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Home › Health › Nutrition › Diet › Harmful Effects of Sugar

Harmful Effects of Sugar

Compiled by Pam Duff, RN, CSNC





This list was compiled from a variety of medical journals and other scientific publications.

Sugar:

  1. suppresses the immune system
  2. reduces the body’s defence against bacterial infections
  3. upsets the mineral balance in the body
  4. causes hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children as well as adults
  5. worsens ADHD symptoms in children
  6. significantly increases triglyceride levels
  7. causes premature aging
  8. causes a loss of skin tissue elasticity and function
  9. reduces high density lipoproteins (good cholesterol)
  10. leads to chromium deficiency
  11. causes copper deficiency
  12. contributes to cancers of the breast, ovaries, prostrate, and rectum
  13. can increase fasting glucose levels
  14. interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium
  15. weakens the eyesight
  16. contributes to myopia (nearsightedness)
  17. contributes to cataracts
  18. raises the level of a neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine
  19. contributes to hypoglycemia
  20. produces an acidic digestive tract (which harmful bacteria love)
  21. causes a rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children
  22. contributes to malabsorption problems in those with functional bowel disease
  23. can lead to alcoholism
  24. can cause tooth decay
  25. contributes to obesity
  26. contributes to Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
  27. increases negative changes in those with gastric or duodenal ulcers
  28. can cause arthritis
  29. can cause asthma
  30. contributes to the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections)
  31. can cause gallstones
  32. can cause heart disease
  33. can cause appendicitis
  34. can cause multiple sclerosis
  35. can cause hemorrhoids
  36. can cause varicose veins
  37. can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraceptive users
  38. can lead to periodontal disease
  39. can contribute to osteoporosis
  40. lessens the function of digestive enzymes
  41. causes a decrease in insulin sensitivity
  42. lowers the amount of Vitamin E in the blood
  43. decreases growth hormone
  44. increases cholesterol
  45. increases systolic blood pressure
  46. causes drowsiness and decreased activity in children as well as adults
  47. increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs)(sugar bound non-enzymatically to protein)
  48. interferes with the absorption of protein
  49. causes food allergies
  50. contributes to diabetes
  51. causes toxemia during pregnancy
  52. contributes to eczema
  53. can cause cardiovascular disease
  54. can impair the structure of DNA
  55. can change the structure of protein
  56. causes a permanent altering of the way the proteins act in the body
  57. causes premature skin aging by changing the structure of collagen
  58. can cause emphysema
  59. can cause atherosclerosis
  60. can promote an elevation of low density lipoproteins (LDL – bad cholesterol)
  61. can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in the body
  62. intake is higher in people with Parkinson’s disease
  63. can increase the size of the liver by making the liver cells divide
  64. can increase the amount of liver fat
  65. can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney
  66. can damage the pancreas
  67. can increase fluid retention in the body
  68. contributes to constipation
  69. compromises the lining of the capillaries
  70. makes tendons more brittle
  71. causes headaches, including migraines
  72. plays a role in pancreatic cancer in women
  73. adversely affects school children’s grades, causing learning disorders
  74. causes an increase in delta, alpha, and theta brain waves
  75. causes depression
  76. increases the risk of gastric cancer
  77. cause dyspepsia (indigestion)
  78. increases the risk of gout
  79. can increase the levels of glucose in an oral glucose tolerance test over the ingestion of complex carbohydrates
  80. increases the insulin responses in humans consuming high-sugar diets compared to low sugar diets
  81. reduces learning capacity
  82. causes less effective functioning of two blood proteins, albumin and lipoproteins, which may reduce the body’s ability to handle fat and cholesterol
  83. contributes to Alzheimer’s disease
  84. causes platelet adhesiveness
  85. causes hormonal imbalance; some hormones becoming underactive and others becoming overactive
  86. leads to the formation of kidney stones
  87. contributes to the hypothalamus becoming highly sensitive to a large variety of stimuli
  88. can cause dizziness
  89. can cause free radicals and oxidative stress, which ultimately leads to disease
  90. contributes significantly to platelet adhesion leading to vascular diseases
  91. can lead to biliary tract cancer
  92. feeds cancer cells
  93. consumption is associated with a twofold increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant
  94. can lead to substantial decrease in gestation duration among adolescents
  95. slows food’s travel time through the gastrointestinal tract
  96. increases the concentration of bile acids in stools and bacterial enzymes in the colon
  97. increases estradiol (the most potent form of naturally occurring estrogen) in men
  98. combines and destroys phosphatase, an enzyme, which makes the process of digestion more difficult
  99. can be a risk factor of gallbladder cancer
  100. acts like drugs, affecting the same part of the brain
  101. can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol
  102. can exacerbate PMS
  103. affects the amount of carbon dioxide produced by premature babies
  104. reduction increases emotional stability (In juvenile rehabilitation camps, when children were put on a low sugar diet, there was a 44% drop in antisocial behavior)
  105. changes to fat in the body, producing two to five times more fat in the bloodstream than starch
  106. is rapidly absorbed, promoting excessive food intake leading to obesity
  107. adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition
  108. slows down the ability of the adrenal glands to function
  109. induces abnormal metabolic processes in a normal healthy individual, thus promoting the development of chronic degenerative diseases
  110. sugar-water in IV solutions can cut off oxygen to the brain
  111. is an important risk factor in lung cancer
  112. increases the risk of polio
  113. can cause epileptic seizures
  114. causes high blood pressure in obese people
  115. limiting sugar in Intensive Care Units has proven to save lives
  116. contributes to cell death in the body
  117. impairs the physiological homeostasis of many systems in living organisms
  118. contributes to gastric cancer
  119. dehydrates newborns
  120. causes gum disease

*Note: Are you aware of the effect of drugs — prescription and over-the-counter — on your body’s nutrients? Check here.

This page was updated in September 2010.




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