The most common effect of eating too much sugar is weight gain. This is because sugar contains a lot of calories, and if your body doesn’t need those calories it will store them in fat cells that collect throughout the body. However, there are many things that eating too much sugar is doing to the functioning of the body beneath the surface. Even people who are able to maintain a healthy weight may have negative health effects arising from the consumption of too much sugar, but it remains invisible and undetected. Because food producers have been adding so much sugar to almost all of our food over the past few decades, a large number of people are consuming too much sugar and may not even know it.
Some studies have shown that eating too much fructose, a kind of sugar, can contribute to leptin resistance. Leptin is a hormone that lets your body know when you’ve eaten enough. People who are leptin resistant will never get a signal that they’re full, which causes them to eat more and more. Because most food contains extra sugar, this can lead to a vicious feedback cycle where people will consume far too much. There are some indications that this condition is a contributing factor in weight gain.
High levels of sugar can also increase the demand in your body for the production of insulin. Insulin is very important in converting food into energy that your body can use, but if the levels of insulin the body stay too high for too long, your body will lose some of its sensitivity to insulin, causing sugar to build up in the blood. Many people have insulin resistance and don’t even know it. Eventually this insulin resistance can develop into diabetes, which is much more serious. Because of the high levels of sugar in our food, the rates of diabetes have been going up in recent decades.
The liver is also involved in the metabolism of sugar, and high levels of sugar can easily begin to stress the liver’s functioning. The liver will start working harder and harder and fat will begin to accumulate in the liver itself. This is similar to the fatty liver disease alcoholics can get, and it can eventually lead to liver failure. Most of the time, people aren’t even aware that their liver is being taxed so much until it’s too late.
High levels of sugar are also connected with high blood pressure and heart disease, as well as problems in several other organs, such as the kidneys and pancreas. Excess sugar is probably among the biggest health concerns in the United States today, and most people aren’t even aware of the terrible effects it is having on them. It’s important to assess your own diet and determine if you are consuming too much sugar; and to consult with a doctor to see what you can do to reduce the risks of developing these problems or treat any problems that might have arisen. If you have any concerns about your own diet and health, be sure to contact Internal Medicine, Lipids, and Wellness Practice of Fort Myers today: (239) 362-3005, extension 200.
