The Shocking Truth About Sugar
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In recent years more and more studies have been coming up with evidence that sugar is slowly killing us when consumed in irrational quantities. The reason North Americans are consuming so much excess sugar is because of processed and pre-packaged foods. When looking at the label we typically look for the word “sugar”; however, sugar comes in many other disguises. These can include cane sugar, corn syrup, fructose, galactose, or dextrose. (2, 7). In fact, sugar can be hidden over 61 different forms on an ingredients label. (2). The ingredients list on a package of Hostess cupcakes has 6 different kinds of sugar in it alone. Including sugar, corn syrup, corn syrup high fructose, corn syrup solids, xanthan gum and dextrose; combining to 17g of sugar for one serving. (3). Most people don’t realize how much they’re even consuming because when checking a nutrition label sugar doesn’t have a daily percentage, compared to sodium or vitamins. The average woman should only be consuming a maximum of 25g (6 tsp) of sugar a day and the average male 38g (9 tsp). (2). The average Canadian female actually consumes about 92g of sugar a day, nearly 4x the recommended intake. The average male consumes about 115g of sugar a day. (9). The consumption of added sugar has increased by 28% since 1983. (7).
It’s apparent that the average north american is consuming too much sugar but many people don’t actually know the health risks behind it. Sugar can overload and damage your liver, similar to alcohol. This is specific to fructose as our bodies cannot properly digest it; therefore, it gets pushed into the liver and can overload it. (5). Fructose is also responsible for added weight and destroying your insulin signals. Fructose fools your body into turning off the appetite control system. Your body then fails to release insulin upon consumption and then fails to release a hormone called “ghrelin”, or the “hunger hormone”. This means that your body won’t know when it is full and causes higher blood sugar levels. (5).