From peanut butter to spaghetti sauce, there is added sugars in most of the food that you eat, even in the products that you would never expect. In today’s ‘grab and go’ society, many people are regularly relying on different types of processed foods for all of their food intake. More often than not, these products are going to contain lots of added sugars. In fact, the added sugars normally make up most of their daily caloric intake.
In the United States, additional sugars that have been added to foods equate to roughly 17% of the total daily caloric intake for adults, and up to an astonishing 14% when it comes to children. The daily dietary guidelines for the suggested amount of calories from added sugars should ideally be much lower than 10% every day.
Most dietary experts agree that this excess amount of sugar consumption is one of the largest causes of obesity and many other types of chronic diseases, one of which is diabetes. In fact, studies have shown that there is actually a direct link between the amount of added sugars in food, and being obese, or having diabetes.
With that being said, here are the top ways that eating too much sugar is going to be extremely bad for your health.
Eating Too Much Sugar Will Cause Excessive Weight Gain
Across the United States, as well as the rest of the world, the rate of obesity is growing at a very alarming rate, and one of the biggest culprits is beverages that have been sweetened with sugars. These sugar-sweetened drinks such as soda, sweet tea, and juices, are packed full of fructose, a one of the types of simple sugars that wreaks havoc within your body.
When you consume fructose, you are going to increase your body’s hunger and desire for foods that are packed with glucose, the number sugar that is normally found in all different types of starchy foods.
On top of that, when you consume too much fructose, you can build up a resistance to leptin, which is one of the important hormones that helps to regulate how hungry you get, as well as lets your body know when you have eaten enough. In short, leptin essentially tells your body how hungry you really are, as well as when you are full.
What this means, is that all of the sugary drinks that you love, do absolutely nothing to help curb your appetite, meaning that it will be much easier for your to consume a higher amount of calories through your drinks. All of these extra calories are only going to lead to one thing, weight gain.
Studies have proven that those who are consistently drinking sugary drinks such as juice and soda typically weigh much more than those people who don’t regularly drink them. Also, when you drink too many sugar-sweetened drinks, you are more likely to have a higher amount of visceral fat, as it has been proven that there is a direct link between the two. And in case you didn’t know, visceral fat is the deep belly fat that is linked to some serious conditions that you don’t want any part of, some of which include heart disease and diabetes.
Essentially, when you consume too much additional sugar from sugary drinks, you are not only increasing your risk for gaining excess weight, but it can also cause you to start accumulating additional visceral fat.
Excess Sugar May Lead To An Increased Risk Of Heart Disease
Diets that are high in sugar have been directly associated with having an increased risk for many different types of diseases, one of the most serious being heart disease. And just in case you weren’t aware, heat disease is the number one leading cause of death in the entire world.
Evidence points to high sugar diets causing inflammation, high triglyceride levels, obesity, and even high blood pressure and blood sugar levels, all of which are risk factors leading to heart disease. On top of that, when you consume too much sugar, especially from drinks that have been sweetened with sugar, it is also linked to atherosclerosis, which is a disease that is characterized by fatty deposits clogging your arteries.
In fact, a study that was done involving over 30,000 people revealed that people, who consumed between 17% and 21% of all their calories from additional sugars that were added to food and beverages, were 38% more likely to dye from some type of heart disease. This is compared to people who were only consuming 8% of their calories from added sugars.
Just to help you visualize how much your really need to drink of a sugary beverage to get to 10% of your daily caloric intake, one can of soda that is 16 ounces, contains an incredible 52 grams of added sugars. This means that one can of soda is going to have more than your daily-recommended amount of 10% of sugar when based one 2,000-calorie diet. Now keep in mind that you have already gone past your 10% of sugar per day, and all you did was drink one soda. This does not factor in any other food or beverage that you are going to consume during the rest of the day.
Again, this means that just one sugary drink per day is going to put you over your recommended daily amount of added sugars.
The big takeaway here, is that when you consume too much additional sugar, you are going to greatly increase your chances for heart disease, obesity, inflammation, and high blood pressure. On top of that, diets that are high in added sugars have been directly link to dying from heart disease.
Sugar Has Been Linked To Increased Amounts Of Acne
When you have a diet that is packed with refined carbohydrates, which includes sugary drinks and foods, it has been linked to having an increased risk for developing acne. Foods that contain a higher glycemic index, which includes processed sweets, elevate your blood sugar levels much more quickly than foods that have a lower glycemic index.
When you eat foods that are loaded with extra sugars, you are going to cause a quick spike in your insulin and blood sugar levels, which causes your body to release even more androgen, as well as inflammation and oil production. All of these factors play a huge role when it comes to the development of acne and you.
Studies have actually shown that diets containing more lower glycemic foods are directly associated with having a reduced risk factor of getting acne, while the higher glycemic diets are going to greatly increase your risk for it.
For example, one study that was done with 2,300 teenagers revealed that the ones who were consuming added sugars on a regular basis, were 30% more likely to develop acne. On top of that, studies on populations in rural communities that eat a regular diet of non-processed foods and drinks have an acne rate of almost none.
This just goes to show that diets that are full of processed foods loaded with added sugars are more likely to develop acne at a much higher rate.
Too Much Sugar Can Increase Your Risk For Diabetes
While the amount of processed foods and drinks have increased over the past 30 years or so, the amount of diabetes has also more than doubled in the last 30 years. While there are many different reasons for this, the link between consuming too much sugar and your risk for diabetes simply can’t be ignored.
In fact obesity, which is commonly caused by the consumption of too much added sugar, is considered to be the absolute strongest factor in contracting diabetes. As if that weren’t enough, this prolonged consumption of added sugars is also going to make your body more insulin resistant, which is bad as insulin is solely responsible for regulating your blood sugar levels. As soon as your body becomes insulin resistant, your blood sugar levels are going to quickly increase, boosting your chances for becoming diabetic.
While these are only some of the main reasons why consuming too much additional sugar is bad for you, some of the other consequences of sugar include:
- An increased risk of different types of cancer
- An increased risk of becoming severely depressed
- Your skin will began to age much faster
- An increased amount of cellular aging
- A lack of energy throughout your day
- An increased risk for having a fatty liver
- Increased chance of having kidney disease
- It can negatively impact your oral health
- You can develop gout
- It can accelerate the speed of which your cognitive declines
At the end of the day, you are going to eat and drink what you want to eat and drink. But with so much scientific data exposing all of the negative side affects that too much sugar can cause, it really is in your best interest to limit your daily sugar intake to below 10% of your daily caloric intake. As long as you limit your added sugar intake and maintain an active, healthy diet, you should have no problem maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
