Sugar: The Deadly Ingredient

By Ariana Marisol

Everyone has a sweet tooth. But choosing the sweet option could be the difference between life and death.

These important tips could save your life:

Today, we are all urged to watch our sugar intake as much as possible.

Women are told that they should consume no more than 25g (six teaspoons) of added sugar per day.

That is less than one can of Coca Cola.

Men should have no more than 36g (nine teaspoons) extra per day.

That equates to one regular Snickers bar.

Peer-reviewed studies now show that it triggers insulin resistance. Sugar also lowers good cholesterol and raises dangerous bad cholesterol.

Sugar can also cause inflammation of the arteries.

All of these are direct causes of heart disease.

Added sugar also contains no essential nutrients and is very bad for your teeth.

Added sugar is also high in fructose and can overload your liver. Overloading the liver with fructose can cause non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Sugar can also give you cancer. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and is characterized by uncontrolled growth and multiplication of cells.

Insulin is one of the key hormones in regulating this sort of growth. For this reason, many scientists have found that having constantly elevated insulin levels can contribute to cancer. Also, the metabolic issues associated with sugar consumption are known to drive inflammation which is another potential cause of cancer.

Multiple studies show that people who eat high amounts of sugar are at a much higher risk of getting cancer.

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It is also highly addictive because it causes massive dopamine releases in the brain. This is why it is so hard to stop eating sugar.

For many years, people have blamed saturated fats for heart disease (the number one killer in the world).

However new studies show that saturated fat is actually quite harmless. Evidence shows that sugar is the leading cause of heart disease, NOT saturated fat.

Studies show that large amounts of fructose can raise triglycerides, small, dense LDL and oxidized LDL (very, very bad), raise blood glucose and insulin levels and increase abdominal obesity… in as little as 10 weeks.

Everyone has a sweet tooth, but monitoring your intake could save your life. When you are craving something sweet, try eating a naturally sweet snack like fruit or a sweet carrot instead.

Ariana Marisol is a contributing staff writer for REALfarmacy.com, where this article first appeared. She is an avid nature enthusiast, gardener, photographer, writer, hiker, dreamer, and lover of all things sustainable, wild, and free. Ariana strives to bring people closer to their true source, Mother Nature. She graduated The Evergreen State College with an undergraduate degree focusing on Sustainable Design and Environmental Science. Follow her adventures on Instagram.

Photo Credit: Coralie Ferreira/flickr