**Other studies suggested that habitually eating high amounts of sugar can interfere with the brain’s dopamine “reward system,” eventually making it difficult to feel pleasure or motivation, both symptoms of depression.:bummer:
Added sugars also cause inflammation in the body and the brain, explained coauthor Stephen Ilardi, PhD, an associate professor of clinical psychology at Kansas, in a news release.
This was perhaps the biggest influence on mental health that researchers found. About half of people with depression have high levels of inflammation, Dr. Ilardi said. “We also know that inflammatory hormones can directly push the brain into a state of severe depression. So, an inflamed brain is typically a depressed brain.”**
The extent to which sugar can impact symptoms of depression varies from person to person, but the researchers suggested that the daily limit set by the American Heart Association is a good baseline to follow.
**For women, that’s 100 calories (25 grams or six teaspoons) of added sugars per day and 150 for men (36 grams or nine teaspoons).
Restricting all added sugars probably isn’t the way to go, researchers added, noting that such a strategy can backfire or even lead to disordered eating.
Instead, Ilardi recommended a diet low in processed food products and rich in plant-based foods and omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish, flaxseeds, and chia seeds, to promote mental health.**
Some of the excerpts from this article are really alarming:
“Sugar turns on the aging programs in your body,” Dr. Lustig says. “The more sugar you eat, the faster you age.”
critics like Dr. Lustig believe that the case against sugar is as strong as the case against smoking or excess alcohol.
“Sugar Belly”
Many scientists now believe that added sugar is a main culprit in the obesity epidemic, but normal-weight people can suffer the same health problems associated with too much sugar. A 15-year study found that eating high amounts of added sugar doubles the risk of heart disease, even for people who aren’t overweight. Added sugar has also been implicated in an increased risk for Type 2 diabetes, cancer, stroke and even Alzheimer’s disease.
And too much added sugar in your diet can damage your liver,similarly to the way that alcohol can.
Fruit vs. Fructose
But isn’t sugar a natural food? That’s a counter argument often promoted by the sugar industry, but there is nothing natural about the way most of us eat added sugar. When you eat a strawberry or other fruit, you are eating fructose in its natural state, and it comes with a number of micronutrients plus fiber, which slows absorption and the rate at which sugar enters your bloodstream. So yes, it’s O.K. to eat fruit! Your body can handle fructose when it’s eaten as whole fruit.
But the fructose found in ultraprocessed foods and beverages is concentrated from corn, beets and sugar cane, and much or all of the fiber and nutrients have been removed. Without the fiber to slow it down, your body gets a big dose of fructose that can wreak havoc.
