The Healing Centre

The Health Effects of Doubling Up on Sugar

The fact that Americans are eating about twice as much sugar as is recommended by health authorities — and nearly four times the amount suggested for optimal health — is great for Big Food, but what are the health implications of this unnatural trend? In an effort to study the health effects of a high sugar diet, documentary filmmaker Damon Gameau, from "That Sugar Film," conducted an experiment during which he consumed the average amount of sugar eaten daily by Australians, which amounts to 160 grams or about 40 teaspoons.

It's important to note that before the experiment Gameau ate very little sugar. Surprisingly enough, Gameau didn't feast on junk food all day to reach his goal. Instead, he ate commonly sold processed foods, many of which are marketed as healthy, such as fruit juice, yogurt and energy drinks.

Initially, Gameau thought it would be difficult to reach his daily goal of 40 teaspoons but to his surprise found it disturbingly easy. The film shows Gameau nearly reaching his daily sugar goal in just one meal with a small bowl of cereal, yogurt and fruit juice. It wasn't long before Gameau began feeling both the physical and psychological effects of eating a high sugar diet. One of the first symptoms he noticed was wild mood swings.

After eating a sugary food, Gameau experienced what's known as the typical "sugar high," accompanied by short-lived feelings of alertness and even euphoria. His wife reported spontaneous and even manic-like bursts of laughter. But less than an hour later he would crash, noting severe feelings of lethargy. Gameau also reported feeling aloof, distracted and unable to concentrate at home — a trait his wife described as extremely uncharacteristic.

High-Sugar Diet Wrecks Your Metabolism

Prior to the experiment, Gameau was in good health. A medical exam determined he was slightly healthier than the average western male in his age range. His diet consisted of about 2,300 calories per day, 50 percent of which was made up of healthy fats found in foods like nuts and avocado; 26 percent was derived from protein-based foods such as meat, eggs and fish, and the remaining 24 percent consisted of carbohydrates found in fresh vegetables.

Gameau weighed about 167 pounds and had a waist circumference of 33 inches (84 centimeters). Blood tests showed his liver was healthy and that he had low triglyceride levels (fat in the bloodstream) and no signs of insulin resistance or diabetes. Gameau also kept up his exercise routine, which consisted of running three laps around his garden twice a week followed by a 10-minute workout in his home gym. But despite maintaining weekly exercise, Gameau's health quickly deteriorated.

After 12 days of ramping up his sugar intake, Gameau had gained almost seven pounds, the majority of which went straight to his abdomen. In a month of eating 40 teaspoons of sugar per day, he added 2.75 inches (7 centimeters) to his waistline. But the health effects were more serious than just weight gain.

Within three short weeks, doctors were shocked to find that Gameau was already displaying signs of fatty liver disease. "By the end, I'd developed pre-type 2 diabetes, I had heart disease, I had 11 centimeters of visceral fat. But the big one was, the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease was almost in a full-blown state," said Gameau in a news article highlighting his film.3

How the Human Body Processes Sugar

In small amounts, sugar is typically harmless. As a carbohydrate, it helps supply you with the energy you need for your daily activities. All of your cells can use glucose. But at the same time, sugar is also calorie-rich, and once it is consumed in excess, negative health effects inevitably follow.

As noted in "That Sugar Film," sucrose or table sugar consists of 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose. Fructose used to be rare in nature and was only found in products such as honey and fruit; today however, highly processed fructose (typically from corn) is added to a large variety of food products.

Fructose, the simple sugar that is part of table sugar, has particularly pernicious effects. Your body actually processes fructose in the same way it processes alcohol, rapidly turning it into fat. This fat remains in your liver, increasing your risk of insulin resistance, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and diabetes. Once this fat is released into your bloodstream as triglycerides, it increases your risk for weight gain, blocked arteries and heart disease.

For the full article go to Dr Mercola's site below

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2017/06/03/eating-too-much-sugar.aspx?utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20170603Z1_UCM&et_cid/M147092&et_rid=2030629594