A foodie's quest to turn up the heat through strength and conditioning with whole food and a hungry mind.

Monday, February 13, 2012

140+ Ways Sugar Affects Our Health

Wow, weekends really come and go too fast! I have so much I want to do, mainly in the kitchen, but also with my car and around the house. The biggest thing I want to do is just spend more time with Kelley; I keep thinking I can finish the kitchen stuff on time, but it always gets so late by the time I’m done.


Is a lot of it necessary? No, but I make myself feel like it is and then try to take on too much at once. Do you ever fill your head with a lot of “to-do’s” and try to accomplish all of them without finishing the others? It’s just a lot of unnecessary stress.


But, on a positive note, I made some tasty baked overnight oats soaked in Zevia that Kelley really liked. I love when I can make something my dear wife loves! I bought a new baking pan to make baked doughnuts, and had several good batches using Zevia and pumpkin puree for these too. I know, exciting, huh? I will post about these wonderful Zevia treats in the near future…..stay tuned!

Today, I want to share an eye opening and exhaustive  list of 100+ ways sugar is affecting our health. This was an article posted several years ago, but the points remain mostly the same. Read through it and see if it helps sway your sweet tooth cravings if not just a little. Click here for the source link with citations.

1. Sugar can suppress your immune system

2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body

3. Sugar can cause juvenile delinquency in children

4. Sugar eaten during pregnancy and lactation can influence muscle force production in offspring, which can affect an individual’s ability to exercise

5. Sugar in soda, when consumed by children, results in the children drinking less milk

6. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses and return them to fasting levels slower in oral contraceptive users

7. Sugar can increase reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can damage cells and tissues

8. Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, inability to concentrate and crankiness in children

9. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides

10. Sugar reduces the body’s ability to defend against bacterial infection

11. Sugar causes a decline in tissue elasticity and function – the more sugar you eat, the more elasticity and function you lose

12. Sugar reduces high-density lipoproteins (HDL)

13. Sugar can lead to chromium deficiency

14. Sugar can lead to ovarian cancer

15. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose

16. Sugar causes copper deficiency

17. Sugar interferes with the body’s absorption of calcium and magnesium

18. Sugar may make eyes more vulnerable to age-related macular degeneration

19. Sugar raises the level of neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine

20. Sugar can cause hypoglycemia

21. Sugar can lead to an acidic digestive tract

22. Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children

23. Sugar is frequently malabsorbed in patients with functional bowel disease

24. Sugar can cause premature aging

25. Sugar can lead to alcoholism

26. Sugar can cause tooth decay

27. Sugar can lead to obesity

28. Sugar increases the risk of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis

29. Sugar can cause gastric or duodenal ulcers

30. Sugar can cause arthritis

31. Sugar can cause learning disorders in school children

32. Sugar assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections)

33. Sugar can cause gallstones

34. Sugar can cause heart disease

35. Sugar can cause appendicitis

36. Sugar can cause hemorrhoids

37. Sugar can cause varicose veins

38. Sugar can lead to periodontal disease

39. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis

40. Sugar contributes to saliva acidity

41. Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity

42. Sugar can lower the amount of Vitamin E in the blood

43. Sugar can decrease the amount of growth hormones in the body

44. Sugar can increase cholesterol

45. Sugar increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which form when sugar binds non-enzymatically to protein

46. Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein

47. Sugar causes food allergies

48. Sugar can contribute to diabetes

49. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy

50. Sugar can lead to eczema in children

51. Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease

52. Sugar can impair the structure of DNA

53. Sugar can change the structure of protein

54. Sugar can make the skin wrinkle by changing the structure of collagen

55. Sugar can cause cataracts

56. Sugar can cause emphysema

57. Sugar can cause atherosclerosis

58. Sugar can promote an elevation of low-density lipoproteins (LDL)

59. Sugar can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in the body

60. Sugar lowers enzymes ability to function

61. Sugar intake is associated with the development of Parkinson’s disease

62. Sugar can increase the size of the liver by making the liver cells divide

63. Sugar can increase the amount of liver fat

64. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney

65. Sugar can damage the pancreas

66. Sugar can increase the body’s fluid retention

67. Sugar is the number one enemy of the bowel movement

68. Sugar can cause myopia (nearsightedness)

69. Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries

70. Sugar can make tendons more brittle

71. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines

72. Sugar plays a role in pancreatic cancer in women

73. Sugar can adversely affect children’s grades in school

74. Sugar can cause depression

75. Sugar increases the risk of gastric cancer

76. Sugar can cause dyspepsia (indigestion)

77. Sugar can increase the risk of developing gout

78. Sugar can increase the levels of glucose in the blood much higher than complex carbohydrates in a glucose tolerance test can

79. Sugar reduces learning capacity

80. Sugar can cause two blood proteins – albumin and lipoproteins – to function less effectively, which may reduce the body’s ability to handle fat and cholesterol

81. Sugar can contribute to Alzheimer’s disease

82. Sugar can cause platelet adhesiveness, which causes blood clots

83. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance – some hormones become underactive and others become overactive

84. Sugar can lead to the formation of kidney stones

85. Sugar can cause free radicals and oxidative stress

86. Sugar can lead to biliary tract cancer

87. Sugar increases the risk of pregnant adolescents delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant

88. Sugar can lead to a substantial decrease the in the length of pregnancy among adolescents

89. Sugar slows food’s travel time through the gastrointestinal tract

90. Sugar increases the concentration of bile acids in stool and bacterial enzymes in the colon, which can modify bile to produce cancer-causing compounds and colon cancer

91. Sugar increases estradiol (the most potent form of naturally occurring estrogen) in men

92. Sugar combines with and destroys phosphatase, a digestive enzyme, which makes digestion more difficult

93. Sugar can be a risk factor for gallbladder cancer

94. Sugar is an addictive substance

95. Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol

96. Sugar can aggravate premenstrual syndrome (PMS)

97. Sugar can decrease emotional stability

98. Sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese people

99. Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit disorder (ADD)

100. Sugar can slow the ability of the adrenal glands to function

101. Sugar can cut off oxygen to the brain when given to people intravenously

102. Sugar is a risk factor for lung cancer

103. Sugar increases the risk of polio

104. Sugar can cause epileptic seizures

105. Sugar can increase systolic blood pressure (pressure when the heart is contracting)

106. Sugar can induce cell death

107. Sugar can increase the amount of food that you eat

108. Sugar can cause antisocial behavior in juvenile delinquents

109. Sugar can lead to prostate cancer

110. Sugar dehydrates newborns

111. Sugar can cause women to give birth to babies with low birth weight

112. Sugar is associated with a worse outcome of schizophrenia

113. Sugar can raise homocysteine levels in the bloodstream

114. Sugar increases the risk of breast cancer

115. Sugar is a risk factor in small intestine cancer

116. Sugar can cause laryngeal cancer

117. Sugar induces salt and water retention

118. Sugar can contribute to mild memory loss

119. Sugar water, when given to children shortly after birth, results in those children preferring sugar water to regular water throughout childhood

120. Sugar causes constipation

121. Sugar can cause brain decay in pre-diabetic and diabetic women

122. Sugar can increase the risk of stomach cancer

123. Sugar can cause metabolic syndrome

124. Sugar increases neural tube defects in embryos when it is consumed by pregnant women

125. Sugar can cause asthma

126. Sugar increases the chances of getting irritable bowl syndrome

127. Sugar can affect central reward systems

128. Sugar can cause cancer of the rectum

129. Sugar can cause endometrial cancer

130. Sugar can cause renal (kidney) cell cancer

131. Sugar can cause liver tumors

132. Sugar can increase inflammatory markers in the bloodstreams of overweight people

133. Sugar plays a role in the cause and the continuation of acne

134. Sugar can ruin the sex life of both men and women by turning off the gene that controls the sex hormones

135. Sugar can cause fatigue, moodiness, nervousness, and depression

136. Sugar can make many essential nutrients less available to cells

137. Sugar can increase uric acid in blood

138. Sugar can lead to higher C-peptide concentrations

139. Sugar causes inflammation

140. Sugar can cause diverticulitis, a small bulging sac pushing outward from the colon wall that is inflamed

141. Sugar can decrease testosterone production

142. Sugar impairs spatial memory

143. Sugar can cause cataracts

That’s a lot to read through, but I think you get the point….sugar is not good. Sure, it tastes good, and yes, I have foods with sugar just like the next guy; just keep things moderate and maintain a healthy lifestyle. I make sugar a treat and not something heavily consumed each dayPlus, I derive satisfaction from whole foods like veggies either raw or steamed, so I don’t feel like I’m holding myself back or anything.

I heard a mom talking about how her child learned about healthy food in school and he came home saying he has to throw away all of his foods with trans fats and other unhealthy ingredients. “Good, awesome, great!” you say? The freakin’ mom was complaining and talking about how she tried justifying the foods to her kid. Come on! Please support a healthy life for yourself and your young ones.

If you have a kid, do you help teach good nutrition or care only about convenience? I don’t like telling others how to raise their kids, but I urge everyone to educate themselves on this important subject…..it’s your life, after all!

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