Last Halloween, I returned home from work to find my husband handing out candy to the trick or treaters. In between the doorbell sounding, I took a peek to see which treats the little goblins, ghosts and vampires were going to enjoy — the usual mini chocolate bars and chewy, chocolate, roll candy in the familiar orange, brown and white wrapper. And then I thought, what is this chewy candy anyway? I read the ingredient listing and was immediately consumed with guilt so much so that I wanted to chase after the kids, empty their treat bags and take the candy rolls back. With the chewy candy’s two main ingredients being hydrogenated fat (aka trans-fatty acids) and sugar - I realized we were essentially poisoning our neighbor’s kids!
By now, most of us are aware of the dangers of trans fats as they are directly linked to heart disease, type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease and don’t allow for any safe level of intake. But, what about sugar? Considering the fact that the typical adult consumes 15 to 20 teaspoons a day, we definitely have a lot to learn.
The Low Down on Sugar
Sugar comes in many forms including white sugar (sucrose, aka table sugar), brown sugar, cane sugar, sugar in the raw, high fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, candies, pop, jams, ketchup, baked goods, juice, several packaged foods and many low-fat products for added taste. Refined flour, chips, pretzels, muffins, white rice and pasta also end up as sugar in our body. Although sugars are safest in their natural, unprocessed forms such as maple syrup, honey or sugar in the raw – all forms of sugar possess similar health risks.
Energy Highs and Lows
When we consume foods high in sugar (glucose), the glucose enters the bloodstream, quickly causing blood sugars to rise. The pancreas responds by secreting insulin which then causes a surge of sugars to enter the cells to either be used as energy or stored as fat for later use. Blood sugars then fall to normal or possibly just below normal levels. While this is happening, we experience a “sugar rush” of hyperactivity (all too commonly seen in kids) only to be followed by the “crash” - fatigue, drowsiness and poor concentration. Naturally, as blood sugars fall, the body works to maintain balance by causing a craving – most likely for more sugar – and the whole process starts all over again.
Compromised Immunity
Studies dating back to 1997 and even earlier, back to 1973 show white blood cell counts are suppressed after sugar consumption. White blood cells are the body’s first line of defense against an invading virus or bacteria, so this leaves us susceptible to illness, especially with regular consumption of sugar. Forget snacking on jelly beans or licorice at your desk. Most often, people who do this are the patients I see coming in with shingles, cold sores or chronic colds and the flu – consistent with a compromised immune system.
Sugar's Long-Term Effects Aren’t Sweet
Most foods containing sugar, especially refined white sugar, have very little nutritional value and are often referred to as “empty” calories. Beyond this, insulin is also secreted in proportion to the amount of sugar consumed. Since insulin is the hormone that instructs the body to store energy as fat, it’s a nemesis if it becomes too high. Repeatedly eating sugar throughout the day eventually leads to chronically high insulin and ultimately to insulin resistance. Let me explain. Imagine insulin as a truck that carries sugar into cells and enters the cell upon arrival by using the garage door opener. Think of insulin resistance as the insulin truck arriving at the cell, but the garage door opener won’t work until six insulin trucks are waiting, rather than just one. Soon, we will have a traffic jam of insulin trucks throughout the body, or chronically high insulin. At this juncture, weight loss becomes very difficult and there is often an increase in blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, abdominal fat, breast and prostate cancer risk and more.
