Sunday, October 13, 2024

What are some reasons to decrease sugar intake from your diet?

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Almost every food is filled with sugar and the amount varies with each item. Consumption of foods having natural sugar is fine like fruits, vegetables, and grains etc. However, the problem arises when you start using added sugar(sugar that food manufacturers add to products to increase flavour or extend shelf life) more frequently as it can be risky for your body. In the American diet, the top sources of added sugar are soft drinks, fruit drinks, flavoured yoghurts, cereals, cookies, cakes, and candies.

Here are some of the harmful effects of sugar on our body:

  1. RESULTS IN WEIGHT GAIN

The main source of added sugar is Sugar-sweetened drinks like sodas, juices and sweet teas which are loaded with fructose, a type of simple sugar. Fructose increases your hunger and desire for food and also causes resistance to leptin, an important hormone that regulates hunger and tells your body to stop eating, therefore you end up eating a lot of liquid calories, which results in weight gain.

2. CAUSES HEART DISEASES

Heart diseases are one of the major causes of death around the globe and their rate is increasing day by day. Additionally, consuming too much sugar, especially from sugar-sweetened drinks, has been linked to atherosclerosis, a disease characterized by fatty, artery-clogging deposits. Eating up too much added sugar increases heart diseases factors such as obesity, high blood pressure and inflammation. High-sugar diets have been linked to an increased risk of dying from heart diseases.

3. DEVELOP ACNE

Foods with a high glycemic index, such as processed sweets, raise your blood sugar more rapidly than foods with a lower glycemic index.

Sugary foods quickly spike blood sugar and insulin levels, causing increased androgen secretion, oil production and inflammation, all of which play a role in acne development.

4. INCREASES RISK OF CANCER

An excess amount of sugar indirectly increases the risk of cancer in our bodies. First of all, excess sugar causes obesity which then causes cancer. Further, it causes inflammation and resistance to insulin and in the end, these factors caused cancer.

5. DEPRESSION

While a healthy diet enhances our mood, a diet rich in added sugar and processed foods may increase your chances of developing depression.

Consuming a lot of processed foods, including high-sugar products such as candies and sodas, has been associated with a higher risk of depression.

It is to be said that blood sugar swings, neurotransmitter dysregulation and inflammation may all be reasons for sugar’s detrimental impact on mental health.

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