In between 2001 and 2004, a report by the American Heart Association (AHA) discovered the average American consumes approximately twenty-two teaspoons of sugar per day. The AHA also states individuals should limit their sugar intake to six to nine teaspoons each day, which is roughly the same amount of sugar in a can of soda: eight tablespoons.
Sugar is not just bad for your teeth. Too much sugar can add some pounds to the waistline, contribute to diabetes, can affect the pH levels within the body, and can impact heart health and brain health. There are many ways sugar can affect the health of both your mind and body.
What Exactly Is Sugar?
Sugar is calorie-dense with no nutritional value and can come in many different forms in many of the ingredients we purchase at the supermarket or grocery store. It is used as a preservative and to enhance the sweetness of certain products. Although we know how much sugar we should be consuming every day, it is often difficult to determine due to having many different names. Sugar may be disguised on the ingredient label as glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, dextrose, starch, corn syrup, fruit juice, raw sugar, and honey, or a combination of them.
But how does it affect the brain and body when it has been consumed?