“Sugar is bad for you” is an old health axiom, but the depths to which sugar can harm one’s body may not yet have been fully tabulated. Indeed, according to a new study by the prestigious medical journal BMJ, sugar consumption is linked to 45 different ailments. Yes, you read that right: forty-five different health issues, all exacerbated or correlated with the consumption of this sweet white powder.
From obesity and type 2 diabetes to seven types of cancer and 18 endocrine/metabolic effects, sugar has already been shown to have addictive qualities, so much so that it’s common for people to abuse it.
But not all sugars are created equal, and the bad stuff is what’s called “free sugar.” According to Dr. James DiNicolantonio, associate editor of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Open Heart and cardiovascular disease research scientist and doctor of pharmacy at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, it refers to any sugar that does not come from a whole food (or a food that has been processed and refined as little as possible). This contrasts with sugars from foods that have been part of our diet for a long time and are usually found naturally, for example in fruits like apples or vegetables like carrots.
As such, the white crystalline sugar you put in coffee or the high fructose corn syrup in your soda and fast food contains free or added sugars. A delicious, untainted orange or banana, which humans have long been accustomed to eating, has none.
“If you think about it, added sugar really isn’t a single substance. Nobody eats just tablespoons of sugar. They most likely eat that added sugar in highly processed or ultra-processed foods.”
This distinction, although seemingly slight, makes all the difference when it comes to your health. As the BMJ study found after reviewing 73 meta-analyses of 8,601 unique scientific papers on added sugar, they found significant links to 45 different adverse health effects. These include asthma, cancer, depression, type 2 diabetes, gout, heart attacks, hypertension, obesity, stroke, and tooth decay.
As DiNicolantonio explained to Salon, added sugars are linked to a wide range of health issues as they appear in three quarters of packaged foods, including soft drinks and fruit juices, and account for between one quarter and two-fifths of the total caloric intake. of children and about one-seventh of the total caloric intake of adults. This “overconsumption leads to type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, obesity, kidney disease and cardiovascular disease,” DiNicolantonio told Salon.
Most people who regularly consume more than 30 to 40 grams of added sugar “will increase their risk of many health problems,” DiNicolantonio concluded. “For those who are more active (i.e. athletes), they can get away with eating more sugar, but ideally most of their sugar intake should come from whole foods.”
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So why is sugar so versatile in its ability to damage the body? This is partly explained by the fact that sugars are generally not consumed alone, in the form of cubes or powder; this means that studies of sugar consumption cannot fully isolate the substance from other things it is often mixed with. In other words, we’re not really talking about just one substance. Therefore, any study on the impact of added sugars on human health effectively addresses all common unhealthy foods that commonly join these added sugars.
Overconsumption of added sugars “leads to type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, obesity, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease.”
“If you think about it, added sugar really isn’t a single substance,” Dr. Alexandra DiFeliceantonio of Virginia Tech Carillon’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute told Salon via email. DiFeliceantonio did not participate in the study. “No one eats just tablespoons of sugar. They most likely eat this added sugar in highly processed or ultra-processed foods. These foods may contain other additives, high levels of fat, or other substances related to poor health outcomes.So it’s not just that one substance, sugar, that causes all these problems, but that this substance is present in a whole host of foods that contribute to these health problems.
DiFeliceantonio clarified that sugar alone could cause certain health issues, but noted that it was “more likely a combination of factors.”
Dr. Nicole Avena, assistant professor of neuroscience at Mount Sinai Medical School and visiting professor of health psychology at Princeton University who studies human health but also was not involved in the study, offered tips on how health conscious people can protect themselves from added sugars.
“I think it’s a really good idea to keep a food diary,” Avena suggested. “Do a day or two where you eat like you usually would and write down everything you eat – right down to the condiments you use – and you can really get a clear picture of how much sugar you’re actually consuming. And a lot of people are shocked when they do this because they think they have a relatively healthy diet but when you start to break it down and look at salad dressings look at condiments even things like nuts that people think of as a snack healthy, but it often contains added sugar.”
DiNicolantonio also urged consumers to consider healthy substitutes for their favorite candies.
“The best way to beat a sugar craving is to find healthy alternatives that provide some natural sugar — like berries, an apple, or even a little raw honey or maple syrup,” DiNicolantonio says.
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