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Sugar Is Bad For Health, But How Much? These 7 Reasons Will Make It Clear

Sugar is bad for our health we all know, but how bad is it? These 7 points will make it clear.

By Shubham Ghosh

Sugar, as we all know, is a food that kills us in the long term. It can hurt our metabolism and lead to all sorts of diseases. Increased intake can make you develop certain lifestyle-related disorders, which has been seen to be at an all time rise.

Increased sugar intake in the foods that we take or in the beverages we drink can only lead to certain undesirable problems. It is always better to avoid the intake of sugar and keep it to a minimum to help combat certain health ailments.

Here we list 7 harmful reasons on why you must cut down on your sugar intake, take a look.

1. Contains No Nutrients:

1. Contains No Nutrients:

Added sugars contain a high calorie which provides zero nutrients and only energy. When people consume 10-20 per cent of calories in the form of sugar, this causes problems for our health and deficiency of nutrition.

2. Lead To Diabetes:

2. Lead To Diabetes:

The most feared consequences of eating too much sugar is that it can lead to diabetes or prediabetes. Insulin is a very essential hormone in the body, which allows the glucose to enter cells from the bloodstream, and it instructs the cells to burn the glucose.

But presence of too much glucose in the bloodstream can be harmful and can be one reason leading to complications such as diabetes, and this happens when the insulin stops working because the cells become resistant to it as a result of a metabolic disorder caused by the intake of unhealthy diet containing too much sugar.

Obesity and heart diseases are also other consequences. Diabetes can also lead to problems like blindness.

3. It Is Highly Addictive:

3. It Is Highly Addictive:

Sugar can have a addictive effect like abusive drugs by releasing dopamine, a chemical that makes us feel happy, in the brain. So, the more sugar you have, the more addicted you become and the cycle goes on.

4. It Damages The Liver:

4. It Damages The Liver:

The sugar that enters our bloodstream from the digestive tract is broken into glucose and fructose. Glucose, on one hand, can be found in every living cell and our bodies also produce it.

But fructose is not produced by our body in any significant quantity and there is also no need for it. A small amount of fructose is okay for the liver, which metabolises it, but presence of too much fructose can overload the liver, compelling it to turn the fructose into fat.

Regular intake of sweet can lead to fatty liver and therefore result in health complications. Remember, fruits contain fructose too; but it can never reach a level to threat your health.

5. Causes Fatty Liver Disease:

5. Causes Fatty Liver Disease:

Similar to the above point, when too much fructose gets transformed into fat in the liver, not all fat gets out and it thereby accumulates in the liver, causing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This is a serious problem in the West nowadays.

6. Can Lead To Cancer:

6. Can Lead To Cancer:

A high level of insulin as a result of high sugar consumption can lead to cancer, which is generally caused by uncontrolled multiplication of cells. Also, the metabolic disturbance caused by high sugar consumption can cause inflammation, leading to cancer.

7. Lead To Tooth Decay:

7. Lead To Tooth Decay:

The harmful bacteria present in sugar can create a lot of damage to our teeth, even causing their decay, particularly, if we don't take enough oral care following consumption of sweet items.

Story first published: Friday, November 11, 2016, 14:44 [IST]