Is Sugar Bad For You? Dr. Badran Answers

Sugars are a type of simple carbohydrate that occurs naturally in some foods and drinks. They are also an additive in certain foods and drinks.

Many healthful food products, such as dairy products, vegetables, and fruit, naturally contain sugars. The sugar in these foods gives them a sweeter taste. Manufacturers tend to add sugar to foods such as cereals and cake and some drinks. It is these added sugars, or free sugars, that cause health problems.

Lack of Nutritional Value

Sugar is an empty calorie. Many modern foods and drinks contain empty calories. These are calories that come from foods with little to no nutritional value.

The following foods are often considered to contain mostly empty calories and may lead to weight gain: sugar, cake, cookies, sweets, candy, soft drinks, fruit-flavored sweet beverages, and other foods containing mostly added sugars (including High-fructose corn syrup).

A diet high in added sugar typically reduces the consumption of foods that contain essential nutrients. One review reported that for increases in consumption of added sugars, nutrients at most risks for inadequacy were vitamins A, C, E, and magnesium. Adding it to foods and drinks significantly increases their calorie content without adding any nutritional benefit. The body usually digests these foods and drinks quickly. This means that they are not a good source of energy.

Products that naturally contain sugar are different. For example, fruits and dairy products contain natural sugars. The body digests these foods at a slower rate, making them a lasting source of energy. Such products also tend to contain other nutrients. For example, they also contain fiber and a range of vitamins and minerals.

Consuming empty calories undermines the health benefits of consuming other foods and drinks that do have nutritional value.

Is Sugar an Immunosuppressant?

As a general rule, excessive sugar consumption depletes the body’s nutrient balance, which triggers a cascade of inflammation and metabolic disruption.

Phagocytes are cells that protect the body by engulfing bacterial waste and small foreign particles. The process of phagocytosis differs from autophagy because phagocytes consume large particles like bacteria and autophagy is the taking up, and repurposing of internal organelles - like the mitochondria. Phagocytes work to destroy particles like bacteria that could infect the host. There are five main types of phagocytes: neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages, mast cells and dendritic cells.

Simple carbohydrates decrease the phagocytic capacity of neutrophils. Immediately after consuming simple carbohydrates (approximately one to two hours), a significant decrease in the phagocytic index will occur, which means the immune function of phagocytes will be suppressed. The effects lasted up to five hours post-feeding, confirming that the function of phagocytes is impaired by the consumption of simple carbohydrates. On the other hand, a fast of 36 or 60 hr significantly increased the phagocytic index (P<0.001). However, sugar did not affect the number of neutrophils.

Weight Gain

Consuming a diet high in added sugars, such as those found in sweetened beverages, candy, baked goods, and sugary cereals, is a contributing factor in weight gain and including obesity.Excess sugar may cause you to pack on weight because it’s high in calories while offering few other nutrients. Though using small amounts of added sugar is unlikely to cause weight gain, regularly indulging in foods high in added sugars may cause you to gain excess body fat quicker and more drastically.

Eating sugary foods significantly raises your blood sugar levels. Prolonged elevated blood sugar can cause serious harm to your body, including weight gain. One way hyperglycemia leads to weight gain is through promoting insulin resistance. High blood sugar levels impair normal cell function and promote inflammation, which increases insulin resistance, furthering this destructive cycle. This is why insulin resistance and high blood sugar are associated with increased body fat — specifically in the belly area.

Sugar can affect the biological pathways that regulate hunger. High blood sugar levels and insulin resistance interfere with leptin, a hormone that plays a major role in energy regulation — including calorie intake and burning — and fat storage. Leptin decreases hunger and helps reduce food intake. Likewise, high-sugar diets are associated with leptin resistance, which increases appetite and contributes to weight gain and excess body fat.

Does Sugar Cause Diabetes?

There is a link between consuming sugary drinks and developing type 2 diabetes. It is not true that sugar causes diabetes. A high-calorie diet of any kind can lead to type 2 diabetes. However, in most cases, diets high in sugar are high in calories. This can increase the risk of diabetes.

Added sugars, especially from sugar-sweetened beverages, are strongly linked to the development of type 2 diabetes. This is likely due to sugar’s direct effect on your liver, as well as its indirect effect of increasing body weight.

While eating large amounts of added sugars has been linked to diabetes, the same is not true for natural sugars. Natural sugars are sugars that exist in fruits and vegetables and have not been added during manufacturing or processing.

Since these types of sugar exist in a matrix of fiber, water, antioxidants and other nutrients, they’re digested and absorbed more slowly and less likely to cause blood sugar spikes. Fruits and vegetables also tend to contain far less sugar by weight than many processed foods, so it is easier to keep your consumption in check.

While consuming large amounts of added sugar is linked to an increased risk of diabetes, many other factors are at play. Obesity is one of the main risk factors for type 2 diabetes but that losing just 5–10% body weight can reduce the risk. People who live sedentary lifestyles have nearly twice the risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those who are active. Just 150 minutes per week of moderate activity can reduce the risk. Smoking 20 or more cigarettes per day more than doubles your risk of diabetes, but quitting brings the risk nearly back to normal. Sleep apnea, a condition in which breathing is obstructed during the night, is a unique risk factor for diabetes.

Genetics has a role for diabetes . The risk of developing type 2 diabetes is 40% if one of your parents has it and nearly 70% if both parents have it — suggesting a genetic link

Tooth Cavities

When you consume sugar, it immediately begins interacting with the plaque bacteria to produce acid. The acid then dissolves your enamel slowly, creating the cavities in your teeth, thereby making the acid the culprit for tooth decay — not the sugar. Cavities are permanent holes that form on teeth. Tooth decay often results in tooth abscesses, where you may need to visit the dentist to have the tooth extracted. Limiting the intake of foods high in sugar is one effective way to prevent tooth cavities.

Heart Disease

High-sugar diets may increase the risk of heart disease. A 2014 study showed that a diet high in sugar puts you at a greater risk of dying from heart disease, even if you aren’t overweight. If at least 25% of calories in your daily diet come from added sugar, you are twice as likely to die of heart disease than if your diet included less than 10% of total calories from added sugar.

Sugary drinks may be particularly problematic for increasing the risk of heart disease. Sugar can affect your heart by increasing the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes, which in turn increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, spiking blood sugar levels (and so insulin levels), which increases your risk of obesity and heart disease, and stopping triglycerides (fat in the blood connected with cardiovascular disease) from breaking down. Sugar lowers the level of HDL cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol) while raising LDL (“bad” cholesterol) levels and increases blood pressure through increasing sodium accumulation in the body.

Cancer

Sugar is not a carcinogenic (cancer-causing) substance. However, over-consumption of sugar, particularly added sugars in processed beverages and foods, can contribute to obesity which is an important risk factor for cancer. There is no evidence that consuming sugar makes cancer cells grow faster or cause cancer. Healthy eating and maintaining a healthy weight help protect against cancer.

Tips to Limit Sugar

Read all food labels. Sugar can be hidden on labels. Sugar may be named brown rice syrup, barley malt, beet sugar, agave, and sucrose. Avoid processed foods. By cooking whole foods and shopping the outside aisles of the grocery store, you can naturally decrease sugar consumption and increase the number of vegetables and fruits you eat. Avoid sugary drinks. Replace soda with carbonated water with a squeeze of lemon or splash of fruit juice.