Not so sweet

In the current age, this ubiquitousness of sugar is causing us many problems. Glycemic index (GI) measures the speed at which glucose is released into the bloodstream. Fructose (natural sugars from fruit) has a low GI number of 19, which means that the sugar journeys slowly into the body and the liver can metabolize at a good pace. However, many added sugars’ GI is around 60 which means that blood sugar levels spike, giving us that good “sugar high” feeling for energy. But as fast as they rise, they also crash rapidly, causing us to crave and eat more sugar (this would happen less with fructose because of its low GI). Due to excess sugar consumption, the liver becomes overwhelmed trying to metabolize it and if not used up, turns the sugar into fat, which leads to many chronic diseases that we know of such as Type 2 Diabetes and cancer. Not only that, due to sugar consumption, obesity rates have skyrocketed from 46% (in 1960s) to 75% (2010), bringing a boatload of other serious concerns like mental health and heart diseases. 

Excess sugar can also cause a decrease in the ability to learn. In a study by Learning and Memory, when rats were fed high sucrose-based diets, they were less able to remember spatially where distinct objects were placed. The high-sucrose diets also were correlated with a decrease in regeneration of neurons and an increase in inflammatory cytokines in the hippocampus, the memory center of the brain. The list of issues associated with sugar is endless. 

Sugar is in everything. Actually only one-sixth of the sugar we consume come from desserts and sweet things. Half comes from processed foods. Though we might not taste it directly, added sugar is found in savory foods like ketchup, frozen pizzas and chips. A recent study from the University of North Carolina found that 68% of individually packaged food contains added sugar. 

After World War II, women, who traditionally were homemakers, began to take jobs outside of the home. Fewer meals were cooked at home and many families embraced the ease and convenience of processed and packaged foods. Until recently, the world believed that fat was the culprit of obesity. To cover up for the lack of fat in their products, mega-corporations added a lot of sugar, including corn syrup and artificial sweeteners, which also was a cheaper alternative as sugar prices dropped tremendously. 

If sugar is in practically all the foods we eat, how much can we consume then? It’s not that we have to cut out sugar completely — that would probably be impossible. Sugar causes us to feel pleasure and happiness and without it our diets would be boringly bland.

The first step to cutting down sugar is to start limiting the amount of added sugars we are consuming. By definition, added sugars are sugars that are added during the processing and cooking of foods (different from natural sugars which are found in whole, unprocessed foods like fruit and vegetables). 

The World Health Organization recommends that only around 5% of our daily calorie intake comes from sugar. For someone who consumes 2,000 calories per day that would mean that only 100 calories (approximately 25 grams or 6 teaspoons) can come from free sugars. The average human’s taste buds regenerates in one to three weeks, which means that getting over an addiction to sugar can be plausible. Our brain’s incredible neuroplasticity enables us to adapt to new tastes that can change our diets to a healthier alternative. It’s the one- to three-week barrier that we have to overcome. 

To recuperate my body from the holiday festivities, I tried cutting added sugar for a week (yes I know, the last column I wrote was on crepes). The entire process was difficult as when friends offered baked goods or snacks, I could only refuse and lament at how good they looked. Checking nutrition labels on the back of products when grocery shopping only led me disappointed when added sugar became a common occurrence in products that even claimed to be “healthy.”

But all of that came with benefits. My skin cleared up and I felt better, particularly a lot less stuck. I did get sick, however, but I would blame that on the chilly weather and the start of school. Give the no-added-sugar diet a try. 

Erika Pilpre is a junior at Aragon High School in San Mateo. Student News appears in the weekend edition. You can email Student News at news@smdailyjournal.com.