5 things to know about sugar
Many people know that it isn’t healthy to eat too much sugar. But doctors are now warning that increasing the amount of sweet stuff in our diets also increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and liver disease. For example, a recent 15-year-study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that those whose diets include 25 percent of calories from sugar were more than twice as likely to die from heart disease compared to those who had diets with less than 10 percent added sugar.
Other studies are also looking at consumption of soft drinks, which are a large source of sugar in American diets, and finding a correlation to cardiovascular disease, said Heidi Kaufman, a certified diabetes educator and licensed dietitian/nutritionist with Wilmington Health. So there’s more we should know about sugar in our diets.
1. Sugar adds calories without making us feel full.
“One of the reasons that sugar is a problem is that it has no volume,” she said. It can add calories to food, but it isn’t as satisfying as, say, a baked potato. Also, sugar doesn’t have fiber, vitamins, minerals or other nutrients. This is one of the reasons that sugar is tied to weight gain, Kaufman said. Another is that excess sweets can cause a cyclical reaction that first spikes the body’s insulin reaction and then leads to low blood sugar, which makes us hungry again in turn.
2. Fructose is hard on the liver.
Many of the sweetened foods in our diets have glucose and fructose, Kaufman said. But manufacturers have been increasing the amount of fructose in products since the 1980s. Fructose doesn’t send the same satisfying signal to our brains and it must also be converted to glucose through the liver. “Some of this can stay in the liver,” she said. That can cause fatty liver and can set people up for type 2 diabetes.
3. Many misunderstand the connection between sugar and type 2 diabetes.
One misconception about sugar is that it is a cause of diabetes, Kaufman said. In actuality, it’s caused by four factors: age, genetics, weight and activity level. “Many people who have type 2 diabetes have some family connection,” she said. “And too much weight can create the conditions for insulin resistance.” Once you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes, watching sugar intake becomes an important part of managing the disease.
4. Sweets can become a habit.
“Sugar is so tasty, people can become addicted,” Kaufman said. Sugar also activates the same centers of the brain that respond to drugs like opioids. “There’s definitely a risk of being dependent on sugar.” For those who feel this may be a problem for them, Kaufman recommends they keep high-sugar foods out of the house. “Otherwise, it can be too much of a temptation.”
5. Look at labels to help manage sugar.
For those who just want to start reducing the amount of sugar in their diets, Kaufman has a simple recommendation. Look at food labels and opt for those products that contain no more than 10 grams of sugar per serving. “It’s an easy number to remember,” she said.
