Put away that sugar bowl! A recently published study suggests that eating high amounts of sugar can lead to at least 45 different health problems.
Published by The British Medical Journal, the paper reviewed 8,601 studies and their adverse health outcomes.
The researchers, affiliated with institutions in both China and the United States, found significant evidence linking excessive sugar consumption to a greater chance of developing 45 health problems.
Obesity is an obvious one.
Obesity rates are climbing, with nearly two in three adults in the United States being overweight and one in three being obese, per Harvard School of Public Health.
Childhood obesity, in particular, is growing at alarming rates, with 20.3% of children ages 10-17 classified as obese in Texas in 2019-20, as The Dallas Express reported.
Another negative outcome is diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is on the rise in North Texas, as The Dallas Express reported. Over 11.4% of the residents of Dallas County have been diagnosed with this metabolic disorder.
Other typical health problems reported by the researchers in this new study included cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and gout.
Some concerns less commonly associated with sugar consumption were cancer, asthma, and depression.
A major nuance of the recent study was its focus on the intake of added, or “free,” sugars.
Added sugars refer to the sweeteners packaged as table sugar and syrups or included during the processing of food, per the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
It does not include sugars that occur naturally in structurally whole fruits and vegetables but rather those in which the cellular structure of the food has been broken down.
Anything from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices to Twinkies contains these free or added sugars, which the agency recommends limiting to less than 10% of your everyday caloric intake.
The connection between added sugar and disease has been firmly established and is widely supported by the medical community.
Free sugars create a spike in our insulin levels that leads to a host of health problems in the long term, as Dr. Maya Adam, a clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at Stanford University, told CNN.
Yet the evidence of a link between free sugars and other negative health outcomes such as depression has been both limited and disputed, the paper’s authors said, per CNN.
Several studies have found that highly processed foods, which frequently contain free sugars, can lead to more inflammation in the body.
This is likely another driver of cardiovascular disease, as Brooke Aggarwal, an assistant professor in the Division of Cardiology at Columbia, told CNN.
“[Inflammation] can cause stress on the heart and blood vessels, which can lead to increased blood pressure,” Aggarwal explained.
Yet as Heather Francis, a neuropsychologist at Australia’s Macquarie University, told CNN, inflammation is also a risk factor for depression.
Existing guidelines from prominent health organizations such as the World Health Organization, American Institute for Cancer Research, and World Cancer Research Fund recommend limiting the consumption of free sugar to less than 25 grams per day.
This would be roughly the equivalent of one and a half tablespoons of honey.
The study’s authors reiterate this guidance and also suggest limiting the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages to no more than one serving — equivalent to a 12-ounce soda can — per week.
While it isn’t easy to change our eating habits, educating ourselves and getting into the habit of reading nutrition labels is a start.
As studies have shown, most people think their diets are healthier than they actually are.
Still, cutting sugar out entirely is not easy to do. Experts recommend gradually cutting back to lessen cravings and wean yourself off of sugar.
It may be a good idea to avoid turning to artificial sweeteners to satisfy your sweet tooth.
As The Dallas Express previously reported, recent research suggests that eating large amounts of aspartame (found in NutraSweet) and acesulfame potassium (found in Sunett) apparently increased the risk of coronary heart disease by about 40%.
Getting enough sleep at night on a regular basis will also cut the cravings, Aggarwal suggested, “as we tend to choose foods higher in sugar when we’re tired,” per CNN.
