Update: 21 November 2024
Sugar
Author: Julie Casper, C. Ac.
Cells use sugar for vital functions, but we don't need much. Added sugar causes many diseases and health disorders, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer and more.
Contents
- Sugar Toxicity
- Ensuring Addiction Struggles — for Life
- Quitting Sugar
- Metabolic Similarities Between Sugar and Alcohol
- Sugar and Increased Cancer Risk
- Resources
Sugar Toxicity
There are so many books, websites, and health advocates dedicated to warning us about the harm caused by eating sugar, that it's impossible not to know. Doctors have been warning us about the dangers of sugar for decades. Weston Price proved it with his extensive research in the early 1900's and explained it in his seminal book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. Back in 1972 physician and biochemist John Yudkin warned us in his book, Pure, White and Deadly
Because of its overwhelming presence in industrially processed food and drink products, sugar has become culturally normalized. Unfortunately sugary products are heavily marketed to those most vulnerable. Children are psychologically incapable of recognizing that they are being programmed for a life of sugar-realated health problems. A major factor that has kept us in the dark about sugar's detrimental impacts is the role that industry has played in keeping it that way. Food companies use tactics similar to the tobacco industry to downplay the harm caused by their sugar laden foods. Sugar laced foods are so common that people are oblivious to the seriousness of the health threats. The list of debilitating health conditions related to sugar consumption is a very long one, including heart disease, obesity and hypertension. The Union of Concerned Scientists is concerned about this issue also:
The research condemning sugar is conclusive. In order to protect health, sugar consumption should be minimal. "Sugar" includes, sucrose, fructose, (anything with the suffix "-ose,") and many commonly consumed carbohydrates, like bread for example.
How sugar affects the brain - By Nicole Avena, animation by STK Films. When you eat something loaded with sugar, your taste buds, your gut and your brain all take notice. This activation of your reward system is not unlike how bodies process addictive substances such as alcohol or nicotine — an overload of sugar spikes dopamine levels and leaves you craving more.
Ensuring Addiction Struggles — for Life
PET brain scan comparing the similarity of the neurological activity stimulated by sugar with that of cocaine. The same areas in the brain are affected.
Many people do not appreciate the fact that sugar is THE ‘gateway drug.’ For most of us, our childhood sugar consumption initiates a lifelong struggle with addictions of all kinds, chemical and emotional. There is growing clinical evidence of the likelihood of soda being at the root of many health and weight related conditions, including alcoholism. Excessive sugar intake also is likely one reason behind alcohol overconsumption as a child gets older.
Quitting Sugar
If you think quitting crack cocaine is hard, try stopping sugar. In fact, quitting sugar may be the most difficult addiction to overcome — because you are not in complete control.
Being a hopeless sugar addict has nothing to do with one's moral character, saints and sinners belong to this inclusive group. And we never had a chance. Your mother was an addict before you were born (sorry Mom). Of course, the industrial processed-food complex knows a good thing when it sees it. For instance, an unnamed Cola's "secret recipe" originally contained cocaine (and that ingredient had ZERO to do with flavor).
But as strange as it may sound, your gut biome is the real culprit. There are millions of sugar-crazed bacteria living inside of you that actually affect how you think. During the recovery process, you will discover that your mind has a mind of its own — and it WANTS sugar! This is a defensive reaction to the massive bacterium die-off that occurs when you stop enabling their proliferation. This massive colony is a force to be reconed with — and they do not go quietly into the night.
Understanding the problem, reevaluating social customs, and rejecting overbearing marketing propaganda are essential first steps. In addition, among the long list of related problems, sugar overuse negatively impacts cellular energy production and disrupts endrocine function. Restoring proper balance to these vital systems helps to ensure a sucessful recovery process. Freedom from sugar addiction is a formatible challenge that is beyond mind over matter.
- Our Brains Could Actually Have Bacteria Living Inside, New Evidence Suggests
- Your Gut Bacteria Are Controlling Your Appetite, Study Finds
- Human Emotions Really Are Affected by Gut Bacteria, New Study Suggests
Benefits of Sugar-Freedom
- Improve mental clarity
- Improve mental health – sugar causes mood swings, anxiety and depression
- Prevent diabetes
- Normalize insulin levels (peaceful hormonal balance)
- Prevent cavities and tooth decay
- Increase and stablize energy levels
- Decrease excess strain on cardiovascular system
- Improve immune system function
- Loose weight
- Smell nice – foul smelling, explosive flatulence is a common effect of excess sugar induced toxic bowel
In a short video The Skinny on Obesity, Dr Robert Lustig points to the overabundance of sugar in today's processed convenience foods, and explains how our bodies metabolize these sugars in the same way as alcohol or other toxins, causing damage to the liver and other organs.
- The Skinny on Obesity 9 min
Metabolic Similarities Between Sugar and Alcohol
- Fructose is virtually identical to alcohol with regard to the metabolic havoc it wreaks.
- When you consume fructose, 100 percent of it goes directly to your liver to be metabolized; this is why it can be extremely hepatotoxic when it overloads your liver, just like alcohol.
- The metabolism of fructose causes most of the same toxic effects as ethanol, such as visceral adiposity (belly fat), insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome; but when consumed excessively fructose may actually be more damaging to your health, having over 70 documented adverse effects.
- Fructose ‘buzzes’ the brain like other narcotics, displaying both dopaminergic and opioid properties, which may be why people find themselves consuming such large amounts even while it is reducing both the quality and length of their lives.
- It's important to carefully limit your intake of fructose, just like your intake of alcohol; an appropriate amount of fructose is no more than 25 grams per day, but if you're overweight or at risk of (or have) heart disease, cancer, or type 2 diabetes, then you're probably better off cutting that down to 10-15 grams per day.
| Fruit | Fructose Content |
|---|---|
| Apple | 9.5 grams |
| Apricot | 1.3 grams |
| Banana | 7.1 grams |
| Blackberries (1 c.) | 3.5 grams |
| Blueberries (1 c.) | 7.4 grams |
| Cantaloupe (1/8 of melon) | 2.8 grams |
| Cherries (10) | 3.8 grams |
| Dates (1 medium) | 2.6 grams |
| Orange | 6.1 grams |
| Peach | 5.9 grams |
| Pear | 11.8 grams |
| Strawberries (1 c.) | 3.8 grams |
| Watermelon (1/16 of melon) | 11.3 grams |
Sugar and Increased Cancer Risk
"Cancer lives on glucose. The cell takes glucose via insulin. Cancer cells have up to 15 more glucose receptor sites than healthy cells. Greedy for glucose, cancer cells starve the body, ergo the patient…" Charles Walters, Minerals for the Genetic Code
Something that not many people realize is that cancer cells are highly attracted to sugar. Since the odds of getting cancer are about 50% (1 in 2), doing what you can to improve your odds makes sense. One action you can take to reduce risk is to drastically reduce sugar use.
- Sugar's Role in Cancer, Dr. Quillin [3 min.]
Resources
- 30-40 Percent of Health Care Spending in the U.S. Is Tied to Excess Sugar Consumption
- What Happens to Your Brain on Sugar, Explained by Science Tom McKay
- All About Fructose and Why You Shouldn't Panic
- Blood Sugar 101 Jenny Ruhl (website with many articles)
- Is Sugar Toxic? Gary Taubes
Download
- Sweet Tooth (Infographic)
- 141 Reasons Sugar Ruins Your Health Nancy Appleton, Ph.D
- Fructose, insulin resistance, and metabolic dyslipidemia Obesity and type 2 diabetes are occurring at epidemic rates in the United States and many parts of the world. The "obesity epidemic" appears to have emerged largely from changes in our diet and reduced physical activity.
- Nutrition and Physical Degeneration Weston A. Price, MS., D.D.S., F.A.G.D.
- Kill Your Children
- Xylitol: Not as Sweet As It's Cracked Up to Be
Video
- Sugar: The Bitter Truth (1:29 hr)
- Are Energy Drinks Safe?
- Fed Up (Documentary) Trailer 2 min. Katie Couric, narrator and executive producer.
- Fructose Sugar Addiction Dangers — Lecture by Dr Richard Johnson (3 parts):
Website
- Sugar Science Evidence-based, scientific information about sugar and its impact on health.
- Sugar Consumption (Infographic)
- Xylitol: Not as Sweet As It's Cracked Up to Be
Book
- Life Without Bread Wolfgang Lutz M. D. and Christian Allan Ph. D.
- The Hacking of the American Mind Robert Lustig MD
- Lost Connections Johann Hari - Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression‚ and the Unexpected Solutions
- Addiction: The Hidden Epidemic Pam Killeen
- Cure Tooth Decay Ramiel Nagel