Whether you have a sweet tooth or not, sugar in one form or another is added to almost all packaged foods you buy. It is likely that you consume more sugar—perhaps even too much—without even realizing it. The question then becomes: how much sugar is excessive?
Refined sugar and its substitutes are a true scourge to human existence, causing all sorts of diseases and discomforts. A packaged food might not explicitly list “sugar” in its ingredients, but it can hide under other names.
Common Hidden Names for Sugar:
Corn syrup or sweetener
Dextrin
Dextrose
Diglycerides
Disaccharides
Evaporated cane juice
Fructose
Glucose
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
Hydrolyzed starch
Malt syrup
Maltodextrin
Maltose
Rice syrup
Sorbitol
Sucrose
Faced with all these sources of sugar, how do you determine the line not to cross? If you experience the following symptoms, it is time to significantly reduce your sweet intake:
Signs You Are Consuming Too Much Sugar
1. Sugar Addiction
Sugar is addictive, much like cocaine, and its effects are similar. It stimulates the production of dopamine, the pleasure hormone. Often, without even thinking about it, we can be tempted by sweets and simple carbohydrates to get our “fix.” As with other addictions, our body develops a tolerance to sugar, meaning the more we consume, the more we crave it, even when we aren’t hungry.
2. Lack of Energy and Fatigue
Orexins, a type of neuropeptide, play a role in the sleep-wake cycle. Sensitive to sugars, they react to glucose levels in the body. A slight increase in blood sugar can inhibit the transmission of neural signals by orexins, leading to a state of drowsiness. Thus, after the fleeting energy provided by sugar, a state of fatigue quickly follows due to the inhibition of these neurotransmitters.
3. Weight Gain
Excessive sugar consumption makes you gain weight. Of course, other factors like activity level and metabolic rate play a role, but the body burns sugar for energy first. What it cannot use immediately, it stores as fat.
Furthermore, eating too much sugar makes you overeat by suppressing the hormone leptin, which tells the body when to stop eating. If you feel tired and lethargic after consuming sugar, you are also less inclined to exercise.
An increase in blood sugar stimulates insulin production to bring it back to normal levels. Insulin lowers blood sugar levels: when it fluctuates or drops too low, your body thinks it needs more fuel. As a result, you eat even when you don’t really need to.
4. Frequent Colds and Flus
Too much sugar weakens the immune system. This is because glucose reduces the activity of white blood cells, which are responsible for eliminating pathogens like viruses. Regularly eating too much sugar makes us more susceptible to contagions because our bodies are less capable of fighting them off.
5. Dulled Taste Buds
Many people find sweet tastes pleasant. Our tongue gets used to different flavors, and sugar is no exception. British researchers discovered that overweight individuals have a decreased sensitivity to sweetness and a preference for sweet foods. In the same study, healthy and fit individuals who started drinking 2 sodas a day experienced dulled taste buds and sugar cravings after just 4 weeks.
Conversely, a 2016 study found that after a month of reducing sugar intake, the experimental group found they were more sensitive to sweet flavors. Therefore, if you cut back on sugar, foods will begin to taste sweeter without it.
6. Decreased Brain Function
A study published in the journal Neuroscience found that mice fed a diet “similar in composition to the typical diet of most industrialized Western societies, rich in saturated fats and refined sugar,” suffered a reduction in brain function in just 2 months. This is because large amounts of sugar affect proteins and neurotransmitters in the brain that are responsible for learning and memory. In short: sugar makes you less sharp.
7. Skin Problems
Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body and is responsible for skin elasticity. By nature, sugar molecules bind to collagen and help collagen cells move. Too much sugar in the body makes collagen cells less mobile, causing tissue stiffness, including the skin. The loss of skin elasticity becomes apparent with the appearance of wrinkles, among other things.
Additionally, sugar causes cellular inflammation. As you probably know, whenever there is chronic inflammation, problems follow. High sugar levels also cause acne and dermatitis. Carbohydrates like bread, cereals, rice, and pasta cause an increase in insulin and androgen (a male sex hormone) production. Androgens prompt skin glands to produce excess sebum, clogging pores and leading to breakouts.
Moreover, Candida is a yeast that lives in the digestive tract and on the skin. As a yeast, it thrives on sugar. Eating too much sugar causes the yeast to overgrow, leading to nail infections, vaginal infections, athlete’s foot, and oral thrush.
