Fact: We eat too much sugar and it is ruining our health. On average Americans consume 18 to 26 teaspoons per day based on a daily diet of 1,800 to 2,600 calories. Even at 18 teaspoons, that is twice what a man should have and three times for a woman.
To find the source of sugar though, you have to read nutritional labels as manufacturers hide sugar in unsuspecting foods such as ketchup, beef jerky, frozen dinners and bread.
Not only does all this sugar lead to weight gain and tooth decay, but it can cause a host of other diseases.
Diabetes
When you eat large amounts of sugar, your blood sugar spikes. The pancreas releases insulin to break it down.
But over time, it takes more and more insulin to break down the same amount of sugar. This is known as insulin resistance. Eventually your body reaches a point where the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin. This is Type 2 diabetes.
Suppressed Immune System
In a report published in USA Today, it showed that table sugar and unsweetened orange juice suppressed the immune system in health volunteers by half for up to five hours at a time. So if you eat sugar at every meal, your immune system is protecting you less than half of the time from viruses, bacteria and parasites.
Cancer
Insulin plays a big part in helping control the multiplication of cells. If it is constantly overloaded trying to break down excessive sugar, it can’t protect you from uncontrolled multiplication of cells which is cancer.
Heart Disease
While sugar may not directly cause heart disease, it causes many of the conditions that lead to heart disease, namely obesity, increased triglycerides and “bad” cholesterol LDL. Excessive triglycerides can build up in liver and cause non-alcoholic fatty liver disease – a potentially deadly disease.
High Blood Pressure
For many years scientists thought excessive salt was the cause of high blood pressure. But recent studies have now proved that it is sugar that causes high blood pressure by affecting the hypothalamus in the brain causing the heart rate to speed up and blood pressure to rise.
Multiple studies have reached the same conclusion, sugar is the independent risk factor for many of today’s diseases. Consumption should be limited no more than six teaspoons per day for women and nine for men including the added sugars in foods – sugar not occurring naturally.
