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Sugar Addiction: The UnSweet Truth
A nutritionist once complained that there was a depressing saying she heard all-too-often from her clients: “I just love my donuts and cookies.” What is the problem with that saying? Your donuts and cookies don’t love you back!
As research continues into the health effects of sugar, a grim, stark fact is becoming more and more apparent: sugar is poison and wreaks havoc on your body in so many ways. Today we are more addicted to sugar than at any time in the past.
Want proof? Check out these numbers:
In 1700, sugar consumption averaged approximately 4 pounds per year
In 1800, the annual ingestion of sugar had more than quadrupled to 18 pounds per year
In 1900, the climb in the rate of sugar intake had skyrocketed to 90 pounds annually
In 2012, more than half of all Americans wolfed down an astonishing 180 pounds of sugar yearly!
So why does that matter? Here’s why: In 1890, as few as three people per 100,000 suffered from diabetes. In 2012, nearly 8,000 out of 100,000 were diagnosed with the killer affliction of diabetes. Indeed, it would be extremely challenging to argue that sugar does not play a role in this continuing health crisis -- a huge role.
Our Sugar Addiction
Sugar has been targeted at all of us, especially our kids. A grim statistic: since 1900, our children are swallowing around TEN TIMES more sugar now than a little over 100 years ago. Worse, this is often in the form of a Frankenstein-like creation called high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
Why is this a problem? What’s the big deal about high fructose corn syrup? Simply this: the highly addictive HFCS contains both fructose and glucose, but unlike regular sugar, they are not bound together. The result is the body does not digest HFCS, and it goes directly to the liver.
There it is turned into fat via a combination of Very-Low-Density Lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol and triglycerides. Fructose has an insidious ability to fool the body into weight gain by tricking our metabolism into switching off our appetite-control system by not stimulating our production of insulin.
As a result, the “hunger hormone” ghrelin and the “satiety hormone” leptin both run amok. This combination is a one-two punch. Excess ghrelin causes us to be ravenously hungry, while a lack of leptin makes a bad situation worse by delaying the feeling of being full long past the time when we would typically stop eating.
Continuing to gorge on HFCS can result in developing chronic insulin resistance, which over time can lead to diabetes. HFCS consumed in copious amounts can also suppress the immune system.
But HFCS is Not the Only Problem
It seems simple. Read labels, avoid HFCS, and you’re in the clear, right? Regrettably, no, it’s not that simple. The adverse health consequences of HFCS can be extended to all processed sugars. More and more research continues to beat the same drum: sugar is the culprit for a wide array of health problems such as:
Diabetes
Inflammation
Weight-gain that all-too-often leads to obesity
A compromised immune system function
High blood pressure
Increased risk of heart attack
Liver damage
Decreased levels of HDL cholesterol (“the good kind”) and increased levels of LDL cholesterol (“the bad kind”)
Skyrocketing triglyceride levels
Increased levels of uric acid, resulting in increased risk of liver and kidney damage
The worst is saved for last. Some research points to a possible link between sugar and the proliferation of cancer cells. To be fair, not all researchers share this opinion. But virtually all scientists and medical professionals agree that sugar consumption should be moderate and be restricted to complex, high-quality sources of unprocessed foods as close as possible to their natural forms.
Always keep in mind that sugar is addicting...for some, as addicting as the most potent street drugs or pharmaceutical prescription drugs. In a 2007 study conducted by Dr. Serge Ahmed from The University of Bordeaux in France using rats as subjects, the rats preferred the intense sweetness of sugar to the pleasurable rush of cocaine.
NEW LONDON, CT Connecticut College - Rat, and Oreos.
How in the world could this be? The answer to this is that sugar makes dopamine, the brain’s “feel-good” chemical. In fact, sugar produces so much dopamine that the brain gets lazy and slows down or stops making the substance.
If sugar consumption halts, the brain will go into withdrawal until it regroups and begins to manufacture dopamine on its own again. Scary stuff. Hopefully, you are now aware of the need to get your sugar intake under tight control.
