Added Sugar: A sweet poison

 It rarely comes to our mind that overconsumption of sugars can cause some serious damage to our health as well as to our mind by increasing chances of developing depression as foods contribute to changes in our moods and emotion. Even if some people know the damaging effects of sugars and tries to consume sugar in a controlled way, many people consume a lot of sugar hidden in processed foods without even realizing. Confectionary items, juices, syrups and sodas usually contains high amounts of added sugar. Who knows that tomato ketchup contains 40% sugar or a Can of soda contains more than 10 teaspoons of sugar without looking at the food label. Most people urge to have a Can of coke after oily meals such biriyani to ease their digestion or on their way home after a long tiring day at work. What’s funny is that there was a time when me and some of my friends used to take long walk sometimes to keep ourselves healthy and then returning home with ice-creams or cokes in our hands. I am pretty sure that many people would be able to relate to this type of actions of ours. Every year people gulp down billions of litres of carbonated beverages (coke, mirinda, pepsi, & others). However, WHO recommends adults to reduce daily intake of sugar to less than 12 teaspoons. So, we should be more careful with our selection of foods to keep ourselves healthy. 

Sugary foods typically increase dopamine levels. Eating lots of sugar will cause the brain to release dopamine which make a person feel happy. Gradually you will increase the amount of sugar you consume in order to increase the amount of dopamine levels that is giving you the same satisfaction that you had in the beginning, and this compulsive consumption of sugar makes it difficult to break your habits of eating sugars. This is one of the main reasons why people tend to be hooked onto sugary foods. In this way, sugar behaves like a drug and can cause effects similar to that of a drug. However, having cokes or a piece of cake once in a while won’t hurt you.

Sugar addiction is really concerning. However, I have noticed that a lot of people don’t seem to realize that every time they ingest any food containing high amounts of sugar they are actually poisoning themselves. Having processed foods containing high amounts of added sugar regularly can increase the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes, cancer, obesity and many more diseases overtime. Consuming high amounts of sugar leads to massive production of insulin in our body by pancreas. After several years of overconsuming sugar and overproducing insulin, the pancreas begins it degenerative process diminishing the insulin levels you produce. Due to these, presence of high amount of glucose in your blood lead to type-2 diabetes and its’ complications. High consumption of sugar not only affect the body, it also affects the mind. When blood sugar level decreases, dopamine level falls producing a feeling of displeasure. This feeling can lead to abnormal behaviour that can only be counteracted by the consumption of higher and higher amounts of sugar.

We can live and survive without having foods containing too much sugar. Nowadays, sugar is in everything we eat. The multibillion-dollar food industry does not want you to give up sugar as their sales depend on you. That is why they include sugar into everything labelling those foods as low fats or free from artificial flavours. Although these statements might be true, they are simply masking sugar-loaded products with a false claim that they are healthy and good for you. To overcome this addiction, people can take a number of steps to save themselves. First of all, avoid storing different types of sugary food in your home as the variety of different foods can cause temptation and you might end up eating a lot of sugar without yourself realizing it. You can substitute the unhealthy sugary foods with fruits which contains a number of beneficial substances that our body needs. Most importantly, always check the nutrition labels on the packet of the food. We all need to control our food consumption to lead a healthy and energetic life.