Sugar is chemically called sucrose. It is a disaccharide sugar molecule, meaning it is made up of two other sugar molecules, fructose and glucose, joined by a glycosidic bond. In the gut the disaccharide is split and both glucose and fructose are absorbed to the blood. Sugar is extracted from sugar beet or sugarcane and crystalised into a powder for use as a food additive. Sugar consumption has risen slowly since the industrial revolution in Great Britain, with a significant acceleration in consumption in the 1970s. Sugar is increasingly being evidenced as an unhealthy food choice. The advice to avoid sugar is widespread, and has come from well designed scientific studies that show deleterious health effects for sugar. But what is it about sugar that makes it such an unhealthy food choice? What are the real reason that you should avoid sugar if you value your health? Here are the five most important reasons why you should avoid sugar in your diet and replace it with healthier alternative energy sources.
1. Sugar is bad for the teeth
Sugar is not only a useful source of energy for humans, it is also a prefered food source for many bacteria. The bacteria in the mouth ferment sugar and in turn produce alcohols and acids. If sugar is consumed as part of the diet, the bacteria in the mouth ferment the sugar and the resulting acid damages the enamel of the teeth, leading to tooth decay. Avoiding sugar is therefore one of the best way to improve dental health as it denies the bacteria that cause tooth decay their source of energy. Fluoride has little to do with tooth health.
2. Sugar makes you fat
Sugar contains a molecule of fructose, and fructose is increasingly being linked to weight gain. When sugar is consumed, it is split into glucose and fructose, and the fructose is absorbed and transported to the liver. Here it stimulates the de novo lipogenesis pathway resulting in the production of fatty acids. These fatty acids are thought to accumulate in the tissues of the body where they can cause insulin resistance. The insulin resistant state is associated with weight gain, particularly around the internal organs of the abdomen, so called abdominal obesity.
3. Sugar is bad for the gut
Within the colon and parts of the small intestine reside large numbers of commensal bacteria that are vital to the health of the host. They metabolise a large number of substances that may then be absorbed, and this may provide health benefits to the host. Consumption of sugar stimulates the growth of yeast and detrimental bacterial strains that interfere with the growth of the commensal bacteria. Sugar consumption therefore changes the microbiota in the gut, and these changes, are associated with disease and ill health. In particular, the immune system can be significantly affected by deleterious changes to the microbiota of the gut.
4. Sugar decreases micronutrient intake
Sugar beet and sugarcane contain high amounts of sucrose, and with this they also contain vitamins and minerals. However, during the production of the table sugar that we eat, the sugar is highly processed from its original plant material. The final produce is a pure, crystalline substance containing few vitamins or minerals. Therefore as the amount of energy in the diet derived from sugar increases, the concentration of vitamins and minerals goes down. In addition, sugar is known to increase the excretion of other micronutrients, particularly chromium. High sugar intakes therefore create vitamin and mineral deficiencies in the consumer.
5. Sugar causes cardiovascular disease
Sugar consumption is a primary driver of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance in turn leads to metabolic changes that cause weight gain. However, as well as causing weight gain, these changes also increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. The cluster of metabolic disorders that result from insulin resistance is called the metabolic syndrome, and this includes detrimental changes to lipoproteins as well as damage to the endothelial lining of the arteries. These changes increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, which are another good reason to avoid sugar.
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