How Sugar Affects Body, Mind, And Overall Health

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.

Overconsumption Of Sugar Can Lead To Intense Cravings

When sugar hits the tongue, it activates the sweet receptors, which send a signal from the tongue to the cerebral cortex and thus creates and releases a rush of feel-good hormones like serotonin and dopamine. From the cerebral cortex, the signal activates the brain’s reward system, a series of electrical and chemical pathways, across different parts of the brain that encourage us to eat more sweets. Eating a lot of sweets, or over-activating the reward system, causes loss of control, temptation, cravings, and increased tolerance to sugar. Ultimately, it can lead to sugar addiction.