Sugar is a carbohydrate that is present in a wide variety of foods, either naturally or added during manufacturing, cooking, and processing. There are a many different types of sugar. In your pantry or supermarket, you’ll commonly see processed or refined ‘sucrose’ in white sugar, brown sugar and raw sugar. But sugar is also found naturally in fruits and vegetables (fructose), milk and dairy products (lactose), and beer and malted drinks (maltose).
Sugar: A Sweet Addiction?
If you overly enjoy sweet drinks and snacks, you might have asked yourself if you are addicted to sugar. This may not be very far from the truth, as research shows that for some people, sugar can be addictive 1. This is because eating sugar stimulates a pleasure hormone called dopamine which causes the body to crave more sugar. Sugar also activates sweet taste receptors, sending signals to the brain which activates a reward center, giving you intense sensory pleasure. If you over-activate this system by eating more and more sugar, you may develop a loss of control, craving, and tolerance to sugary foods. In this way, sugar behaves much like an addictive drug.
Understanding the Dangers of Sugar
There’s a common misconception that eating too much sugar causes diabetes. In fact, sugar itself doesn’t directly cause diabetes, but it can influence whether a person goes on to develop Type 2 diabetes. Sugary foods contain a lot of empty calories with very little nutrient value. Eating too much sugary food can cause you to gain more weight than you need and being overweight and can lead to an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes. Refined sugar is found in many food products that contain “simple carbohydrates.” These are carbohydrates that are capable of rapidly breaking down in the body to deliver a burst of sugar, which causes insulin to spike. This can increase the risk of developing diabetes or worsen an existing case of diabetes. Foods that cause glucose spikes include sweets, white bread, white rice, pastries, and white pasta.
How Much Sugar is Advised?
Whether intentionally or otherwise, most of us consume more than the recommended daily nutritional values of sugar. The World Health Organization recommends that added sugars should make up no more than 5% of the calorie intake we get from food and drink each day 2. That amounts to around 30 grams or 7 teaspoons a day. In fact, the typical American diet has a whopping 19 teaspoons of sugar a day!
Avoiding too much added sugar is not only important for people managing diabetes, it is important for everyone’s overall health to eat a balanced diet, low in added sugars. So, you should read your food labels carefully, so you know how much sugar is in the food you are buying. Believe it or not, 74% of packaged foods in supermarkets contain added sugar in one form or another! 3
Sugar for Thinking Clearly? Think Again.
Some people think that sugary foods make them think more clearly. But evidence shows that the truth may be just the opposite; a study conducted at UCLA in 2012, found that a diet high in sugar actually slows down the brain. Additional studies have even linked sugar consumption to the development of Alzheimer’s disease 4.
And, if this information isn’t enough to deter you from eating too much sugar, consider this: excess sugar consumption can potentially cause premature aging 5. Yes, you can get those wrinkles from too much sugar!
What About Natural Sugar?
Natural sugars like those found in fruit and milk products don’t behave like added sugars, and these can be incorporated into a healthy diet plan. Many foods, such as apples and oranges, contain natural sugar as well as healthy fiber, which slows the absorption of sugars in the body and helps reduce blood glucose spikes.
Staying on Track with Dario
Food is an essential part of our lives and making wise choices can help you can stay on track to a healthy life. The Dario mobile app can be a powerful tool to help balance your eating and keep your sugar intake in check. Use Dario to start spotting patterns and trends between your food and blood glucose levels!
1 DiNicolantonio, J. J., O’Keefe, J. H., & Wilson, W. L. (2017). Sugar addiction: is it real? A narrative review. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 52(14), 910–913. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2017-097971
2 https://www.who.int/mediacentre/ news/releases/2015/sugar-guideline/en/
3 https://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/ hidden-in-plain-sight/#.XP4JAVwzbIU
4 https://newatlas.com/sugar-linked-to-alzheimers/48098/
5 https://www.livestrong.com/ article/75798-effects-sugar-skin-aging/
DAR-0121 RevA 08/2019