Xmas is here, beware of sugar

This is the festive season and besides shopping for clothes and gift items, a lot of people see it as a season to indulge and pamper their sweet tooth with cakes, ice creams, sweets and other confections. It is also a period where carbonated drinks and other sugar-laden beverages are in excess. While some are cautious about their intake, others see it as another welcome opportunity to feed their addiction to sugar.

Most confections are filled with sugar and although sugar is sweet, and for some people, the reason they eat certain foods is because of the sweet taste, nutritionists have pinned refined sugar to many illnesses.

In the journal, Nature, Professor Robert Lustig, an expert on childhood obesity at the University of California, San Francisco, United States of America, who has been on the anti-sugar campaign, said sugar is a poison, easily abused and harmful to the society. According to Professor Lustig, sugar is likely the dietary cause of several chronic ailments such as heart disease, hypertension and many common cancers. Scientists have also attributed the consumption of refined sugar as contributory to 35 million deaths a year worldwide.

Mrs. Ramota Rachael Fakunle, the Chief Dietician, Department of Dietetics, University College Hospital, (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State, adds that “Sugar can be addictive. When someone takes excessive sugar, it can become a habit and when something becomes an uncontrollable habit, it is an addiction.” Professor Lustig also argues that like tobacco and alcohol, “it acts on the brain to encourage subsequent intake.”

Apart from its addictive properties, refined sugar has also been said to increase anxiety, hyperactivity and crankiness in kids. Mrs. Fakunle says, “It is a stimulant and when someone takes excess sugar, you notice the person has more energy and is hyperactive.” This might serve as a heads-up for mothers who want their children to remain calm this season.

Obesity with its attending ailments – high blood pressure and diabetes – have also been said to have refined sugar as a major contributory factor. According to Mrs. Fakunle, “Usually glucose is suppose to be converted to glycogen, but when someone takes too much refined sugar, glycogen is now converted to triglycerides (which is a kind of fat) and this fat can block the arteries. The triglycerides are also stored in the adipose tissues and they contribute to obesity and obesity causes high blood pressure. This is why people who are obese are advised to stay off refined sugar.

Diabetes is hereditary but refined sugar can contribute to one having it. The more refined sugar you take, the more burden is placed on the pancreas to produce the hormone insulin (which converts glucose to glycogen). When the pancreas is overburdened, it affects the release of insulin thereby resulting to an excess of glucose in the blood, which is what we now refer to as diabetes.”

Excess refined sugar intake has also been said to be one of the causes of cardiovascular diseases. In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 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.

Soft drinks cakes, ice creams and pastries, which usually contain refined sugar, can also stimulate the growth of bacteria.  “Sugar is acidic and most of the bacteria in the body thrive in an acidic environment. When you take much of sugar, it increases the acidity in the body, thus providing an environment for the bacteria to grow. So to neutralize the acidity, fruits and especially vegetables, which are highly alkaline, should be taken to balance the pH levels. Bitter leaf is alkaline and can neutralize the acidity of refined sugar, so its intake is encouraged,” Mrs. Fakunle adds.

Although scientists say refined sugar kills slowly, the measurement for how much of sugar is excess may be difficult to determine. Mrs Fakunle says, “Apart from your taste buds telling you when your sugar intake is too much, you may begin to notice some things going wrong in your body. For instance, your teeth may suffer decay because sugar encourages the growth of certain bacteria that harm the teeth.”

In place of refined sugar, “honey is the best alternative. It is good for the heart, natural, aids in digestion and contains lots of vitamins unlike refined sugar which only contains calories and has no nutritional value. Some people talk about brown sugar, but it is just white sugar that has been heated, so it also lacks nutrients. Refined sugar also lacks fibre, so, it worsens constipation. However, this is not to say that diabetes patients should take honey, but any otherwise healthy person can take honey. It is a better alternative,” Mrs. Fakunle posits.

This festive period, it is important to remember the recommendation of the Dieticians Association of Australia which advocates eating only moderate amounts of sugar, and limiting those foods that are high in added sugar and low in nutrition – such as carbonated soft drinks, confectionery, cakes and biscuits.