Effects of Sugar on the Human Body

Effects of Sugar on the Human BodySugar is one of the most common ingredients found in almost all of the ???foods??? found on grocery shelves in North America.?? The American public has been warned of the effects of sugar since the 50???s.?? Now, increasingly, doctors and nutritionists are changing their tune.?? Instead of cautioning people to moderate their sugar consumption, many of them are calling on people to eliminate this ???toxin??? from their diet and are comparing it to a drug.?? They point out that during the refining process, since sugar is stripped of all its??? original food value including its vitamins & minerals ??? it can no longer be classified as ???food???.?? It holds no value except for its carbohydrates ??? pure calories. It contains no vitamins, no minerals, no fats, no enzymes, no protein ??? nothing would classify itself as belonging to a true food group.?? Some claim that the effects of white sugar is so harmful, especially in the amounts consumed by the average North American as to warrant classification?? as a ???drug???.??

Dr. David Reuben, author of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Nutrition, says, ???white refined sugar is not a food.?? It is a pure chemical extracted from plant sources, purer in fact than cocaine, which it resembles in many ways.?? Its true name is sucrose and its chemical formula is C12H22011.?? It has 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms, 11 oxygen atoms and absolutely nothing else to offer.?????? The chemical formula for cocaine is C17H21N04.?? For all practical purposes, the difference is that sugar is missing the ???N???, or nitrogen atom.

Let???s set aside the fact that on a chemical cellular level, sugar is one nitrogen atom, a few carbons and a little oxygen away from crack cocaine and look at the impact this substance has on our bodies.

1.?? Sugar wreaks havoc on your heart and circulatory system.
In a scientific study published in 2012 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, doctors found ???that sugar sweetened beverage consumption had a 20% increased risk of coronary heart disease even after adjustment for age, smoking, physical activity, alcohol, multivitamins, family history, diet quality, energy intake, body mass, pre-enrollment weight change an dieting were taken into account.???

2.?? It is toxic to your liver.
Table sugar is composed of 50% glucose and 50% fructose.?? Both are metabolized by your liver.?? Some experts estimate that our bodies can safely process between 2-4 teaspoons of sugar per day.?? The average can of cola contains over 11 teaspoons!?? When you take into account that even if you avoid sweets or sugary foods, sugar is still hidden in ketchup, tomato sauces, barbeque sauces, tonic water, most breads and crackers, cereals, spice mixes and almost all dressings ??? especially fat free ones,?? it is easy to see how we are consuming copious amounts of this substance.

3.?? It is making you fat.
Eating healthy fats in reasonable amounts doesn???t make you fat.?? Eating sugar and fructose is making our nation fat!?? When we consume sugar, our bodies produce insulin in response to the large amounts of glucose in the blood stream.?? Glucose is toxic to our bodies, so it???s the job of insulin to get the glucose out of the bloodstream and into our cells where it can be used for energy.?? Over time, large amounts of glucose regularly consumed cause our cells to become insulin resistant, triggering the pancreas to secrete larger and larger amounts to ensure cellular absorption. This leads to Type II Diabetes.?? However, insulin also performs other tasks.?? One is to send signals to fat cells telling them to collect the fat in the bloodstream and store it and NOT to burn the fat that they are currently storing.?? During times of elevated insulin levels, significant amounts of the energy from our food is directly deposited in fat cells and stored.?? Excessive levels of fructose consumption triggers high blood insulin levels and in turn, insulin resistance.?? It is when this happens that our bodies can???t access the fat stores, and then we start to feel hungry again. And we eat again.

Check your diet and make sure you aren’t eating too much sugar and improve your health.

About the Author: Alex K is an online Fitness Professional providing health and wellness to the world through his online workout program Cardio Blast. Members of www.Cardioblast.com receive new cardio workouts every week, strength training programs, 50 page meal plan, fitness tracking and personal training included with their membership.

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Sugar Consumption Problems

Sugar Consumption

Sugar Consumption via Shay Aaron

Sugar consumption is a major factor in the dramatic rise in childhood obesity. Research also indicates that an over-consumption of white, refined sugar also has the following harsh effects on the body:

  • weakens the immune system,
  • can trigger behavioral problems,
  • cause tooth decay and
  • robs the body of precious vitamins and minerals.

Checking to see if a food item contains white sugar is fairly easy. When reading a label, look for words ending in the suffix ???ose???, such as high fructose corn syrup, maltose and sucrose. White table sugar is called sucrose and is derived from sugar cane or sugar beet. White sugar is stripped of vitamins, minerals and fibre and is basically empty calories.

After eating a food product that is filled with white sugar, the sugar enters the bloodstream very quickly making it very difficult for the body to assimilate. The body reacts to the increase in glucose levels in the bloodstream by over-secreting the hormone insulin. Excess insulin secretion leads to blood sugar levels dropping to a critical low, resulting in a state of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar levels). This can cause fatigue, irritability and cravings. This often leads to excess sugar consumption again as people then look to consume more sugar to combat these feelings which starts the cycle all over.

One other major issue with excess insulin secretion is that is triggers the excess storage of fat and this leads to weight gain. Overall, refined white sugar is something you should avoid in your diet as much as possible. For more nutrition tips and information on our online workout programs please visit www.blog.cardioblast.com.

About the Author: Alex K is an online Fitness Professional providing health and wellness to the world through his online workout program Cardio Blast. Members of www.Cardioblast.com receive new cardio workouts every week, strength training programs, 50 page meal plan, fitness tracking and personal training included with their membership.

Facebook:???? www.facebook.com/cardioblast
You Tube:???? www.youtube.com/user/CardioBlastWorkout
Twitter:???? www.twitter.com/alexkotai
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Some simple facts about Sugar

Some simple facts about Sugar

Some simple facts about Sugar

Most packaged foods on the market contain some sort of refined sugar. We end up eating quite a bit more sugar than we think we are as a result and this is contributing to more and more health issues. Here are some simple facts about sugar that you should know.

??? Sugar is the additive most often used in foods. Sugar alone is added to food 10 times more than all other food additives combined together.
??? Brown sugar is simply refined white sugar with some molasses added to it and is not any healthier for you than white sugar.
??? Most canned foods, cured meats, cereals, salad dressings, spaghetti sauce, packaged foods, mayonnaise, juices and many other products all contain sugar. Look at your labels closely for all of the forms of sugar.
??? The average soft drink contains approximately 9 teaspoons of refined white sugar.
??? 1 tablespoon of ketchup contains approximately a teaspoon of sugar.
??? Sugar comes in many forms on labels including sucrose, fructose and glucose just to name a few.
??? Corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup are two other ingredients that are basically the equivalent of sugar.

So why are we showing that sugar is in so many foods and in many different variations? This is because humans eat way more sugar then we ever have in history and excessive sugar consumption is linked to many diseases and has negative effects to your overall health. We suggest you really try to limit the amount of sugar you consume as it will improve your overall health and give you more consistent energy throughout the day.

About the Author: Alex K is an online Fitness Professional providing health and wellness to the world through his online workout program Cardio Blast. Members of www.Cardioblast.com receive new cardio workouts every week, full meal planning, fitness tracking and personal training included with their membership.