Abstract/ Introduction:
It is common knowledge that sugar is bad and detrimental to one's health. However, how much does one know about sugar?
Sugar has a bittersweet reputation when it comes to health. Occurring naturally in all foods that contain carbohydrates, sugar can be found in fruits and vegetables, grains, and dairy. Consuming whole foods that contain natural sugar is not that harmful to our health. Plant foods also have high amounts of fiber, essential minerals, and antioxidants, and dairy foods contain protein and calcium. However, the problem arises when an individual consumes too much sugar.
In this research paper, we will look at the effects of sugar on one's health.
Sugar, explained:
When it comes to sugar, it can lead to many health consequences. However, what is sugar? To be clearer, what is the structure of a sugar molecule? Why could it cause harm to our health? Sugars are carbohydrates. Like all carbohydrates, they provide a source of energy in our diet.
Sugar is a term that includes all sweet carbohydrates, although the term is most often used to describe sucrose or table sugar, a ‘double sugar’, known as disaccharide. The body breaks down carbohydrates into simple sugars such as glucose, readily used in the body. Excess glucose is then converted to glycogen for storage in your body. The problem comes when it is fructose, one of the simple sugars formed from breaking down sucrose. Studies have linked fructose intake to increased risk of metabolic syndrome, obesity, and live disease.
There are several different sugars. Sugars occur naturally in some foods, such as fruit and dairy products, and are also added to a wide variety of foods. Sugar can take many different forms, including white, raw or brown sugar, honey or corn syrup.
Refined (or processed) sugar provides a quick, simple source of energy, but it doesn’t contain other nutrients such as vitamins and minerals.
Sugars are popular in the processed food industry because they add taste, colour, bulk and thickness to food products. They also prevent mould forming and act as a preservative.
History of sugar:
Evidence from plant remnants and DNA suggests that sugarcane evolved in South East Asia. Researchers are currently hunting for early evidence of sugarcane cultivation at the Kuk Swamp in Papua New Guinea, where the domestication of related crops such as taro and banana dates back to approximately 8,000BC. The crop spread around the Eastern Pacific and Indian Oceans around 3,500 years ago, carried by Austronesian and Polynesian seafarers.
The first chemically refined sugar appeared on the scene in India about 2,500 years ago. From there, the technique spread east towards China, and west towards Persia and the early Islamic worlds, eventually reaching the Mediterranean in the 13th century. Cyprus and Sicily became important centres for sugar production. Throughout the Middle Ages, it was considered a rare and expensive spice, rather than an everyday condiment.
The first place to cultivate sugarcane explicitly for large-scale refinement and trade was the Atlantic island of Madeira, during the late 15th century. Then, it was the Portuguese who realised that new and favourable conditions for sugar plantations existed in Brazil, where a slave-based plantation economy was established. When Brazilian sugarcane was introduced in the Caribbean, shortly before 1647, it led to the growth of the industry which came to feed the sugar craze of Western Europe.
This food – which nobody needed, but everyone craved – drove the formation of the modern of the world. There was a huge demand for labour to cultivate the massive sugar plantations in Brazil and the Caribbean. This need was met by a transatlantic slave trade, which resulted in around 12,570,000 human beings being shipped from Africa to the Americas between 1501 and 1867. Mortality rates could reach as high as up to 25% on each voyage, and between 1m and 2m dead must have been thrown overboard.
And of course, goods such as copper and brass, rum, cloth, tobacco and guns were needed to purchase slaves from the African elites. These were secured through the expansion of industrial production, particularly in the English Midlands and South West. Modern-day banking and insurance can trace its origins to the 18th century Atlantic economy.
Meanwhile, the slaves working the plantations suffered miserable lives. When they were finally emancipated in 1834 in the British Empire, it was the slave owners who were fully compensated – not the slaves. Much of this money was used to build Victorian infrastructure, such as railways and factories.
Advantages and disadvantages of sugar:
In the American diet, the top sources are soft drinks, fruit drinks, flavored yogurts, cereals, cookies, cakes, candy, and most processed foods. But added sugar is also present in items that you may not think of as sweetened, like soups, bread, cured meats, and ketchup.
Sugar can be a bane and a boon. It is important to weigh both the benefits and and the disadvantages of sugar.
"Excess sugar's impact on obesity and diabetes is well documented, but one area that may surprise many men is how their taste for sugar can have a serious impact on their heart health," says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Indeed, sugar can have many negative consequences to our health.
In a study published in 2014 in JAMA Internal Medicine, Dr. Hu and his colleagues found an association between a high-sugar diet and a greater risk of dying from heart disease. Over the course of the 15-year study, people who got 17% to 21% of their calories from added sugar had a 38% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared with those who consumed 8% of their calories as added sugar.
The negative effects of sugar seem overwhelming. But why have we been fed sugar since young. The reason can be dated back to the 1960s. The sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to play down the link between sugar and heart disease and promote saturated fat as the culprit instead, newly released historical documents show.
It may seem that sugar is extremely harmful to our health. However, there are indeed some positive effects of sugar.
To start off, sugar may seem like a drug to a lot of people. This is because a lot of us find sugar too addictive. However, an expert says the following. “Comparing sugar to drugs of abuse is a simplistic short-cut,” says Giuseppe Gangarossa, PhD, for PLOS. Experts know that eating sugar stimulates pathways in the brainTrusted Source that are associated with feelings of pleasure and reward. The overlapping paths may produce effects similar to substance use, but that doesn’t make them addictive like drugs, explains Ali Webster, RD, PhD, associate director of nutrition communications for the International Food Information Council Foundation.
So why do some people get such a rush when they eat sugary snacks and feel like they need a regular fix to keep from crashing? Eating the sweet stuff causes your blood sugar to spike and quickly drop, which can leave you tired and with a headache. “This often leaves people looking for more sugar to stabilize their blood sugar and help them feel better,” Goodson explains.
Not only that, sugar can be beneficial to your brain health too! “Sugar is vital for your brain health - which is the biggest guzzler of the sweet stuff in your body,” Dr Drew Ramsay wrote for Well + Good. He explains that our brains use up 400 calories of glucose every day, but that doesn’t mean scoffing two chocolate bars is going to give your brainpower a boost.
Time to make a change:
This research paper might make you want to relook at the amount of sugar in your diet. The American Heart Association recommends the following sugar limits each day: 25 grams (6 teaspoons) for women and people assigned female at birth (AFAB) and 36 grams per day (9 teaspoons) for men and people assigned male at birth (AMAB). However, many diets around the world exceed this limit, resulting in health consequences.
Simple steps can be taken to reduce sugar intake, to reduce the harm that sugar can cause. Coming in at the No. 1 way to sweeten your food and drinks is by using fresh or frozen fruit.
Unlike packaged and baked sweets, which are full of empty calories, fruits are packed with nutritional benefits like fiber, vitamin C and potassium, along with natural sugar. That makes it an ideal sweetener.
Fruits are perfect for getting your fill of vitamins, antioxidants and other good-for-you compounds. So, they’ll add some sweet taste while also benefiting your whole-body health. Win-win.
You could try sweetening oatmeal by mixing in a banana or applesauce. Add blueberries to plain Greek yogurt. Sweeten smoothies with frozen fruit. Or infuse your water with a handful of sliced strawberries or a few slices of limes.
One thing is clear: No sugar or sugar substitute is healthy in excess. Sugar is addictive. The more sugar you eat, the more you want. But cutting back — and cutting out — added sugar is possible. How can you break your habit?
Challenge yourself — your foods and beverages don’t always need to taste sweet.
Start small. You don’t have to go cold turkey to get the benefits of a less-sugared-up diet.
Decrease the sweetener in your coffee or tea by one teaspoon per week.
Drink more water and fewer sodas, lemonades and sweet teas.
Dilute juices by mixing half your usual portion with water to retain some of the sweetness.
Start a habit of reading labels. Much of the sugar in the American diet is found in processed and sweetened pre-made food and beverages. When you start looking, you’ll realize all the places added sugar is lurking, and then can look for natural alternatives.
The goal for most people shouldn’t be to get added sugar intake down to zero. That isn’t realistic. But recognizing your sugar intake is a start. And knowing where you can turn for a healthier alternative to satisfy the occasional need for sweets can help keep your body healthy. And keep your sweet tooth from taking over.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, sugar can be good and bad for your health. Sugar has a long history, and the negative effects are often overlooked by many - from past till present. There are certainly measures that should be taken to ensure that you do not exceed the sugar limit per day. This could be done through many simple steps, including drinking less sweet beverages. The choice is yours, as your health is in your own hands.
Work Cited
(Cover Image Source: )
The sweet danger of sugar, Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School, January 6, 2022, https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/the-sweet-danger-of-sugar
Sugar, Better Health Channel, Accessed on: 10 November 2023, https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/sugar
Is fructose actually bad for you? 5 truths you need to know, Brad Dieter, Nasm, Accessed on: 10 November 2023, https://blog.nasm.org/fitness/5-things-to-know-about-fructose
A history of sugar – the food nobody needs, but everyone craves, Mark Horton, University of Bristol, Philip Langton, University of Bristol, R. Alexander Bentley, University of Houston, October 30, 2015, https://theconversation.com/a-history-of-sugar-the-food-nobody-needs-but-everyone-craves-49823#:~:text=The%20first%20chemically%20refined%20sugar,important%20centres%20for%20sugar%20production.
How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat, Anahad O’Connor, The New York Times, September 12, 2016, https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/genes#:~:text=The%20A1%20form%20(allele).
8 Big Lies About Sugar We Should Unlearn, Medically reviewed by Natalie Olsen, R.D., L.D., ACSM EP-C — By Marygrace Taylor — Updated on August 19, 2020, 19 Jan, https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/sugar-facts-scientific
Genes and Addiction, https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/genes#:~:text=The%20A1%20form%20(allele)%20of,drugs%20influence%20the%20reward%20pathway.
Substitutes for Sugar: What To Try and What To Limit, healthessentials, Cleveland Clinic, Accessed on: 10 November 2023, https://health.clevelandclinic.org/best-and-worst-sugar-substitutes/
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