Effect of Excess Sugar

Causes fat built-up: Table sugar or sucrose mainly consists of glucose and fructose. Glucose is required by every cell for energy whereas, fructose is not required by the body and metabolised by the liver and turned into glycogen to be used whenever required. But excess fructose can overload the liver and lead to abnormal amounts of lipids or fats in the blood.

Causes insulin resistance: High fructose diet has been shown to induce insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a condition where the cells do not respond to insulin, which causes high concentration of sugar in the blood. This also gives rise to various metabolic disorders including type 2 diabetes.

Causes Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD): High fructose consumption increases the risk of developing NAFLD. As the liver metabolises fructose, it leads to generation of lipids or fats and
energy depletion.

Can cause cancer: If more sugar is consumed, the body has to make effort to increase the production of insulin to utilise blood glucose. Studies have shown that insulin and Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF) promote the proliferation of tumour cells. Also, elevated levels of insulin-like growth factors interfere with cancer therapy and its prognosis. Lack of insulin, due to metabolic utilisation, has also shown to increase the risk of mammary cancer.

Bad for your teeth: Sugar also acts as a good source of energy for the bacteria in your mouth, which metabolise it and produce sugar acids which attack the tooth enamel giving rise to cavities.
Non-nutritious source of calories: One gram of sugar has an energy content of 3.94 kilo calories but sugar is completely devoid of proteins, mineral or vitamins. It only piles up calories without the body actually gaining any nourishment from it. Utilising as much nourishment as we can from natural sugars present in fruits is a healthy option.

Linked to obesity: The high sugar content of many foods, especially soft drinks or sugar sweetened drinks, has been linked to obesity. With the increasing consumption of sugar sweetened drinks, the Body Mass Index (BMI) and frequency of obesity increases.

Causes addiction: Sugar, like other addictive drugs, stimulates the release of dopamine, which contributes to the addictive potential of sugar, making one sugar dependent.

Increases the risk of cardiorenal diseases: Cardiorenal diseases are a class of diseases affecting the cardiovascular system and the kidney function. Fructose promotes the formation of uric acid, which in turn causes cardiorenal diseases like hypertension, obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and kidney disease. more