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There has been a lot of press coverage recently in the United Kingdom (UK) warning against eating ‘added sugar’. Television programs about going ‘sugar free’, people saying sugar is a poison worse than nicotine and calls for manufacturers to cut down on added sugar all keep the topic in the news. So why do people like or even crave sugar and what is the harm in eating lots and lots of this sweet treat?
Many foods contain sugar naturally, commonly known as ‘good sugar’. Examples include bananas, carrots and apples.
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These help the body maintain its blood sugar levels making sure enough energy is available for daily activities. The taste of this naturally occurring sugar is easy to appreciate as it adds sweetness to the flavour of the food. Heath problems start, however, when people like this taste so much that they consume foods that have sugar added to them that may not even be sweet at all without it. An example of this is something many people do without thinking, adding sugar to a cup of tea or coffee.
The National Health Service (NHS) in the UK recommends no more than 30 grams of added sugar a day for adults. The American Heart Association broadly agree saying the daily recommended amount of added sugar for adults to consume is 25 grams or about 6 teaspoonfuls for women and 37.5 grams or 9 teaspoonfuls for men.
Consider this: one 330ml can of standard coke contains up to 39 grams of added sugar!
There’s a similar story for children. Advice from BBC Good Food (www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/children-and-sugar-how-bad-it) recommends 4 - 6 year olds consuming no more than 19 grams of sugar a day gradually rising to adult amounts by age 11.
A child eating cereal with added sugar for breakfast has already consumed 15 grams of their daily recommended maximum. Add a sugary drink or a smoothie and the limit is easily reached and the day is only just starting.
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Many other products have similar high added sugar content. Just check the food labels next time you go shopping.
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Although providing a short-term energy boost for the body, added sugar, by itself, contains no essential nutrients. So if it doesn’t nourish us what effects does it have?
One of the most noticeable effects is elevated blood sugar. Drinking that coke makes us feel great because dopamine floods the brain. As the urban dictionary tells us dopamine is ‘the kick ass chemical in your brain that makes you feel and do happy things... whatever they may be’. In other words you get a ‘sugar high’ as your blood sugar rises and, subsequently, dopamine in your brain spikes.
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The body reacts by pumping in the hormone insulin to lower the blood sugar level. Then the cravings start. You liked the sugar high so you want to eat more sweet things. You become sugar hungry again.
That’s how overeating starts and we all know what happens when we overeat. The body stores fat which can lead to obesity. In turn, this makes it difficult for enough insulin to be produced by your pancreas to penetrate the whole overweight body so people start to suffer with type 2 diabetes, meaning they have too much sugar in their blood. Among other symptoms, they feel very thirsty, very tired and injuries heal slowly. Not a happy state to be in.
Added sugar also has the effect of rotting our teeth if we don’t clean them properly. Chances of dying from heart disease have been shown to increase equalling the percentage of added sugar in the diet. High blood pressure from being overweight and problems with your liver are also possible if you binge on sugar. That is enough of the bad news, I think.
Some people report a few days of headaches and depression when they reduce consumption of added sugar but, personally, I had no discomfort at all. I lost the few extra pounds I’d been carrying, without dieting... always a good feeling. My taste buds experienced a new lease of life. My energy levels have risen and I now sleep like a log. I do six days a week sugar-free and have an ice cream on Sunday. Why don’t you give it a try?