20 Health Risks of Consuming too Much Sugar (#Deadly)

Sugar is one of the type of carbohydrate which has a lot of calories. According to the World Health Organization or WHO, you’re not recommended to get the 5% of the recommended daily calories from sugar, because it will lead you to various health risks and health complications. We bet that you already know that the excessive consumption of sugar could lead you to the various health risks. But, do you know the exact health risks of consuming too much sugar? Here are the various health risks of excessive consumption of sugar.

Obesity

Health Risks of Consuming too Much Sugar will gain your weight. This is one of the most obvious health risk whenever you’re consuming too much sugar. So, obesity is the condition that commonly described whenever you have the excessive body weight. As you already know, sugar is one of the types of carbohydrate, which will be used by our body to boost the energy. The excessive consumption of sugar, of course, will make your body store the sugar into fat so that the sugar could be used as the energy later whenever your body needed the most. Aside from that, sugar itself contains a lot of calories and has a high glycemic index which without a doubt will iincrease te body weight rapidly if you consume it excessively.

Insulin Resistance

Another health risks that would be more likely to occur whenever you’re consuming too much sugar is the insulin resistance. So, insulin resistance is the condition whenever your body’s sensitivity to the insulin hormones are reduced. Meanwhile, insulin is the hormone that would be responsible to convert the foods become energy.

Whenever you’re consuming too much sugar, the body will demand to more and more sugar in order to keep the high insulin levels in the body. Whenever you consume too much sugar, it means that the insulin level would be high, which then will reduce the body’s sensitivity to the hormones and the glucose will be builded up in the body. This condition could lead you to serious health problems, such as diabetes type 2.

Diabetes Type 2

Since sugar could lead you to obesity and insulin resistance, there is also no doubt that the chance of you developing the diabetes type would be higher than before. So, consuming too much sugar can affect the metabolic syndrome in the body that as you already know, will lead you to the insulin resistance.

As already mentioned above, insulin is the hormone that will responsible to convert the foods that you just ate become energy. Whenever you consume too much sugar, the more insulin that the pancreas must produce. Sadly, the pancreas can’t produce enough insulin to keep the blood sugar level in a normal state, which then will lead you to diabetes type 2.

Addiction of Sugar

As already mentioned above, whenever you’re consuming too much sugar, the body will demand more and more sugar in order to keep the high levels of insulin in the body. The addiction of sugar without a doubt would cause various health complications in the future, or even it will cause death if you couldn’t stop that habit.
So, the question is why the addiction of sugar will lead to the addiction? Well, whenever you consume sugar, the brain will release one of the neurotransmitters called dopamine. This dopamine can make the feel-good feeling in your mind. But in the progress, the more you consume the sugar, the less the neurotransmitter will respond, which will make you want to eat sugar again and again so that the neurotransmitter would respond and will release the dopamine.

High Blood Pressure

Since the excessive consumption of sugar could lead you to the obesity and diabetes type 2, there is no doubt that you will suffer from high blood pressure as well. So, obesity, in fact, is one of the main causes of high blood pressure. The fructose that could be added by consuming sugar would lead you to the elevated blood pressure.In the matter of fact, there was a study that conducted in 4,528 adults which showed that consuming 74 grams or more sugar in a day will increase the chance of the development of blood pressure around the people.

Cavities

So, this is one of the serious health risks that will be more likely to happen to you whenever you have the excessive consumption of sugar. So, why the sugar could make some cavities in your teeth? While the obvious reason why the sugar could make some cavities in your teeth, but according to the study and many health experts, the cavities in your teeth could be occurred because the germ and teh bad bacteria that line the teeth in your mouth will feed the simple sugar, which then will release the acids that could destroy your enamels. That condition then of course will cause the cavities to appear in the teeth.

Nutrient Deficiency

Another health risk that obviously will happen whenever you have the excessive consumption of sugar is the nutrient deficiency. As you already know, sugar is one of the sources that has a high glycemic index. This means that sugar has a lot of calories. Sadly, although the sugar has a lot of calories, but this food contains empty nutrients. Yes, the sugar contains empty nutrients, which means that sugar wouldn’t give your body vitamins, minerals, or any other nutrients except the energy. As the result, there is no doubt that your body will have lack of nutrients, which will lead you to various health problems related to your liver, kidney, and also your heart.

The Constant Hunger

This is probably also would occur to you whenever you have the excessive consumption of sugar in your body. So, why the consumption of sugar would lead you to the constant hunger? This is closely related to the leptin hormone. So, leptin hormone is the kind of hormone that would be responsible to tell your body that you’ve had enough of foods to eat.

Some studies suggest that the obesity, which without a doubt will be occurred whenever you have the excessive consumption of sugar, will interfere the leptin activity and lead you to leptin resistance. The leptin resistance will make your body couldn’t get the signal that you need to stop to eat and thus, you will be more likely to eat again and again over the time. This, of course, will lead you to the various health complications.

Common Signs of Allergies

Whenever you have the excessive consumption of sugar, the possibility of you having the various signs of allergies will be more likely to occur. The most common allergic effects of consuming too much sugar are the cold-like symptoms. While the obvious reason on why the sugar could lead you to the various signs of allergies is still remains a mystery until now, but according to a pediatric at the Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando, most of the patients that consume too much sugar, especially children, have some complaints that they are suffering from the various kinds of allergy, such as runny nose, excessive mucus, sinus infections, and many more.

Croup and Acid Reflux

According to the pediatric from the Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando, there are some possibilities that the sugar will lead you to the croup and acid reflux. So, most of the people that have the excessive consumption of sugar will suffer from the condition that closely similar with croup. So, the people will go to bed in the night seemingly healthy, but they will wake up in the middle of the night and has a barking cough. This condition would be more likely to occur to the children who like to eat the foods that contain high amount of sugar, such as ice cream and chocholate mil troughout the day.

According to the pediatric from the Nemours Children’s Hospital, that condition could occur because the combination of dairy products and sugar will take longer time to digest and it will produce some acidic things in your body, which will make the foods in the body would go back to the esophagus and touches the vocal chords, which then will lead you to a barking cough.

Weakened Immune System

Do you know that the excessive consumption of sugar could weaken the immune system? Although all of the evidence that the sugar could weaken the immune system just have been done in animal, but many health experts and researchers believed that the same effect would be occurred in human too. So, the study that conducted in animal show that the addition of sugar can make the immune system become weak. Many researchers believed that the bacteria and yeast in the body would consume the sugar and thus, they will grow and grow in your body. As the result, the infections and illnesses woukd be more likely to occur in the body.

Liver Failure

The excessive consumption of sugar could also lead you to liver failure too. The question is why the excessive consumption of sugar can lead you to liver failure? So, as you already know, sugar will break down into glucose and fructose in the body. Our body has a unique way to metabolize the fructose. The problem is that the excessive fructose in the body can create the stress response in our liver, which then will make the inflammation in our liver. In addition to that, the excessive amount of fructose would stimulate the production of fat in the liver, which then of course will lead you to liver failure.

Kidney Disease

The excessive consumption of sugar in the body would also potentially lead you to kidney disease. Same as the case that the sugar could weaken the immune system, this health risk of consuming too much sugar is still needed further research., because until now, this is just a hypothesis from many researchers based on their research on rats. So, the rats which were given extremely high sugar diets, which consuming about 12 times the percentage of sugar recommended daily intake, developed enlarged kidneys and had various health problems related to the health of their kidneys. They believed that the same thing would be occurred in human too. In addition to that, there was a study conducted on 9,358 adults that concluded the sugary soda can lead you to the kidney damage.

Chromium Deficiency

Aside from nutrient deficiency, the excessive consumption of sugar could also lead you to the chromium deficiency. As already mentioned above, sugar is a kind of carbohydrate which has a lot of calories, but doesn’t have any nutrient at all, such as vitamis, minerals, an any other beneficial thing to your body but the energy. So, there is no wonder that whenever you have the addiction of sugar, you will be more likely to suffer from chromium deficiency. Ironically, chromium is a kind of minerals that your body needed to regulate the blood sugar. As the result you will suffer from the chromium deficiency and this condition could lead you to various health complications.

Speed Up Aging Process

Health Risks of Consuming too Much Sugar also will speed up aging process. Another health risk of the excessive consumption of sugar that you might wonder wouldn’t ever happen to you is that the acceleration due to the aging process in your skin. If you consume too much sugar, there is no doubt you will be looking older than your age. So, the question is why the excessive consumption of sugar could speed up the aging process? So, after you consume sugar, the sugar will go through the bloodstream, it will involve in the process called glycation. The glycation is the process whenever the suggar attached itself to the protein, which then will cause the body tissue lost its elasticity, including the skin tissues. Because of that condition, there is no doubt that the more sugar you consume, the faster the skin tissue losses its elasticity.

Stress

Another health risk related to your psychology that could occur because of the excessive consumption of sugar is stress and depression. As you already know, the stress feeling can be caused by the increase level of stress hormones. So, whenever we consume too much sugar, the body will increase the production of stress hormones such as adrenaline, epinephrine, and cortisol. Those hormones are released by the body because they will responsible to transform the sugar into energy. On the other hand, the increase level of those hormones will trigger the feeling of stress and depression.

Gout

The excessive consumption of sugar would also lead you to gout disease. So, gout is one of the form of arthritis, which will occur because of the build up of the uric acid in the body. So, the question is why consuming sugar too much would trigger the production of uric acid? This is because the uric acid could be formed soon after the metabolization of fructose in the body. As you already know, sugar will break down into glucose and fructose after you consume it and thus, there is no wonder that you will be more likely to have gout. In the matter of fact, a study has already evidenced that the excessive consumption of sugary soda could increase the risk of gout in men.

Cognitive Decline

Do you know that the excessive consumption of sugar could make the cognitive decline? While the direct connection between sugar and cognitive decline is still remains mystery until now, but many health experts analyze that both of obesity and diabetes are the main factors of the cognitive decline. In addition to that, in a study that conducted in rats has already evidenced that the rats which were given the high fat and sugar foods had the memory impairment. Another study that conducted in human also has already evidenced that the corn fructose syrup will cause the decline in the hippocampus.

Cancer

Another health risk that could occur to you whenever you have the excessive consumption of sugar is cancer. So, excessive consumption of sugar means that your insulin levels would be elevated frequently. Thus, insulin is the hormone that would be the key of the development of the cancerous cells. Another problem is, the addition of too much sugar means that you have too much fructose in the body, which then of course will affect your metabolic system. The metabolic problems associated with the consumption of sugar is also widely for the cause of inflammation. As the result, that could potentially form as the cancerous cells.

Heart Disease

You might know that the main causes of heart disease are smoking and any other unhealthy lifestyle. But, the excessive consumption of sugar would also lead you to heart disease too because sugar can cause you the diabetes, high blood pressure, and also excessive weight gain. Many researchers believed that high intake of sugar would speed up the progression of heart failure and heart attacks. In the matter of fact, a study has already evidenced that people were more likely to develop and die from the hert disease if they take 17% to 21% of daily sugar intake, compared to those who were limited thei sugar intake up to 8%.

How to Fight Sugar Cravings

After you know all of the health benefits of adding too much sugar, you might want to know how to fight against the sugar cravings. So, here are the tips that you need to do whenever you want to fight against the sugar craving:

Stay Hydrated. So, whenever you feel dehydrated, the possibility of you craving for sugar would be increased significantly. But, when you drink the right amount of water everyday and you stay hydrated throughout the day, the crave of sugar would be decreased. The body need the right amount of sugar in order to stabilize the blood flow pressure.
Exercise. Another tips that you should do if you want to limit the crave sugar is always exercising. So, what is the connection between exercise and craving for sugar? So, whenever we exercise wisely, our body will be well oxygenated and thus, it will release the endorphine hormone which will make us feel good throughout the day. In contrary, if you’re not exercising, you will feel down and you will tend to consume sugar in order to boost your energy level.
Sleep Better. A study already evidenced that having enough time to sleep could cure your crave of sugar. So, whenever you have the adequate time to sleep, the energy level in the body would be boosted. This condition, without a doubt, would reduce the feeling to crave for sugar in the future.
Eat Sweet Fruits and Vegetables. This thing would be very beneficial if you couldn’t stop your craving for sugar. So, whenever you want to consume sugar so bad, just make sure that you find some fruits and vegetables that also have the sweet taste. Just make sure that the sugar that you consume is the healthy ones, just like sugar that contained in fruits and vegetables.
Use Natural Sweetener. if you want to consume sugar so bad, aside from the consumption of fruits and vegetables, you could try to consume the natural sweetener, such as palm sugar, corn syrup or stevia, which have lower calories than the sugar. But, you need also to use the natural sweetener wisely and it is better for you if you consume healthy fruits and vegetables.