by Maria Teresa L. Ungson
Is sugar really bad for us? How can something so sweet be bad for us? Here are some information about sugar to help us understand more about this particular sweet stuff.
Can someone truly become physically dependent on sugar? Sugar taps into a powerful human preference for sweet taste, says Marcia Pelchat, PhD, a scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, a basic research institute in Philadelphia. “We’re born to like sugar,” she says.
“Sugar does seem to be special in some ways,” Pelchat says, even in the womb. Doctors used to treat the problem of excessive amniotic fluid by injecting a sweet substance into the liquid, she says. The appealing taste would prompt the fetus to swallow more fluid, which was then flushed out through the umbilical cord and the mother’s kidneys.
Not only do infants prefer sweet tastes, but when babies drink a sweet solution, it can ease pain through a natural analgesic effect in the body, Pelchat says.
Way back, the preference for sugar may have conferred an evolutionary advantage by leading people to seek out ripe fruits, which are sweet and serve as a good source of calories, she says.
But nowadays, could a a strong liking for sugar be a true addiction, with physical dependence and withdrawal symptoms? “The jury’s still out,” Pelchat says. Scientists aren’t sure if people can become physically dependent on sugar, although some animal studies suggest that such a thing is possible, she says. “There are the same kinds of changes in brain dopamine, in these animals given intermittent access to sugar, as in drug addicts.”
Unlike with substance abuse, people don’t get the shakes when they stop eating sugar. But people with constant sugar cravings do exhibit one symptom of dependence, Pelchat says: “continued use despite knowledge of bad consequences or having to give up certain activities.” For instance, people who crave sugary, fatty foods will keep eating them even if obesity makes it uncomfortable to walk or to sit in an economy seat on the plane.
Can sugar worsen cholesterol? Researchers have found a link between sugar and unhealthy levels of blood fats. “There’s an association between added sugar intake and what we call dyslipidemia — higher triglycerides and lower HDL (“good”) cholesterol, says Rachel K. Johnson, RD, MPH, PhD, a professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont and a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association (AHA).
In a study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), people who ate the largest amounts of added sugar had the highest blood triglyceride levels and the lowest HDL (good) cholesterol levels. That study also showed that eating lots of sugar more than tripled the odds of having low HDL cholesterol levels, a strong risk factor for heart disease.
In contrast, people who ate the least sugar had the lowest triglyceride levels and highest HDL levels, a protective factor against heart disease. But “the study doesn’t prove that added sugars cause dyslipidemia,” says Johnson, who wasn’t involved in the JAMA study.
Johnson says that to prove that sugar causes problems with blood fats, scientists would have to conduct a clinical trial in which some people ate a diet high in added sugar and others ate a diet low in added sugar. Then researchers would track their triglyceride and cholesterol levels. Such a study would be expensive and hard to carry out, she says.
However, Johnson points out that weight did not explain the JAMA findings. “Obesity is obviously related to dyslipidemia, but based on the JAMA paper, the added sugars had an independent effect, separate and distinct from the added sugars’ impact on weight,” she says.
Does sugar cause diabetes? “Eating sugar per se does not cause diabetes,” Johnson says. But large, epidemiological research has shown an association between intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and diabetes, she says.
The real culprit may be obesity. “It may be because the sugar-sweetened beverages are associated with higher BMIs or associated with overweight and obesity, which we know is a risk factor for diabetes,” Johnson says.
Is sugar affecting children’s health? Pediatricians are concerned that too much sugar is in their young patients’ diets, Kavey says. But again, sugar by itself is not the problem, she says, but rather the excess pounds.
“The reason that we think of it as a problem is because of the big rise in obesity in childhood, and that rise has occurred over the same time period that there’s been a major increase in the amount of simple sugar that children consume,” Kavey says. Juices, sodas, sweetened cereals, cookies, and candy are common sources of sugar in children’s diets.
But other factors — like spending a lot of sedentary time with computers rather than running around and playing — may also contribute to childhood obesity.
Are some types of sugar better than others? Celebrities and high-profile chefs have touted the benefits of replacing refined white sugar with purportedly more natural, healthier sugars, such as honey, maple syrup, or molasses.
But there’s no truth to these common misconceptions, Johnson says. “In terms of something being inherently better about those sweeteners as opposed to table sugar or sucrose — no.” The bottom line: All are simple sugars.
“A calorie of sugar is a calorie of sugar, so whether you’re getting it from white sugar or some other type of sweetener, you’re still adding empty calories to your diet,” Johnson says.
However, there may be one redeeming quality, she says. “Some of those sweeteners — like maple syrup, molasses, honey — may have a stronger taste, so you might be able to get the sweetness that you want with less of it, using less calories.”
What about substituting artificial sweeteners? Despite public worries that they might cause cancer, “They’ve been approved as safe by the FDA and can be a good tool to lower the calories in your diet,” Johnson says. “But you need to be careful that it’s about the total calories. You always hear about the person who puts the non-nutritive sweetener in their coffee and then has a piece of cheesecake.”
Anything in excess can be detrimental to one’s health based on information gathered. When a person consumes too much sugar and fat it would lead to obesity that opens the door for diseases to creep into the body specially those that are hereditary and those caused by lifestyle practices. Sugar in moderation is not bad unless you have a health condition. Just keep everything in moderation and lead a healthy lifestyle. Don’t forget to get regular check-ups or visits to your doctor too!
