Giving your body sugar—not necessarily natural sugar like the kind found in fruit, but refined sugar—is one of the worst things you can do to it. More than 8,000 scientific studies on the effects of sugar on the body were recently combed through by a team of researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), who came to the conclusion that not only does sugar make people obese, but it also makes them sick.
The SugarScience research identifies sugar as a key factor in the development of metabolic disease, which can result in illnesses including heart disease and type 2 diabetes. The findings of the study’s lead author, UCSF School of Medicine professor Laura Schmidt, are understandable: sugar is extremely harmful to the body’s major organs, including the liver.
Their analysis revealed that added sugar is present in approximately seventy percent of packaged and processed goods. This sugar is frequently mentioned under 61 different names, such as sucrose, dextrose, evaporated cane juice, and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Due to this, it can be challenging to distinguish between natural and added sugar, and existing regulatory regulations do not require this to be done.
A full listing of the 61 common names for sugar is available at the following link on the right-hand side of the page: SugarScience.org.
The result is millions of people regularly consuming far more sugar than they should be, leading to metabolic syndrome, a classification of risk factors associated with a host of chronic illnesses. If left to run its course, metabolic syndrome can lead to early death in the form of liver failure, heart attack, blood clots and various other life-threatening conditions.
“Too much sugar causes chronic metabolic disease in both fat and thin people,” said pediatric endocrinologist Robert Lustig, a member of the SugarScience team and author of Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease, pointing out that obesity is an entirely separate issue from the extensive bodily damage caused by sugar consumption.
“And instead of focusing on obesity as the problem, we should be focusing on our processed-food supply.”
SugarScience project exposes “all calories are equal” myth as scientific fraud
Part of the problem is that many people still don’t realize just how much sugar they’re actually consuming. According to Medical Xpress, the average American consumes nearly 20 teaspoons, or about 78 grams, of sugar daily, which is far more than the maximum level recommended by the American Heart Association (AHA).
A single 12-ounce can of soda pop contains as much as 9 teaspoons, or 36 grams, of added sugar, which is the AHA’s maximum recommended daily level for adult men. Adult women, says the group, should consume no more than 6 teaspoons, or 24 grams, of sugar daily, while children should limit themselves to between 3 and 6 teaspoons, or 12-24 grams, daily.
The best way to consume sugar is naturally, of course, whether it be in fruit, vegetables or unprocessed dairy products. Fruits and vegetables contain dietary fiber and other nutrients that help buffer how quickly sugar is processed, protecting organs like the pancreas from having to work overtime to produce insulin, which can lead to insulin resistance and diabetes.
SugarScience’s research also reiterated that not all calories are the same, as is commonly believed in the mainstream.
“SugarScience shows that a calorie is not a calorie but rather that the source of a calorie determines how it’s metabolized,” explains Lustig.
