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10 Reasons to Avoid Sugar

While nutrition experts tend to disagree on a variety of topics, they all seem to agree that we’re consuming far too much sugar. Besides contributing to the obesity epidemic, sugar in its various forms has been associated with diseases and disorders from cardio-vascular, metabolic (diabetes), gastro-intestinal, cognitive and inflammatory conditions to name  a few.

Sugar, in its many forms, is an increasingly common ingredient in processed foods.  Especially concerning are the highly concentrated, mass produced forms of sugar. Many of us eat the equivalent of 53 heaping teaspoons of sugar every day! Most experts now agree that reducing sugar intake is essential for better health.

Here are ten reasons to avoid refined (white) sugar:

1. When certain bacteria in the mouth digest an abundance of sugar, the normal, healthy oral and digestive flora is altered.  This process also produces acid that is capable of etching tooth enamel, causing tooth decay as well as other negative effects on the digestive system.

2. Many metabolic effects are altered in the presence of a high concentrations of sugar; from excretion of minerals, to neurotransmitter activity, to inflammatory responses.

3. Ingesting sugar makes the pancreas work harder to produce insulin. Over time, this is associated with decreased sensitivity to insulin.  Eventually, the overworked pancreas can no longer keep up with the demand to manufacture sufficient insulin and the symptoms of diabetes result.

4. When refined white sugar (which has been bleached with chlorine) is exposed to certain organic compounds it is a source of dioxin, a lethal compound.  This is specifically applicable to sucralose, an artificial sweetener created by replacing 3 OH groups on ordinary sucrose with 3 chlorine atoms.  So please do not use the dangers of sugar consumption to be an argument for using potentially more harmful substitutes.

5. Sugar can contribute to unhealthy accumulation of fat because high insulin levels (see #3 above) cause the body to store excess carbohydrates as fat.

6. Sugar increases the likelihood of chronic fatigue.

7. Sugar increases mood swings, irritability and anxiety.  It can destabilize neurotransmitter communication.

8. Sugar compromises the immune system, lowering the efficiency of white blood cells for at least five hours after its ingestion.

9. Eating sugar can decrease helpful high-density cholesterol (HDLs) and result in an increase in low density cholesterol (LDLs).  Sugar is considered by many nutritional experts to have a greater negative impact on cholesterol levels than any other single nutritional factor.

10. Sugar can contribute to hyperactivity.  It is also thought that an aging brain exposed to an overabundance of sugar is a significant contributor to senile dementia.

Careful. Sugar is commonly disguised. If you read nutrition labeling, avoiding obvious sugar ingredients when they’re listed as cane sugar or high fructose corn syrup is relatively easy. But sugar goes by many other names.

Here are some of them. Barley malt, beet sugar, buttered syrup, cane juice, caramel, castor sugar, dehydrated cane juice, dextrose, fruit juice concentrate, glucose, golden sugar, lactose, malt syrup, maltodextrin, molasses, sorbitol, sucrose and treacle.

Because food manufacturers must list ingredients in descending order by concentration, using different types of sugar permits them to list them individually.  This will make them appear lower on the list than their combined concentration. Yet when added together, total sugar may be the number one ingredient!

Put simply, sugar is a stressor to the body.  But you don’t have to swear off all sugar… you don’t have to be perfect to make a difference in your own life.   How sugar (or any stressor)  impacts you will be influenced by both the sugar (amount, frequency, quality, etc) and your ability to adapt to it.  And your ability to adapt is directly related to your own general health.

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