Sugar – A Sweet Poison

Excess intake of sugar may harm you!

Sugar is said to be one of the most commonly used food ingredients. People all around the world love to eat sweet dishes, desserts or chocolate but we don’t understand the consequences of consuming excess sugar. Baked foods, soft drinks, candies and even savory food items like protein bars, breads and marinara sauce contain added sugar. Sugar consumption by people takes place on a large scale and people are not even aware of it. 

Here are a few facts that you should be aware of:

• Type 2 Chronic disease and obesity are majorly caused by excess consumption of sugar – Experts.
• In the United States, intake of calories from sugar in adults 17% and in children is 14% – PubMed Central.
• The intake of calories should be limited to 10% per day – Department of Health and Human Services.

Following are the consequences that may arise if you consume excess sugar:

• Heart Disease Risk

Excess intake of sugar brings in a risk of many diseases, one of which is heart disease. And we are all aware of the fact that heart disease is the number 1 reason behind most of the deaths worldwide.High triglyceride,blood pressure levels, blood sugar,inflammation and obesity are all related to heart disease and all of them are linked with high sugar diets.

 A single can of aerated drink contains 14% of calories which is more than the prescribed value. One can surpass the daily limit.

• Type 2 Disease Risk

Use of high sugar diets causes obesity which is a major factor of causing diabetes(type 2 disease). The number of people having diabetes has just doubled in the past 30 years. Though having diabetes may have other reasons to, using excess sugar is considered to be the major reason for causing diabetes.

• Cancer Risk

Intake of food which are high on sugar leads to obesity increasing the risk of getting cancer. Food diets having excess sugar also lead to inflammation and insulin resistance. Both the factors are responsible for developing a path for various cancers in your body. 

A study by PubMed Central says that people consuming excess sugar are more likely to get pleural cancer, small intestine cancer or esophageal cancer.

• Depression Risk

A healthy diet is sure to keep you healthy by body and mind, but a diet having high sugar just might lead you towards depression. Experts believe that neurotransmitter dysregulation, blood sugar swings and inflammation are all associated with sugar causing harm to mental health.

People consuming 67gms of sugar everyday are at 23% higher chances of getting depression than people who consume 40gms of sugar everyday, says a study by PubMed Central.

• Fatty Liver Risk

If you consume high sugar diets, it is going to increase the risk of having a fatty liver. The fructose present in the sugary food items will increase  the chances of fatty liver. The liver stores fructose in the form of glycogen or energy but it can only store a certain amount of fructose, excess of fructose gets converted into fats and leads to a fatty liver.

Impact of excess sugar consumption is negative. Apart from the mentioned risks there are other risks such as weight gain risk, acne risk, skin ageing risk and the list is on. Keep the amount of sugar very low, cut down your use of daily sugar intake. Less sugar More life.