I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

Lifestyle Health & Fitness
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143 Reasons Sugar Ruins Your Health :frowning:

By Nancy Appleton PhD & G.N. Jacobs Excerpted from “Suicide by Sugar”

  1. Sugar can suppress your immune system.
  2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body.
  3. Sugar can cause juvenile delinquency in children.
  4. Sugar eaten during pregnancy and lactation can influence muscle force production in offspring, which can affect an individual’s ability to exercise.
  5. Sugar in soda, when consumed by children, results in the children drinking less milk.
  6. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses and return them to fasting levels slower in oral contraceptive users.
  7. Sugar can increase reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can damage cells and tissues.
  8. Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, inability to concentrate and crankiness in children.
  9. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.
  10. Sugar reduces the body’s ability to defend against bacterial infection.
  11. Sugar causes a decline in tissue elasticity and function – the more sugar you eat, the more elasticity and function you lose.
  12. Sugar reduces high-density lipoproteins (HDL).
  13. Sugar can lead to chromium deficiency.
  14. Sugar can lead to ovarian cancer.
  15. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose.
  16. Sugar causes copper deficiency.
  17. Sugar interferes with the body’s absorption of calcium and magnesium.
  18. Sugar may make eyes more vulnerable to age-related macular degeneration.
  19. Sugar raises the level of neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.
  20. Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.
  21. Sugar can lead to an acidic digestive tract.
  22. Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children.
  23. Sugar is frequently malabsorbed in patients with functional bowel disease.
  24. Sugar can cause premature aging.
  25. Sugar can lead to alcoholism.
  26. Sugar can cause tooth decay.
  27. Sugar can lead to obesity.
  28. Sugar increases the risk of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
  29. Sugar can cause gastric or duodenal ulcers.
  30. Sugar can cause arthritis.
  31. Sugar can cause learning disorders in school children.
  32. Sugar assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections).
  33. Sugar can cause gallstones.
  34. Sugar can cause heart disease.
  35. Sugar can cause appendicitis.
  36. Sugar can cause hemorrhoids.
  37. Sugar can cause varicose veins.
  38. Sugar can lead to periodontal disease.
  39. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.
  40. Sugar contributes to saliva acidity.
  41. Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.
  42. Sugar can lower the amount of Vitamin E in the blood.
  43. Sugar can decrease the amount of growth hormones in the body.
  44. Sugar can increase cholesterol.
  45. Sugar increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which form when sugar binds non-enzymatically to protein.
    46.. Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein.
  46. Sugar causes food allergies.
  47. Sugar can contribute to diabetes.
  48. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.
  49. Sugar can lead to eczema in children.
  50. Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease.
  51. Sugar can impair the structure of DNA.
  52. Sugar can change the structure of protein.
  53. Sugar can make the skin wrinkle by changing the structure of collagen.
  54. Sugar can cause cataracts.
  55. Sugar can cause emphysema.
  56. Sugar can cause atherosclerosis.
  57. Sugar can promote an elevation of low-density lipoproteins (LDL).
  58. Sugar can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in the body.
  59. Sugar lowers enzymes ability to function.
  60. Sugar intake is associated with the development of Parkinson’s disease.
  61. Sugar can increase the size of the liver by making the liver cells divide.
  62. Sugar can increase the amount of liver fat.
  63. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.
  64. Sugar can damage the pancreas.66. Sugar can increase the body’s fluid retention.
  65. Sugar is the number one enemy of the bowel movement.
  66. Sugar can cause myopia (nearsightedness).
  67. Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries.
  68. Sugar can make tendons more brittle.
  69. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.
  70. Sugar plays a role in pancreatic cancer in women.
  71. Sugar can adversely affect children’s grades in school.
  72. Sugar can cause depression.
  73. Sugar increases the risk of gastric cancer.
  74. Sugar can cause dyspepsia (indigestion).
  75. Sugar can increase the risk of developing gout.
  76. Sugar can increase the levels of glucose in the blood much higher than complex carbohydrates in a glucose tolerance test can.
    79.. Sugar reduces learning capacity.
  77. Sugar can cause two blood proteins – albumin and lipoproteins – to function less effectively, which may reduce the body’s ability to handle fat and cholesterol.
  78. Sugar can contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.
  79. Sugar can cause platelet adhesiveness, which causes blood clots.
  80. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance – some hormones become underactive and others become overactive.
  81. Sugar can lead to the formation of kidney stones.
  82. Sugar can cause free radicals and oxidative stress.
  83. Sugar can lead to biliary tract cancer.
  84. Sugar increases the risk of pregnant adolescents delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.
  85. Sugar can lead to a substantial decrease the in the length of pregnancy among adolescents.
  86. Sugar slows food’s travel time through the gastrointestinal tract.
  87. Sugar increases the concentration of bile acids in stool and bacterial enzymes in the colon, which can modify bile to produce cancer-causing compounds and colon cancer.
  88. Sugar increases estradiol (the most potent form of naturally occurring estrogen) in men.
  89. Sugar combines with and destroys phosphatase, a digestive enzyme, which makes digestion more difficult.
  90. Sugar can be a risk factor for gallbladder cancer.
  91. Sugar is an addictive substance.
  92. Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.
  93. Sugar can aggravate premenstrual syndrome (PMS).
  94. Sugar can decrease emotional stability.
  95. Sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese people.
  96. Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit disorder (ADD).
  97. Sugar can slow the ability of the adrenal glands to function.
  98. Sugar can cut off oxygen to the brain when given to people intravenously.
  99. Sugar is a risk factor for lung cancer.
  100. Sugar increases the risk of polio.
  101. Sugar can cause epileptic seizures.
  102. Sugar can increase systolic blood pressure (pressure when the heart is contracting).
  103. Sugar can induce cell death.
  104. Sugar can increase the amount of food that you eat.
  105. Sugar can cause antisocial behavior in juvenile delinquents.
  106. Sugar can lead to prostate cancer.
  107. Sugar dehydrates newborns.
  108. Sugar can cause women to give birth to babies with low birth weight.
  109. Sugar is associated with a worse outcome of schizophrenia.
  110. Sugar can raise homocysteine levels in the bloodstream.
  111. Sugar increases the risk of breast cancer.
  112. Sugar is a risk factor in small intestine cancer.
  113. Sugar can cause laryngeal cancer.
  114. Sugar induces salt and water retention.
  115. Sugar can contribute to mild memory loss.
  116. Sugar water, when given to children shortly after birth, results in those children preferring sugar water to regular water throughout childhood.
  117. Sugar causes constipation.
  118. Sugar can cause brain decay in pre-diabetic and diabetic women.
  119. Sugar can increase the risk of stomach cancer.
  120. Sugar can cause metabolic syndrome.
  121. Sugar increases neural tube defects in embryos when it is consumed by pregnant women.
  122. Sugar can cause asthma.
  123. Sugar increases the chances of getting irritable bowl syndrome.
  124. Sugar can affect central reward systems.
  125. Sugar can cause cancer of the rectum.
  126. Sugar can cause endometrial cancer.
  127. Sugar can cause renal (kidney) cell cancer.
  128. Sugar can cause liver tumors.
  129. Sugar can increase inflammatory markers in the bloodstreams of overweight people.
  130. Sugar plays a role in the cause and the continuation of acne.
  131. Sugar can ruin the sex life of both men and women by turning off the gene that controls the sex hormones.
  132. Sugar can cause fatigue, moodiness, nervousness, and depression.
  133. Sugar can make many essential nutrients less available to cells.
  134. Sugar can increase uric acid in blood.
  135. Sugar can lead to higher C-peptide concentrations.
  136. Sugar causes inflammation.
  137. Sugar can cause diverticulitis, a small bulging sac pushing outward from the colon wall that is inflamed.
  138. Sugar can decrease testosterone production.
  139. Sugar impairs spatial memory.
  140. Sugar can cause cataracts.
    Citations: 1. Sanchez, A, et al. “Role of Sugars in Human Neutrophilic Phagocytosis.” Am J Clin Nutr. Nov 1973; 261: 1180-1184. 2. Bernstein, L et al. “Depression of Lymphocyte Transformation Following Oral Glucose Ingestion.” Am J Clin Nutr. 1997; 30: 613. 3. Schauss, A. Diet, Crime and Delinquency. (Berkley, CA: Parker House, 1981). 4. Bayol, S.A “Evidence that a Maternal ‘Junk Food’ Diet during Pregnancy and Lactation Can Reduce Muscle Force in Offspring.” Eur J Nutr. Dec 19, 2008. 5. Rajeshwari, R, et al. “Secular Trends in Children’s Sweetened-beverage Consumption (1973 to 1994): The Bogalusa Heart Study.” J Am Diet Assoc. Feb 2005; 105(2): 208-214. 6. Behall, K. “Influence of Estrogen Content of Oral Contraceptives and Consumption of Sucroseon Blood Parameters.” Disease Abstracts International.1982; 431-437. POPLINE Document Number: 013114. 7. Mohanty, P., et al. “Glucose Challenge Stimulates Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) Generation by Leucocytes.” J Clin Endocrin Metab. Aug 2000; 85(8): 2970-2973. Couzy, F., et al. “Nutritional Implications of the Interaction Minerals.”Progressive Food & Nutrition Science. 1933; 17: 65-87. 8. Goldman, L et al. “Behavioral Effects of Sucrose on Preschool Children.” J Abnorm Child Psy.1986; 14(4): 565-577. 9. Scanto, S. and Yudkin, J. “The Effect of Dietary Sucrose on Blood Lipids, Serum Insulin, Platelet Adhesiveness and Body Weight in Human Volunteers.” Postgrad Med J. 1969; 45: 602-607. 10. Ringsdorf, w., Cheraskin, E., and Ramsay. R “Sucrose, Neutrophilic Phagocytosis and Resistance to Disease.” Dental Survey. 1976; 52(12): 46-48. 11. Cerami, A, et al. “Glucose and Aging.” Scientific American. May 1987: 90. Lee, A T. and Cerami, A “The Role of Glycation in Aging.” Annals N Y Acad Sci. 663: 63-67. 12. Albrink, M. and Ullrich, LH. “Interaction of Dietary Sucrose and Fiber on Serum Lipids in Healthy Young Men Fed High Carbohydrate Diets.” Clin Nutr.1986;43: 419-428. Pamplona, R, et al. “Mechanisms of Glycation in Atherogenesis.” Medical Hypotheses. Mar 1993; 40(3): 174-81. 13. Kozlovsky, A, et al. “Effects of Diets High in Simple Sugars on Urinary Chromium Losses.” Metabolism. Jun 1986; 35: 515-518. 14. Takahashi, E. Tohoku, Uniiversity School of Medicine. Wholistic Health Digest. Oct 1982: 41. 15. Kelsay, L et al. “Diets High in Glucose or Sucrose and Young Women.” Am J Clin Nutr. 1974;27: 926-936. Thomas, B. L et al. “Relation of Habitual Diet to Fasting Plasma Insulin Concentration and the Insulin Response to Oral Glucose.” Hum Nutr Clin Nutr. 1983; 36C(1): 49-51.
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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

The most useful post of this section. By far. Wish I had seen this early. Wish people would pay attention to this killer. Don't know if all 140 plus reasons are valid. But it certainly is the most dangerous food item.

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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

You are welcome, I felt the same way when I read this. actually the culprit is REFINED SUGAR, in its natural forms like in friuts and vegies or like sugar cane it is not as harmful, there was a study about the sugar plantations in Hawaii, the workers in the fields had fewer or no instances of diabetes where as the Owners of the plantations suffered from diabetes because of refined sugar consumption! so you go figure.

Refined Sugar is an excellent preservative! and has infinite shelf life, well suited for commerce! and it is no doubt addictive!

aik Urdu ka Muhavrah hai: Meethi Churri se katna :)

and that is what refined sugar does to our bodies

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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

Nice mohavara!

Now if that is an Urdu or Hindi mohavara is a topic for discussion? (Jk)

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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

I know meethi is not derived from persian so that has to be hindi!

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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

sugar when taken excessively is bad. Sugar and CHO are the only fuel your brain and RBCs need. Its important

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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

I tried to google who this person Nancy Appleton is, and I was not able to find anything. All I found was more links to what you posted OP. Some of these claims are so baseless. I feel like she took every single disease she could find on earth, and added the word sugar to it’s cause. For example:

  1. Sugar can cause gastric or duodenal ulcers. - uhhh, no. It doesn’t.
  2. Sugar can cause dyspepsia (indigestion). - No. Being fat can cause indigestion.
  3. Sugar can cause hypoglycemia. - huh??? Hypoglycemia = low sugar. The definition of the word. Sugar cures it. However if you’re diabetic you can be more prone to hypoglycemia.
  4. Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit disorder (ADD). - That is a super duper lie and an old wives’ tale.
  5. Sugar can increase uric acid in blood.137. Sugar can increase uric acid in blood. - God! Eating too much meat and not drinking enough water can do that :smack:

Excess sugar, ie too many sodas, desserts etc can lead to obesity. As well as lack of exercise and other unhealthy lifestyle habits. Obesity itself can cause a lot of problems. Sugar itself can’t do whatever BS this list says it causes.

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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

You may be right that some exaggeration may be present. Also sugar clearly is necessary fuel. Takeaway IMO is excess can be dangerous. Probably more so than other food products?

Have read articles that do label sugar as a killer.

Ur last para spot on. Ess emm.

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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

It's not just exaggeration, it's blatant lies. And it can be so harmful healthwise! Imagine if some diabetic read this list, and read that hypoglycemia causes cancer. And one day he suffers through a bout of hypoglycemia. He says he doesn't want to take any sugar because it can kill him. But if he doesn't fix that hypoglycemia quickly he can die quicker. It's misinformed information like this that can cause so much more danger in the long term. Take the whole vaccination-causes-autism debate, which has been proven as a lie, and now we hear of resurgence of measles in countries that hadn't had that in years.

Take everything in moderation. That should be the take home message, and not "let's avoid one thing completely in our life completely".

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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

^ Hadn't heard of the vaccination debate. Learnt something new.

I think OP in post 3 probably says what you are saying?

Your last para indeed is takeaway message.

Having a sweet tooth, I know I can succumb to sugar anytime.

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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

Grant Hill, Kobe Bryant, and Steve Nash all are basketball players who just either dramatically reduced or cut off sugar from their diets when they started reaching their 30's. All continued to play or are still playing into their mid to late 30's.

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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

How about Sugar Ray Leonard?

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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

Here some news about people benefiting from not eating refined sugar or refined flour:

*By Eve O. Schaub, Special to Everyday Health
*
Once upon a time, I was healthy; at least I thought I was.

Sure, I lacked enough energy to get me through the day, but with all the commercials on TV touting energy drinks for America’s tired masses, I always assumed I wasn’t the only one suffering. And sure, everyone in my family dreaded the coming cold and flu season, but again, I thought come January everyone develops some degree of germophobia.

At least, that’s what I thought until I heard some disturbing new information about the effects of sugar. According to several experts, sugar is the thing that is making so many Americans fat and sick. The more I thought about it the more this made sense to me — a lot of sense. One in seven Americans has metabolic syndrome. One in three Americans is obese. The rate of diabetes is skyrocketing and cardiovascular disease is America’s number one killer.

According to this theory, all of these maladies and more can be traced back to one large toxic presence in our diet… sugar.
A Bright Idea

I took all of this newfound knowledge and formulated an idea. I wanted to see how hard it would be to have our family — me, my husband, and our two children (ages 6 and 11) — spend an entire year eating foods that contained no added sugar. We’d cut out anything with an added sweetener, be it table sugar, honey, molasses, maple syrup, agave or fruit juice. We also excluded anything made with fake sugar or sugar alcohols. Unless the sweetness was attached to its original source (e.g., a piece of fruit), we didn’t eat it.

Once we started looking we found sugar in the most amazing places: tortillas, sausages, chicken broth, salad dressing, cold cuts, crackers, mayonnaise, bacon, bread, and even baby food. Why add all of this sugar? To make these items more palatable, add shelf life, and make packaged food production ever cheaper.

Call me crazy, but avoiding added sugar for a year struck me as a grand adventure. I was curious as to what would happen. I wanted to know how hard it would be, what interesting things could happen, how my cooking and shopping would change. After continuing my research, I was convinced removing sugar would make us all healthier. What I didn’t expect was how not eating sugar would make me feel better in a very real and tangible way.
A Sugar-Free Year Later

It was subtle, but noticeable; the longer I went on eating without added sugar, the better and more energetic I felt. If I doubted the connection, something happened next which would prove it to me: my husband’s birthday.Capture11

During our year of no sugar, one of the rules was that, as a family, we could have one actual sugar-containing dessert per month; if it was your birthday, you got to choose the dessert. By the time September rolled around we noticed our palates starting to change, and slowly, we began enjoying our monthly “treat” less and less.

But when we ate the decadent multi-layered banana cream pie my husband had requested for his birthday celebration, I knew something new was happening. Not only did I not enjoy my slice of pie, I couldn’t even finish it. It tasted sickly sweet to my now sensitive palate. It actually made my teeth hurt. My head began to pound and my heart began to race; I felt awful.

It took a good hour lying on the couch holding my head before I began to recover. “Geez,” I thought, “has sugar always made me feel bad, but because it was everywhere, I just never noticed it before?”

After our year of no sugar ended, I went back and counted the absences my kids had in school and compared them to those of previous years. The difference was dramatic. My older daughter, Greta, went from missing 15 days the year before to missing only two.

Now that our year of no sugar is over, we’ll occasionally indulge, but the way we eat it is very different. We appreciate sugar in drastically smaller amounts, avoid it in everyday foods (that it shouldn’t be in in the first place), and save dessert for truly special occasions. My body seems to be thanking me for it. I don’t worry about running out of energy. And when flu season comes around I somehow no longer feel the urge to go and hide with my children under the bed. But if we do come down with something, our bodies are better equipped to fight it. We get sick less and get well faster. Much to my surprise, after our no-sugar life, we all feel healthier and stronger. And that is nothing to sneeze at.

Eve O. Schaub is the author of Year of No Sugar: A Memoir. She holds a BA and a BFA from Cornell University, and a MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Her personal essays have been featured many times on the Albany, New York, NPR station WAMC. You can join Schaub’s family and take your own Day of No Sugar Challenge on April 9, 2014.

Read more stories of struggle, strength, and survival on Everyday Health’s My Health Story column.

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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

judging from your knowledge of medicine I will address you as Dr Ess Emm…So it seems you have refuted 5 out of 143 claims this person made in their article, then we are to assume the rest are true?

Actually the case being made is not so much against natural sugars as found in fruits vegetables and grasses, the big culprit that basically scratches our arteries is refined sugar, and we all know our arteries are the suppliers/delivery system of energy to the cells.

The main reason sugars are refined is commerce and ease of transport and the endless shelf life because even the bugs do not eat refined sugar :slight_smile:

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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

Sugar as we know it is NOT our brain fuel. Your body converts carbohydrates that you eat into sugar.

These diseases may not be direct-first result of sugar, may be secondary..... i.e. sugar causes obesity and leads to other diseases??

I believe you have seen a study/research to back what you are saying??

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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

Since there are 200+ points that you have copy pasted, I don’t have the time nor the inclination to address every single one of them. I just skimmed a few ones and posted what is known among anyone who has bothered to google something. My main problem is with you posting this article in the first place and then saying yes this is the be it and end all and sugars are evil and let’s all get rid of the evil and this person that made this list knows all. No. Google something before you post anything, share anything. This is doing nothing but spread misinformation.

I don’t know the main reason why sugars are refined so I’m not going to address that. I’m no economist/farmer/industry tycoon. The bottom line is everything, and I mean everything, can be bad for you a normal, average person if taken in excess. This includes, sugars, oils, salts, vegetables, fruits, nuts, minerals, herbal supplements etc etc etc. Moderation is the key.

NIMH · Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Do a ctrl+F for the word sugar for the relevant paragraph, and the studies at footnotes at the bottom. What I stated was also what I learned from a practicing pediatric psychatrist who not only specializes in ADHD and depression among the pediatric population, but also has years of work and research under his belt.

If we are discussing obesity solely then excessive intake of fats and sugars can lead to it. However, not all the diseases listed eg diabetes and ulcers are a direct result of fats and sugars.

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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

Re last line - Asking out of ignorance. I thought diabetes caused by excess intake of sugar and or carbohydrates. At least that's what I recall. I could be wrong.

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Re: I knew Sugar was bad, but never knew it was this bad for our health!

Es Emm you may have heard of Dr Oz and Dr Roisen they are heart surgeons who attribute plack build up in our arteries to High Fructose Corn Syrup and Hydrogenated Oils and olso refined sugar, also Dr Joel Fuhrman warns us against refined sugar in our diet, according to Dr Fuhrman we can reverse heart disease and diabetes by stop eating refined sugars and refined flour.

by the way I did not get this list posted here from good ole Google as you seem to think, a good friend at work gave it to me, every thing we know is not all on the Google Wash!