Are you also part of the group that can’t resist a sweetie? Is the meal not complete without dessert? Feel the need for a chocolate or cookie to boost your energy throughout the day? So, make sure to check out this article! Let’s tell you what the harm of sugar is for your health and its impact on immunity.
Is There A Sugar Addiction?
The desire for sweets goes beyond taste. Sugar, like some other substances, has the power to make the brain release dopamine, a neurotransmitter that acts on the nervous system and provides sensations of pleasure, well-being, and relaxation.
For this reason, many people turn to these substances when they feel sad, depressed, or irritable. A good example is women in PMS. The stimulus changes the mood and produces a true feast in the brain, even if the food taste is only enjoyed for a few seconds.
Therefore, if food awakens this pleasure, the brain asks for more. He looks forward to the next opportunity to release dopamine and soon learns to recognize which products trigger this trigger. Although sweet fruits don’t provide such an intense stimulus, making sugar is preferred.
It is worth noting that it is not just sugar that causes this sensation. Drugs have the same kind of trigger. They act on this reward center of the brain. The pleasure they cause is much more intense than normal food and activities, generating addiction.
However, just as important as this sensation caused by the release of dopamine is how we insert this substance into our daily lives to satisfy other needs.
Let’s think of an example: the person slept little and, the next day, felt tired and irritated at work. The correct solution would be to sleep, but many prefer to eat a chocolate bar. What happens? Immediate energy and sense of well-being.
Thus, we condition our brain to ask for a sweet whenever we feel unwell. The problems remain, but sugar becomes a strategy to get around the situation, generating a vicious circle.
Alone, sugar already causes a series of health damage. However, to make products even more addictive, the food industry combines two other ingredients: fat and salt.
These three elements make food products virtually irresistible, mixed in the right proportions. Its stimulating effect makes people increase not only the frequency of consumption but also the amount.
What Are The Health Effects Of Sugar?
However, although the brain rejoices in the production of dopamine, the whole body suffers from the harmful effects of sugar. It triggers a series of destructive processes, as you will see below!
Obesity
Sugar is extremely caloric. There are 387 calories for every 100 grams of this product. Widely used in culinary recipes and added to beverages such as coffee, tea, and juice, it contributes to weight gain.
Just do the math: anyone who drinks a cup of coffee daily with a tablespoon of sugar will consume 36,500 with that habit alone, not to mention all the other recipes in which it is used, in addition to adding it to industrialized products, even savory ones.
However, it is worth noting that sugar is not solely responsible for obesity. This problem is caused by a series of habits: food, deregulated sleep, lack of physical activity, etc.
Cardiovascular Problems
When liver cells metabolize even the sugar in fruit, they generate several by-products, one of which is triglyceride. A part of the triglycerides released into the bloodstream accumulates on the walls of the arteries, blocking the passage of blood and favoring the occurrence of infarctions.
Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes occurs due to the body’s difficulty in correctly using sugar as fuel for the cells . However, sugar also favors the onset of the disease. Studies show that people who consume more sweets are more likely to develop this pathology.
Stress And Anxiety
People who consume a greater amount of sugar are more subject to problems such as stress and anxiety. This happens because their organism produces a higher-than-normal amount of cortisol, which contributes to triggering these mental disorders.
Low Energy
Sugar is a product with a high glycemic index. This means that it produces an initial energy spike, but then that energy reduces dramatically. In this way, the person feels tired, exhausted, and having difficulty carrying out their activities. She eats more frequently to get around this feeling, which can trigger obesity and other problems.
Intestinal Microbiota Imbalance
Sugar destroys some of the good bacteria that live in our gut. This intestinal microbiota is very important, as it acts in various processes in the body, from proper digestion of food and absorption of nutrients to maintaining good immunity and mental health. Therefore, we must keep these healthy allies.
Weakened Immune System
And speaking of immunity, this is another system that is greatly affected by the harmful effects of sugar. When a person eats sweets, it temporarily inhibits the ability of defense cells to fight off invaders. This effect lasts for a few hours until everything returns to normal.
Therefore, when a person eats sweets several times a day, he impairs the action of the immune system on an ongoing basis. In this way, susceptibility to external infections by viruses and bacteria increases, while your chances of internally detecting altered cells and eliminating them are reduced.
ALSO READ: LEARN HOW TO REDUCE SUGAR CONSUMPTION IN YOUR FOOD!