What is sugar?
Sugar is one of the most popular food products. It is more often used as an additive in various dishes, and not as an independent product. People consume sugar in almost every meal (not counting intentional refusals). This food product came to Europe about 150 years ago. Then it was very expensive and inaccessible to ordinary people, it was sold by weight in pharmacies.
At first, sugar was made exclusively from sugar cane, the stems of which contain a high content of sweet juice, suitable for obtaining this sweet product. Much later, they learned how to extract sugar from sugar beets. Currently, 40% of all sugar in the world is made from beets, and 60% from sugar cane. Sugar contains pure sucrose, which in the human body is able to quickly separate into glucose and fructose, the absorption of which in the body occurs within a few minutes, so sugar is an excellent source of energy.
As you know, sugar is just a highly purified, easily digestible carbohydrate, especially refined sugar. This product has no biological value, except for calories.There are 100 calories in 374 grams of sugar.
The rate of sugar consumption
The average resident of Russia eats about 100-140 grams of sugar in one day. This is about 1 kg of sugar per week. It should be noted that in the human body, the need for refined sugar there isn’t any.
At the same time, for example, the average US citizen consumes 190 grams of sugar per day, which is more than people in Russia consume. There are data from various studies from Europe and Asia that indicate that in these regions an adult consumes on average 70 to 90 grams of sugar per day. This is noticeably less than in Russia and the United States, but still exceeds the norm, which is 30-50 grams of sugar per day. It should also be taken into account that sugar is found in most foods and various drinks that are now consumed by residents of almost all countries of the world.
Harm of sugar: 10 facts
Sugar in excess consumption greatly increases the risk of developing diseases of the cardiovascular system. It should also be noted that in people who are called sweet tooth, due to the large consumption of sugar, metabolism is disrupted and the immune system is significantly weakened (see fact 10). Also, sugar contributes to premature aging of the skin and worsens its properties, which leads to a loss of elasticity. Acne may appear, the complexion changes.
After the research data became known, one could really call sugar a “sweet poison”, since it acts on the body slowly throughout a person’s life, causing significant harm to the body. But only a few people can refuse this product for the sake of maintaining health.
For those who do not know, it must be said that the absorption of refined sugar in the human body a huge amount of calcium is wasted, which contributes to the leaching of the mineral from the bone tissue. This can lead to the development of a disease such as osteoporosis, i.e. increases the likelihood of bone fractures. Sugar causes noticeable damage to tooth enamel, and this is already a proven fact, it’s not for nothing that our parents scared us all from early childhood, saying “if you eat a lot of sweets, your teeth will hurt”, there is some truth in these “horror stories”.
I think many have noticed that sugar tends to stick to the teeth, for example, when eating caramel, a piece stuck to the tooth and caused pain – this means that the enamel on the tooth is already damaged, and when it gets on the damaged area, the sugar continues its “black case, destroying the tooth. Also, sugar contributes to an increase in acidity in the mouth, which creates beneficial conditions for the reproduction of harmful bacteria, which, in turn, just harm tooth enamel, destroying it. The teeth begin to rot, hurt, and if the treatment of diseased teeth is not started in time, the consequences can be very unpleasant, up to the extraction of teeth. Anyone who has ever had serious dental problems knows well that toothache can be truly excruciating, and sometimes simply unbearable.
1 Sugar causes fat
It must be recalled that the sugar that is consumed by a person is deposited in the liver in the form of glycogen. If the glycogen stores in the liver exceed the usual norm, the sugar eaten begins to be deposited in the form of fat reserves, usually in areas on the hips and abdomen. There is some research data that suggests that when sugar is consumed along with fat, the absorption of the latter in the body improves. Simply put, high sugar intake leads to obesity. As already mentioned, sugar is a high-calorie product that does not contain vitamins, fiber and minerals.
2 Sugar creates a feeling of false hunger
Scientists have found cells in the human brain that are responsible for controlling appetite and can cause a false feeling of hunger. If you eat foods high in sugar, then free radicals begin to interfere with the usual, normal functioning of neurons, which ultimately leads to a feeling of false hunger, and this, as a rule, ends with overeating and severe obesity.
There is another reason that can cause a feeling of false hunger: when there is a sharp increase in glucose levels in the body, and then the same sharp decline occurs, the brain requires immediate replenishment of the deficiency in blood glucose levels. Excessive consumption of sugar usually leads to a rapid increase in the level of insulin and glucose in the body, and this eventually leads to a false sense of hunger and overeating.
3 Sugar contributes to aging
Excessive consumption of sugar can cause wrinkles to appear on the skin prematurely, as sugar is stored in reserve in the collagen of the skin, thereby reducing its elasticity. The second reason sugar contributes to aging is that sugar is able to attract and retain free radicals that kill our body from the inside.
4 Sugar is addictive
As shown by experiments conducted on rats, sugar is quite addictive. These data are true for humans as well. When using this product, the same changes occur in the human brain as under the influence of morphine, cocaine and nicotine.
5 Sugar robs the body of B vitamins
All B vitamins (especially vitamin B1 – thiamine) are essential for proper digestion and assimilation by the body of all foods containing sugar and starch. White sugar does not contain any B vitamins. For this reason, in order to absorb white sugar, the body removes B vitamins from the muscles, liver, kidneys, nerves, stomach, heart, skin, eyes, blood, etc. It becomes clear that this can lead to the fact that in the human body, i.e. in many organs, a severe deficiency of B vitamins will begin.
With excessive consumption of sugar, there is a large “capture” of B vitamins in all organs and systems. This, in turn, can lead to excessive nervous excitability, severe indigestion, a feeling of constant fatigue, decreased quality of vision, anemia, muscle and skin diseases, heart attacks, and many other unpleasant consequences.
Now we can say with full confidence that in 90% of cases such violations could have been avoided if the use of sugar had been banned in time. When carbohydrates are consumed in their natural form, vitamin B1 deficiency usually does not develop, for the reason that thiamine, which is necessary for the breakdown of starch or sugar, is found in the food consumed. Thiamine is necessary not only for the growth of a good appetite, but also for the digestive processes to function normally.
6 Sugar affects the heart
For a long time, a connection has been established between excessive consumption of sugar (white) and disorders of cardiac (cardiac) activity. White sugar is strong enough, moreover, a purely negative effect on the activity of the heart muscle. It can cause a severe lack of thiamine, and this can lead to dystrophy of cardiac muscle tissue, and extravascular fluid accumulation can also develop, which can eventually lead to cardiac arrest.
7 Sugar depletes energy
Many people believe that if they consume sugar in large quantities, they will have more energy, since sugar is, in fact, the main source of energy. But to tell the truth, this is a wrong opinion for two reasons, let’s talk about them.
First, sugar causes a deficiency of thiamine, so the body cannot complete the metabolism of carbohydrates, which is why the energy output is not the same as it could be if the food was completely digested. This leads to the fact that a person has pronounced symptoms of fatigue and a marked decrease in activity.
Secondly, elevated blood sugar levels usually follow a decrease in blood sugar levels, which occurs due to a rapid increase in blood insulin levels, which in turn occurs due to a sharp increase in sugar levels. This vicious circle leads to the fact that in the body there is a drop in sugar levels much lower than the norm. This phenomenon is called an attack of hypoglycemia, which is accompanied by the following symptoms: dizziness, apathy, fatigue, nausea, severe irritability and tremor of the limbs.
8 Sugar is a stimulant
Sugar in its properties is a real stimulant. When there is an increase in blood sugar levels, a person feels a surge of activity, he has a state of mild excitement, and the activity of the sympathetic nervous system is activated. For this reason, after eating white sugar, we all notice that the heart rate noticeably increases, there is a slight rise in blood pressure, breathing quickens, and the tone of the autonomic nervous system as a whole increases.
Due to the change in biochemistry, which is not accompanied by any excessive physical actions, the received energy does not dissipate for a long time. A person has a feeling of some tension inside. That is why sugar is often referred to as a “stress food”.
9 Sugar flushes calcium out of the body
Food sugar causes a change in the ratio of phosphorus and calcium in the blood, most often the level of calcium increases, while the level of phosphorus decreases. The ratio between calcium and phosphorus continues to be wrong for more than 48 hours after sugar has been consumed.
Due to the fact that the ratio of calcium to phosphorus is severely disturbed, the body cannot fully absorb calcium from food. The best interaction of calcium with phosphorus occurs in a ratio of 2,5: 1, and if these ratios are violated, and there is noticeably more calcium, then additional calcium simply will not be used and absorbed by the body.
Excess calcium will be excreted along with urine, or it can form rather dense deposits in any soft tissues. Thus, the intake of calcium in the body may be quite sufficient, but if calcium is supplied with sugar, it will be useless. That is why I would like to warn everyone that the calcium in sweetened milk is not absorbed into the body as it should, and this, in turn, increases the risk of developing a disease such as rickets, as well as other diseases associated with calcium deficiency.
In order for the metabolism and oxidation of sugar to proceed correctly, the presence of calcium in the body is necessary, and due to the fact that there are no minerals in sugar, calcium begins to be borrowed directly from the bones. The reason for the development of a disease such as osteoporosis, as well as diseases of the teeth and weakening of the bones, is, of course, a lack of calcium in the body. A disease such as rickets may be partly due to the excessive consumption of white sugar.
10 The most important factor!
Sugar reduces the strength of the immune system by 17 times! The more sugar in our blood, the weaker the immune system. Why is diabetes dangerous with complications? Because the real danger lies in the sugar. In diabetes, the body cannot absorb sugar and it gradually builds up in the body. And the more it becomes in the blood, the less we have to rely on the immune system.
To avoid problems with your health, it is best to eliminate sugar from the diet as much as possible. But removing sugar from the diet by 100% will not work, and in fact it is not necessary, since natural sugar in small doses is necessary for the human body for normal functioning. But the consumption of refined sugar is best excluded from the diet by 99%. It is also best not to consume various sweets, condensed milk, cakes, jams at all – in other words, all foods that have a high content of concentrated refined sugar. You can stop drinking tea with sugar and completely eliminate chocolate from your diet.
[Video] Dr. Berg – Are you still on sugar? After that give up: