If there could be just one piece of dietary advice to give anyone to improve their general health and well-being it would be this – EAT LESS SUGAR!
Deciding to cut back on your added sugar intake is no easy task. After all, it can hide in many different foods and beverages including savoury items. Even the so-called ‘healthy’ sugars found in fruit and milk have some impact of your well-being. Although sugar is not considered generally to be a healthy food, a little sweetness is okay, it is just about getting the right amount so as not to negatively impact your body.
In the UK at the moment (figures from 2021), it is estimated that adults are consuming on average 17 teaspoons of sugars daily which accounts for nearly 290 calories. The recommended quantity is 100 calories (6 teaspoons) for women and 150 calories or 9 teaspoons for men. Much of this sugar is consumed via ‘added sugars’ found in foods such as sugar-sweetened beverages, desserts, pastries, biscuits but also foods such as pasta sauces, ketchup, and BBQ sauces etc, peanut butter, salad dressings and breakfast cereals.
There are over 20 different names for sugars when they are added to your food and drinks, these include: maltose, sucrose, fructose, dextrose, cane syrup, corn syrup, malt syrup and molasses, as well as invert sugar, raw sugar, brown sugar etc. Basically, anything that ends in ‘ose’ is likely to be sugar, anything that says either sugar or syrup is going to be a sugar too.
The impact on health of naturally occurring sugars such as those found in fruit and milk is less concerning than the added sugars found in many highly processed foods though. With added sugars, your body absorbs them more quickly or cannot process them fast enough.
Too much sugar, whether it is added or natural, can harm your wellbeing. In particular though, too much added sugar can place you at a greater risk of a number of health conditions.
Main Health Risks
Weight Gain: Added sugars in highly processed foods is considered to be the major cause of obesity worldwide. Sugar-sweetened drinks for instance are loaded with fructose a type of simple sugar that is found to increase your hunger and desire for more sugary foods than glucose – which is the type of sugar found in starchy foods. Additionally, animal studies show that excessive fructose consumption may cause resistance to leptin, an important hormone that regulates hunger and tells your body to stop eating. This can lead to weight gain.
Heart Disease: High-sugar diets have been associated with an increased risk of many diseases, including heart disease, the number one cause of death worldwide. Evidence suggests that high-sugar diets can lead to obesity and gut inflammation as well as high blood sugar and blood pressure levels all of which are known risk factors for heart disease.
Acne: A diet high in refined carbs, including sugary foods and drinks, has been associated with a higher risk of developing acne. Foods with a higher glycaemic index such as processed desserts, chocolates, confectionary raise your blood sugar more rapidly than foods with a lower glycaemic index. Consuming these kinds of sugary foods can cause a spike in blood sugar and insulin levels, leading to increased androgen secretion, oil production, and cell inflammation all of which play a role in acne development.
Type 2 Diabetes: Diabetes is a leading cause of mortality and reduced life expectancy. Its prevalence has more than doubled over the past 30 years, and projections estimate its burden will continue to rise over the next 3-5 decades. Eating large amounts of sugar can indirectly raise diabetes risk by contributing to weight gain and increased visceral body fat (fat stored deep inside the belly, wrapped around the organs including the liver and intestines) both of which are risks for developing type 2 diabetes. Obesity, which is often caused by excessive sugar consumption, is considered the strongest risk factor for diabetes. What is more, prolonged high-sugar consumption drives resistance to insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas that regulates blood sugar levels.
Cancer: Eating excessive amounts of sugar may increase your risk of developing certain cancers. First, a diet rich in sugary foods and beverages can lead to obesity, which significantly raises your risk of cancer. Also, diets high in sugar increase inflammation in your body and may cause insulin resistance, both of which increase cancer risk. Other studies have found sugar intake to be linked to specific types of cancer. A US study in over 22,720 men spanning over 9 years found that increased sugar consumption from sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with a greater risk of prostate cancer. Another study found that oesophageal cancer was associated with increased consumption of sucrose or table sugar, and sweetened desserts and beverages. Research on the link between added sugar intake and cancer is ongoing, and more studies are needed to fully understand this complex relationship.
Depression: High sugar consumption has been linked to cognitive impairments, memory problems, and emotional disorders like anxiety and depression. Researchers believe that chronic systemic inflammation, insulin resistance, and a disrupted dopaminergic reward signalling system all of which can be caused by increased sugar consumption may contribute to sugar’s detrimental impact on mental health.
Quickens Skin Ageing: Wrinkles are a natural sign of skin ageing. They appear eventually, regardless of your health. However, it is believed that poor food choices can worsen wrinkles and speed up the skin ageing process. Advanced Glycogen End Products (AGEs) are compounds formed by reactions between sugar and protein in your body. They are suspected to play a key role in skin ageing. Consuming a diet high in refined carbohydrates and sugar leads to the production of AGEs, which may cause your skin to age prematurely. AGEs damage collagen and elastin, which are proteins that help the skin stretch and keep its youthful appearance.
Quickens Cellular Ageing: Telomeres are structures found at the end of chromosomes, which are molecules that hold part or all of your genetic information. Telomeres act as protective caps, preventing chromosomes from deteriorating or fusing together. As you grow older, telomeres naturally shorten, which causes cells to age and malfunction. Consuming high amounts of sugar has been shown to accelerate telomere shortening, which increases cellular ageing.
Drains Energy Levels: Foods high in added sugar quickly spike blood sugar and insulin levels, leading to increased energy. However, this rise in energy levels is fleeting. Products that are loaded with sugar but lacking in protein, fibre, or fat lead to a brief energy boost that is quickly followed by a sharp drop in blood sugar, often referred to as a ‘sugar crash’. Having constant blood sugar swings can lead to major fluctuations in energy levels.
Fatty Liver: A high intake of fructose has been consistently linked to an increased risk of a fatty liver. Fructose is a common type of sugar, with one major source being high fructose corn syrup used to sweeten carbonated drinks, confectionary, baked goods, cereals, and more. Unlike glucose and other types of sugar, which are taken up by many cells throughout the body, fructose is almost exclusively broken down by the liver. In the liver, fructose is converted into energy or stored as glycogen. However, the liver can only store so much glycogen before excess amounts are turned into fat. Large amounts of added sugar in the form of fructose overload your liver, leading to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, a condition characterised by excessive fat build-up in the liver.
Other Health Risks
Aside from the risks listed above, sugar can harm your body in countless other ways.
Research shows that too much added sugar can:
- Increase kidney disease risk: Fructose can increase serum concentrations of urate, leading to the development of kidney disease. Consistently high blood sugar levels can also damage the delicate blood vessels in your kidneys, increasing the risk of kidney disease
- Negatively impacts on dental health: Eating too much sugar can cause tooth cavities. Bacteria in your mouth feed on sugar and release acid by-products, which cause tooth demineralisation
- Increase the risk of developing gout: Gout is an inflammatory condition characterised by pain in the joints. Added sugars raise uric acid levels in the blood, increasing the risk of developing or worsening gout
- Accelerate cognitive decline: High-sugar diets can lead to impaired memory and have been linked to an increased risk of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and of strokes
Research on the impact of added sugar on health is ongoing, further research on all of the
above and new discoveries are constantly being made.
How To Reduce Your Sugar Intake
Although consuming small amounts now and then is perfectly healthy, you should try to cut back on sugar whenever possible. Fortunately, simply focusing on eating whole grain, grown and unprocessed foods automatically decreases the amount of sugar in your diet.
Here are some tips on how to reduce your intake of added sugars:
- Swap sweetened carbonated drinks, energy drinks, juices, and sweetened hot drinks for water or herbal teas.
- Sweeten plain yoghurt with fresh or frozen berries/fruits instead of buying flavoured, sugar-loaded yoghurt
- Consume whole fruits instead of sugar-sweetened fruit smoothies
- Replace chocolate and confectionary with a homemade trail mix of fruit, nuts, and a few dark chocolate chips
- Use olive oil and vinegar in place of sweet salad dressings like salad cream, mayonnaise, or honey mustard dressing etc.
- Look for cereals, granola, and granola bars with under 4 grams of sugar per serving
- Swap your morning cereal for a bowl of rolled oats topped with fresh berries, or an omelette made with fresh produce such as peppers, salad onions, tomatoes, mushrooms etc.
- Avoid alcoholic beverages that are sweetened with soda, juice, honey, sugar, or agave
The best way to limit your added sugar intake is to prepare your own healthy meals at home focussing on fresh, whole ingredients and avoid buying highly processed foods and drinks that are often high in added sugars.
Need help cutting down your sugar intake? Get in touch with us today, we would love to hear from you.
