The first move towards a healthy lifestyle is to abandon the bad habits that poison our bodies day after day. And it’s not only known poisons, such as nicotine and alcohol but also the favorite food for many, to which we experience a strong craving. One such product is sugar which has many harmful side effects on the body.
Modern man does not imagine his life without sugar. Without it, tea drinking, making compotes, making pies, cakes, sweets and any other confectionery products cannot do without. What can we say about sweet carbonated drinks and purchased juices, which contain just a huge amount of sugar!
And even if we deliberately do not add sugar to the prepared dishes, this does not mean that it does not enter our body. Sugar is used in the production of sausages, bread, canned food, yogurt, diet flakes, ketchup and mayonnaise, mustard and many other products. Especially rich in sugar are sweet fizzy drinks and purchased juices, in which this sweet product gets artificial by way of a preservative.
What is Sugar?
In fact, sugar is a common carbohydrate called sucrose, which consists of two monosaccharides – glucose and fructose. It is a pure source of energy for the body, which does not carry any other value. In fact, it is an “energy dummy”, devoid of fats, proteins and trace elements. At the same time, the calorie content of sugar is 400 kcal per 100 g of product.
After getting into the body, sucrose stimulates the production of the hormone of the pancreas – insulin. This hormone delivers monosugars to various organs and tissues, filling the body with energy. Without energy, no cell can exist, which means that sugar is the source of life for our body!
But the whole problem is that modern people use too much sugar and that too artificial one (the one that we buy from market instead of obtaining from fruits). The daily dose of this substance, safe for health, is limited to 30-50 g, while the average person consumes 150-200 g of sugar per day, which exceeds the norm by 3-4 times! Such a harmful habit poses a health hazard, causes a number of serious diseases and significantly shortens life expectancy. And to be convinced of it, further, we will consider harmful properties of this sweet product.
12 Negative Effects of Sugar
1. It causes the development of Diabetes Mellitus
The most famous negative consequence of the use of sugar is the development of such a dangerous disease as diabetes. As we have already said, when glucose enters the body, the production of insulin, which delivers energy to the cells, is activated. But when we are fond of sweets and fast food, saturating the body with excessive amounts of glucose, the pancreas is forced to produce insulin in huge quantities. And if this process continues from day to day, the body cells gradually become resistant to the action of insulin, and the hormone itself ceases to work, as it should. As a result, there is a syndrome of insulin resistance, which we all know as Type II diabetes mellitus.
To avoid such a serious illness, you can go on a diet, watching your own weight, as well as constantly monitoring the level of sugar in the blood.
2. Causes Obesity
It must be said that our body clearly distributes the sugar that enters the body, part of it is sent for replenishment of energy reserves, and the rest is utilized in the liver in the form of glycogen. This is the so-called strategic reserve, which the body can at any time take away and spend for its own needs. However, with too active consumption of sugar, glycogen stores in the liver very soon start to exceed all conceivable indicators. In this case, glycogen begins to be deposited in the form of fat stores, primarily on the abdomen and thighs.
The result of this craze is obesity, which not only spoils the appearance but also leads to health problems, creating additional stress on the heart and blood vessels, as well as disrupting the hormonal background.
You can cope with obesity. It is only necessary to realize the negative consequences of this disease, after which to radically change one’s life, in particular, to abandon bad habits, to switch to proper nutrition and to provide the body with sufficient physical activity.
3. Promotes the formation of free radicals
Diet, in which a person in excess consumes sugar, leads to the formation of free radicals in the body. A free radical is a molecule whose outer shell lacks a paired electron, as a result of which such a molecule becomes aggressive and capable of harming the body. It is under the influence of free radicals in the body that inflammatory processes develop, chronic diseases appear and malignant tumors arise.
Moreover, under the influence of sugar in the body decreases the amount of antioxidants, i.e. molecules that prevent the oxidation of other molecules and the formation of free radicals. Thus, excessive consumption of sugar threatens not only health but also human life.
To cope with this problem, it is important to limit the consumption of sugar, confectionery, and sweet muffin as much as possible, and in return, saturate the diet with products containing antioxidants. These can be berries (blackberries, raspberries, and cranberries), nuts (walnuts and almonds), artichoke and broccoli cabbage.
4. Causes a false sense of hunger
In our body, substances that regulate feelings of hunger and satiety are developed. The hormone ghrelin, which is called the “hunger hormone”, increases appetite and makes us pay attention to food. The hormone leptin or the “satiety hormone”, on the contrary, causes satiety and mutes the feeling of hunger.
With dietary nutrition, hormones work together smoothly, without causing problems to the body. However, when we consume too much fructose, leptin ceases to respond to another portion of sweetness, and the production of ghrelin ceases to be suppressed as before. As a result, people begin to overeat.
There is one more problem. With excessive consumption of sugar, there is a sharp increase in the level of glucose in the blood and the same sharp decline. The body, in this case, requires immediate replacement of glucose deficiency, causing a false sense of hunger. The result of such negative processes is overeating and obesity.
5. Causes diseases of the cardiovascular system
Excessive consumption of sugar causes a serious blow to the heart and blood vessels. As noted above, the excess glycogen in the liver gradually turns into fat. And the most important constituent of fats are triglycerides.
The increase in triglycerides in the blood increases the risk of heart disease. It is because of the excess of triglycerides that the cholesterol plaques begin to accumulate on the walls of the blood vessels. This process leads to a situation in which the lumen of the vessel decreases, which prevents the full flow of blood and leads to increased blood pressure, which means hypertension. Over the years, the vessels are overgrown with cholesterol, which leads to a severe disease called atherosclerosis. This disease affects the work of the brain, provokes fragility and fragility of blood vessels, and also leads to early death from coronary heart disease.
No less dangerous is the fact that plaques on the walls of the vessels at any time can come off and clog the bloodstream, provoking the development of a heart attack or stroke. These critical states are extremely dangerous since they lead a person to death or make him disabled for the rest of his life.
To maintain the heart and prevent such dangerous consequences, in addition to excluding sugar from the diet, fruits (apples, grapefruits, avocados, pomegranates) need to be eaten, cereals and flaxseed oil, and legumes and various vegetables.
6. Damages the Liver
Excess sugar causes damage to the liver itself. The bottom line is that in the decay of sucrose into glucose and fructose, the former is immediately used to generate energy, while the second enters the liver, where it is processed and then used by the body. And if you consider that fructose enters the body in huge quantities, it becomes a serious load for the liver.
If the abuse of sugar continues for a long time, the liver fails, which leads to serious problems for the whole organism, and first of all, slagging and accumulation of toxins. This condition is accompanied by chronic fatigue, weakness and dizziness, jaundice, and other problems with the body. In consequence, the constant liver overload threatens the person with the development of fatty hepatosis, and this fact at times increases the likelihood of cirrhosis of the liver.
As in previous cases, the main advice here is to refuse sugar. And to maintain the liver, try to eat fruits and berries, greens and various cereals, nuts, seeds and oat bran more often.
7. Increases the amount of Uric acid
It’s no secret that uric acid accumulates in the body when you abuse products rich in purines (red meat, cocoa, chocolate, beans, anchovies and beer). And the use of a large amount of fructose only increases the formation of this acid in the body. This process ends for a man deplorably, namely, the accumulation of crystals of uric acid in the interarticular space. This pathological process leads to the development of arthritis and arthrosis, osteochondrosis and rheumatism, gout and muscle spasms.
On this basis, each of us, but especially the elderly, should refrain from food rich in purines, as well as refuse sugar and sugar-containing foods.
8. Fastens Aging Process
In addition to harm to health, sugar causes a crushing blow to our appearance. It turns out that the final products of glycosylation are the so-called AGE-substances that disrupt the synthesis of such value for the skin protein compounds, like collagen and elastin.
Violation of the production of these valuable compounds leads to the fact that they cease to perform their function, as a result of which the skin loses its elasticity and elasticity, becomes flabby and wrinkled. And even ultramodern cosmetic products cannot cope with this problem. That is why women who want to prolong youth and maintain the freshness of the skin of the face, first of all, should abandon the sugar, and only then start to apply creams and masks from wrinkles.
9. It loosens the bones and destroys the teeth
Sugar harms not only the skin or joints but also the entire bone system. Numerous studies show that with excessive use of “fast” carbohydrates, collagen synthesis is disturbed, which leads to a weakening of bone tissue. But more importantly, the abuse of sugar removes calcium from the bones, causing them to become brittle and brittle. Over the years, this can lead to the development of osteoporosis and frequent fractures of bones.
The similar damage this sweet powder does to the teeth. It is the use of sugar leads to the destruction of tooth enamel and the development of caries. This fact is confirmed by statistics according to which the majority of people suffering from caries live in countries with high economic development, where sugar consumption per capita is several times higher than in economically unfavorable countries.
10. It depletes vitamin B1
Vitamin B1 or thiamine is a vitamin necessary for our body, which is responsible for proper digestion, for the health of the skin and nervous system. This valuable substance is necessary for the assimilation of glucose, and therefore in the case of excess intake of sugar, the body begins to take vitamin B1 from the muscles, kidneys, liver, stomach, nerves, and eyes.
The result of this process is thiamine deficiency and related problems – constipation, intestinal atony, paralysis, neuritis and neuralgia, violation of coronary circulation and skin problems (eczema, psoriasis, shingles, and neurodermatitis).
To cope with this problem, you should limit the consumption of sugar and in parallel to diversify the diet with products containing vitamin B1 (pine nuts, pistachios, and peanuts, millet and oatmeal, liver and corn).
11. It depletes the Energy Reserves
This fact in many is puzzling because it is known that the only useful function of sucrose is the filling of the body with energy. However, in practice, everything turns out the other way around. First, an excess of sugar removes thiamine from the body, which disrupts metabolic processes and leads to the development of chronic fatigue. And secondly, constant jumps in blood sugar level lead to a gradual lowering of the sugar level below the normal mark. In this case, a person is faced with bouts of hypoglycemia, which manifest themselves as weakness, dizziness, apathy, increased fatigue, irritability and limb tremor.
With these symptoms, a person can be advised only to give up sweets containing sugar and move more, thus maintaining the tone of the body.
12. Reduces the Immunity
The most dangerous consequence of using sugar is the weakening of the defenses of the body. Breaking the metabolism, washing away valuable vitamins and minerals from the body, striking at key organs and systems, this product, which is not for nothing called “white death”, simply destroys us from the inside! Numerous studies show that after consumption of sugar, the immunity decreases 17 times! And this state is maintained for 6-8 hours. And if you consider that the average person a day eats 4 times more sugar than it should, it becomes obvious that the protection of our body is weakened almost constantly!
Fight with this state is not easy. It is necessary to overcome your addiction to this sweet powder and begin to lead a healthy lifestyle. And as a reward for positive changes in your life, you will get good health, beautiful appearance and long years of life!
Take care of yourself!
