We all know that the impact of added sugars is bad, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to indulge in it. Who doesn’t love sugary drinks, sweets, baked goods and sweetened dairy? Sugar has a reputation for negatively affecting your body, so it may be best to cut it down.
Sugar is found in savoury foods, too – specifically bread, tomato sauce and protein bars – and even fruit. The complications come you can’t spot added sugars on the nutrition label. It can easily be under corn syrup, agave nectar, sucrose and other ingredients.
The most unexpected products consist of added sugar, from marinara sauce to peanut butter. Unfortunately, many people depend on quick, processed food at mealtimes. According to Harvard Medical School, you can consume whole foods made with natural sugar – for example, plant foods are high in fibre, essential minerals and antioxidants.
Whole foods digest slowly in your body, but the sugar intake allows you a steady cell energy supply. A high intake of fruits, vegetables and whole grains can lessen your chance of contracting chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.
Food and drinks that already consist of sugar plus added sugar usually have little to no nutritional value. The combination is a poor energy source and digests quickly in your body, causing unwanted problems.
The Impact Of Added Sugars: Weight gain
Obesity is growing around the world. Added sugar in sweetened beverages is said to be the popular culprit of weight gain. Overindulging in gas drinks, juices, or sweet teas increases your intake of a type of simple sugar called fructose.
The consumption of fructose increases your desire for food more than the primary type of sugar in starchy foods, glucose. On the other hand, excessive fructose eating may cause a resistance to leptin – a hormone that regulates your hungry and tells your body
to not eat.
Drinking sugar-sweetened drinks is connected to your visceral fat increase. Visceral fat is a type of deep belly fat that associates with diabetes and heart disease.
Brain cravings
When you eat sugar, your brain feels good – a chemical satisfaction called dopamine. This chemical is the reason you have weird candy cravings in later afternoons. Your brain is likely to dismiss a carrot or apple at that time.
Whole foods, such as fruits and vegetables, don’t offer your brain enough dopamine to release. Because of this, your brain starts to want more and more sugar to feel the familiar satisfaction again.
Do your best to resist the after-dinner ice cream and sugary sweets. It’sIt’s not worth it.
Tooth cavities
Too much sugar, especially extra added sugars, can cause tooth decay and lead to cavities – also known as the permanent hole formed on your teeth. Sugar leaves a thin layer of bacteria over your teeth after eating sugar. The bacteria’s reaction to the sugars in your mouth triggers acid that damages your teeth.
Your body has the potential to repair some of the damage to your teeth, but if your diet is high in sugar, then you may experience lasting damage. It may be best to limit the number of high foods you eat and prevent tooth cavities.
Acne development
Healthline says that if you follow a diet high in refined carbohydrates, plus sugary foods and drinks, there is a high risk that you can develop acne.
High glycemic index-based foods – such as processed sweets – heighten your blood sugar levels more than foods with a less glycemic index. Not only do sugary foods spike your blood sugar and insulin levels, but they increase androgen secretion, oil production and inflammation – the result being acne development.
A study shows that people who live in rural communities and eat traditional, non-processed foods almost have no acne rates compared to those living in urban, high-income areas.
Added sugars to avoid
Added sugars appear in the strangest products – products that you least expect. When shopping, check the contents of food on the label before purchasing. There are food labels that make it challenging to recognise added sugars because of the different names for them.
Examples of other names which actually mean ”added sugar” include dextrose, maltose, molasses, honey, corn sweetener, crystalline fructose and evaporated cane juice.
Research done by Healthline suggests that a healthy diet for men involves consuming a maximum of 36 grams of added sugar per day. A healthy diet can include no more than 25 grams of added sugar per day.
Using Sweeteners To Escape The Impact Of Added Sugars
The best way to reduce your intake of added sugars to avoid the impact of added sugars is to replace the sweetened products with something healthier – for example, instead of drinking gas sodas, try water or unsweetened seltzer. You can opt to drink black coffee and use a natural sweetener or replace candy with a trail mix of fruit, nuts, and dark chocolate chips. The options are endless!
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