liver .
This can cause related health
problems
• ~ 1/3 of fructose calories are stored as fat
. Compare this to ~1/100 of glucose calories
• Fructose reduces postprandial INSULIN
response . This can lead to INSULIN
resistance and then metabolic syndrome/ T2 diabetes
Too much fructose burdens liver / Increases
inflammation /favors fat production
Sugar rots your teeth and makes you dumb
Not yet written
