How Dangerous is Sugar to Your Health, Really?

Posted by: Tampa Cardio

On: February 10, 2021

sugar and heart disease tampa cardio

We don’t often think a lot about sugar unless we are on a diet or restricted way of eating. Sugar, however, in recent years has been compared to cigarettes in the way they purposefully target the area of the brain that controls pleasure.

Both cigarettes and sugar are highly addictive.

Not much was known about the dangers of sugar until it had already become a common staple in our food supply. While the negative effects of a diet high in sugar are becoming more publicly known, many are still unaware of just what it is they are putting inside their bodies every time they pick up a candy bar or soda.

Here are just a few of the ways that your sugar cravings could be hurting you:

  1. Sugar can lead to heart disease. Heart disease is still the #1 killer worldwide even despite the CDC’s reported COVID-19 numbers, and recent studies show that a diet high in sugar could be a major culprit.
  2. Sugar can rot your teeth. Sugar sticks to your teeth and feeds the decay and bacteria that can be found there. Over time this leads to cavities.
  3. Your Liver Doesn’t Process Sugar Well in Excess. Mass amounts of sugar have a similar effect on the liver as if someone was drinking alcohol excessively. This is because of the high fructose content in sugar, which turns into fat, and after becoming lodged in the liver, develops into non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
  4. Type II Diabetes is directly linked to sugar intake. Excess sugar can result in insulin resistance, which in turn can result in a highly toxic excess of glucose in the blood. This can cause a number of conditions to develop, perhaps the scariest of which is type II diabetes.
  5. Sugar feeds cancer cells. Numerous studies have shown that there is a connection between sugar consumption and cancer. Sugar consumption creates elevated insulin levels, so the body can’t properly regulate the abnormal growth and multiplication of unwanted cells, thus, potentially leading to cancer.
  6. Sugar is highly addictive. Sugar attaches to the same pleasure centers in the brain that result from doing heavy drugs and is equally addictive. It may be hard for people to practice moderation when it comes to junk food, and when trying to quit, can experience uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms.
  7. Sugar can spur weight gain. If you eat a lot of sugar, you are going to have a higher tendency towards being overweight.
  8. Depression has been linked to sugar. Sugar contributes greatly to your overall mental and cognitive health and may offer an explanation as to why you feel so zapped shortly after eating something high in sugar. It can also explain if you experience anxiety or depression and may even be related to memory failure later in life.

For further guidance and diet advice that you can trust, make an appointment with the onsite nutritionist available at Tampa Cardiovascular Associates by calling (813) 975-2800. Not only are our physicians dedicated to keeping your heart health at its best, but we’ll do anything we can to help you improve your everyday quality of life through important lifestyle choices. www.tampacardio.com

 

Posted by: Tampa Cardio

On: 10/02/2021

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