Tidbit Tuesday - Sugar
Hello,
Welcome to another Tidbit Tuesday where we aim to teach you something new about health, nutrition, lifestyle, training, and so much more, every week!
Today we are going to be talking about SUGAR and the affects it can have on us.
We identify sugar with sweetness, which is one of the four main tastes, along with bitter, sour, and salty.
Besides evoking pleasure, sweetness can indicate that a food is safe to eat. Humans have long been able to nibble on a tiny portion of a wild plant to determine if it's poisonous or not. A bitter taste indicates that the plant is likely unsafe. (Note: Don't get any ideas. Eating unfamiliar plants is strongly discouraged).
In the human body, glucose is used for cellular respiration. For this reason, it is often referred to as "blood sugar" because it travels through the blood and diffuses across cell membranes.
The production of sugar involves two distinct operations: (a) processing sugar cane or sugar beets into raw sugar and (b) processing the raw sugar into refined sugar.
Sugar cane is grown in tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world, including South Africa, Brazil, India, Mauritius and the West Indies. It is an enormous grass, growing as high as five meters and the sugar is stored in its long stalk as a source of reserve food for the plant.
Sugar beet is a root crop and is grown in more temperate parts of the world. This plant stores sugar not in its stalk, but in its root. It is grown throughout Europe, the United States, Canada, China and many more countries.
Types of sugar and where they are found:
Fructose: found in fruits and honey.
Galactose: found in milk and dairy products.
Glucose: found in honey, fruits and vegetables.
Lactose: found in milk, made from glucose and galactose.
Maltose: found in barley.
Sucrose: made up of glucose and fructose and found in plants.
Xylose: found in wood or straw.
Sucrose in an apple is broken down in exactly the same way as the sucrose in your sugar bowl. However, the rate of which the sucrose is absorbed can vary depending on if the source is a solid or liquid food, for example in an apple or apple juice.
Sugar crystals, particularly white sugar, may come in different granulations. Some common types are:
Icing: very small crystals that quickly dissolve in liquids or can be used for decorating desserts, like confectioners' sugar.
Caster: larger crystals than icing.
Granulated: basic table sugar, with larger crystals than caster or icing.
Preserving: very coarse sugar used as a preserve in jams and similar confections.
High-fructose corn syrup; a sugar substitute.
As its name implies, HFCS comes from corn, not sugarcane or sugar beets. Created in the 1960s, this additive is now found in numerous processed foods, including many sodas.
The syrup has become popular for food makers because it's cheaper than white sugar.
HFCS has a reputation for being unhealthy and fattening.
It's also stigmatized as unnatural and artificial because the production process requires the addition of enzymes and fiddling with the molecular arrangement of regular corn syrup.
There is evidence that the body treats HFCS differently than glucose.
When a person's liver is deciding what to do with glucose, it has several options: use it for energy; convert the glucose into triglycerides or store the glucose as fat.
High amounts of sugar, or HFCS, overload the liver.
A 2008 study found that fructose seems to go directly to fat.
Over time, this can lead to a greater accumulation of fat, which may turn into fatty liver disease, a contributor to diabetes, which raises your risk for heart disease.
The study concluded that fructose itself isn't bad -- particularly fructose found in fruits, which are nutrient rich -- but that many people could be better served by limiting fructose consumption and avoiding overeating foods high in HFCS.
The problem may also be more severe with those who are already overweight.
Obesity, which excessive sugar consumption certainly will contribute to, boosts the chances of developing type 2 diabetes.
There are various types of diabetes, and the complications from the disease are potentially fatal -- another reason why sugar should be consumed in small to moderate quantities.
"The effects of added sugar intake — higher blood pressure, inflammation, weight gain, diabetes, and fatty liver disease — are all linked to an increased risk for heart attack and stroke," says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Many people rely on quick, processed foods for meals and snacks. Since these products often contain added sugar, it makes up a large proportion of their daily calorie intake.
While sugar essentially powers human cells, it's still basically empty calories. It provides a quick boost of easily processed energy and leaves us with the dreaded "sugar crash".
Sugary foods rarely have any of the other carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals necessary for a healthy diet. And as you'll recall, any excess sugar in the body won't be used as energy and will instead be stored as fat.
Do your best to limit the top sources of sugar and HFCS like soft drinks, fruit drinks, flavored yogurts, cereals, cookies, cakes, candy, and most processed foods.
But added sugar is also present in items that you may not think of as sweetened, like soups, bread, cured meats, and ketchup.
And of course, with many of consuming these foods daily, we must also consider our dental health!
Sugar is a leading cause of cavities!
Glycoproteins from sugar stick to the teeth and become magnets for bacteria. The bacteria eat the fructose in sugar and produce lactic acid as a by-product. The lactic acid can contribute to the wearing down of tooth enamel and the formation of cavities.
However, much scarier than tooth decay...
In a study published in 2014 in JAMA Internal Medicine, Dr. Hu and his colleagues found an association between a high-sugar diet and a greater risk of dying from heart disease.
Over the course of the 15-year study, people who got 17% to 21% of their calories from added sugar had a 38% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared with those who consumed 8% of their calories as added sugar.
"Basically, the higher the intake of added sugar, the higher the risk for heart disease," says Dr. Hu.
The American Heart Association suggests that men consume no more than 150 calories (about 9 teaspoons or 36 grams) of added sugar per day. That is close to the amount in a 12-ounce can of soda.
Yet, Dr. Hu warns against being overzealous in your attempts to cut back on added sugar, as this can backfire. "You may find yourself reaching for other foods to satisfy your sweet cravings, like refined starches, such as white bread and white rice, which can increase glucose levels, and comfort foods high in saturated fat and sodium, which also cause problems with heart health," he says.
Alongside the risks of weight gain, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. Sugar is also a large contributor of acne and poor skin health, depression, cellular aging, fatty liver, and cognitive decline.
So where should we get our sugar from?!
Consuming whole foods that contain natural sugar is okay. Plant foods also have high amounts of fiber, essential minerals, and antioxidants, and dairy foods contain protein and calcium.
Since your body digests these foods slowly, the sugar in them offers a steady supply of energy to your cells. A high intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains also has been shown to reduce the risk of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers.
Focusing on preparing healthy meals and limiting your intake of foods that contain added sweeteners can help you cut back on the amount of sugar in your diet.
If you feel sugar is a real problem for you and you can't seem to get away from it on your own, we will make a game plan to help you kick that sweet craving! Message us today!
Your Friend in Health & Fitness,
Coach Sean
