Okay, here is one that most people will agree with.
At least at first.
We all know that sugar is BAD for us. If we're all good, well behaving people, we will be careful about how much sugar we eat, and all make comments, "Oh I know I shouldn't" while thoroughly enjoying that favorite Christmas cookie.
This is now where people may differ on their thoughts of sugar.
In some circles, white sugar is affectionately referred to as "white death".
And for good reasons.
To be quick, see this article for 146 reason why sugar is ruining your health.
“…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 C12H22O11"
- Dr. David Reuben, author of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Nutrition (cocaine is C17H21NO4)
Sugar is shown to be just as habit forming as a narcotic. So while most people wouldn't do drugs...
Sugar comes in many forms and likes to hide behind fancy names. Sucrose is the common, plain, white table sugar. Dextrose is corn sugar, not to be confused with the evil High-fructose corn syrup. Package labels will also dress sugar up as; glucose, corn-syrup solids, dextrin, fructose, invert sugar, maltodextin, maltose, lactose, diatase, ethyl-maltol, and turbinado sugar, just to name a few. Basically if it ends with "ose" it is a sugar.
And then you get those "substitutes" that are actually worse than sugar. I mean, if your going to harm yourself, at least do it with the real thing. But that's another story.
First off, sugar is full of empty calories. Empty, that is, in the way of nutrients and stuff your body actually needs. It's actually quite full of the stuff (effects) that will kill you, albeit a long, slow death. So slow it won't be blamed on the sugar.
Because of it's emptiness, the body must borrow the nutrients (calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium) needed for metabolization. (Osteoporosis, tooth decay). (Note: this also happens when consuming white flour.) Sugar also is harmful to that friendly bacteria in the gut. This bacteria (that makes yogurt so healthy) is responsible for Vitamin B manufacturing. Lowered Vitamin B contributes to decreased brain function and increased fatigue.
What's with the Glycemic Index? (are you ready for this?)
Basically the Glycemic Index is a numeric measuring system for how something (food) affects the blood-glucose (sugar) levels. The lower the number, the slower rate of absorption into the body (lower is good). The higher ratings, thus, are bad. But why? The higher rate of absorption stimulate the pancreas to send out insulin. This is your body trying to reduce the blood-glucose levels. But it doesn't stop there. So now the insulin levels are raised. This inhibits the release of growth hormones which lowers the immune system. Eventually with too much stimulation from the insulin (increased because of sugar) the insulin receptors burn out from the overload. Thus glucose is now not able to be dealt with properly and you are diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Needless to say, this is all very stressful for your body.
Another roll of insulin is that it promotes the storage of fat. Leptin, a hormone regulator responsible for appetite suppression, is released by your body's fat tissue. (We all need some fat.) The more fat you have, the more leptin is released. Leptin, when in proper proportions is good. It keeps the body's metabolism going and burns fat. However, like insulin, with the heavy increase of leptin, the receptor sites eventually burn out. Break down in the order of things. So now you have nothing to help you in the battle against weight and you gain it. It is common sense by now that eating sugar increases the weight gain (and not in a healthy way), but now you know why. And this is not something that can be fixed in a short amount of time with "dieting". This is a real problem and your body actually needs time and proper care to fix itself. As with all good things, it takes dedication.
Other than causing weight gain, leptin and insulin receptor burn out is linked with infertility. Not to brag, but being overweight is not an issue for me. But things play out differently with different people. And the infertility thing is definitely an issue for me. So be careful when you think you think that sugar doesn't effect you because you can't "see" the symptoms. It's just a matter of when, but like I said earlier, it will probably blamed on something else. That being said, I do believe that there are multiple causes that contribute to the outcome. Sugar is just one of them.
As noted above, sugar decreases the immune system. When we are sick, it is even more critical that we stay away from sugar. (So if you have a chronic disease - always stay away from sugar.)
Most people by now know that even with the common cold, vitamin C helps boost the immune system to help us recover. Sugar (glucose) and vitamin C have similar chemical structures (as we also see in estrogen and xenoestrogen). These two chemicals (Vit. C and glucose) battle it out for the same spot in your body's white blood cells. Sugar usually wins.
There are a host of diseases named which have direct links to sugar consumption from the obvious diabetes, to cancer (cancer's favorite food is sugar!), to gallstones, to hypoglycemia, to mental disorders and blamed for juvenile criminal activity. But sugar has it's part in every disease, and has a negative effect of the body no matter how healthy you are.
There is a host of other information on the negative effects of sugar. If you thought this is bad there's more, there's always more. I would encourage anyone to check it out for themselves.
