Eat Less Sugar

76 Ways Sugar Can Ruin Your Health

Contributed by Nancy Appleton, Ph.D
Author of the book Lick The Sugar Habit

In addition to throwing off the body's homeostasis, excess sugar may result in a number of other significant consequences. The following is a listing of some of the metabolic consequences from a variety of medical journals and other scientific publications.

It can suppress your immune system and impair your defenses against infectious disease.^1,2
It upsets the mineral relationships in your body: causes chromium and copper deficiencies and interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium. ^3,4,5,6
It can cause can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.^7,8
It can produce a significant rise in total cholesterol, triglycerides and bad cholesterol and a decrease in good cholesterol.^9,10,11,12
It causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function.¹³
It feeds cancer cells and has been connected with the development of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, biliary tract, lung, gallbladder and stomach.^{14,15,16,17,18,19,20}
It can increase fasting levels of glucose and can cause reactive hypoglycemia.^21,22
It can weaken eyesight.²³
It can cause many problems with the gastrointestinal tract including: an acidic digestive tract, indigestion, malabsorption in patients with functional bowel disease, increased risk of Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis.^{24,25,26,27,28}
It can cause premature aging.²⁹
It can lead to alcoholism.³⁰
It can cause your saliva to become acidic, tooth decay, and periodontal disease.^31,32,33
It contributes to obesity.³⁴
It can cause autoimmune diseases such as: arthritis, asthma, multiple sclerosis.^35,36,37
It greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections)³⁸
It can cause gallstones.³⁹
It can cause appendicitis.⁴⁰
It can cause hemorrhoids.⁴¹
It can cause varicose veins.⁴²
It can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraceptive users.⁴³
It can contribute to osteoporosis.⁴⁴
It can cause a decrease in your insulin sensitivity thereby causing an abnormally high insulin levels and eventually diabetes.^45,46,47
It can lower your Vitamin E levels.⁴⁸
It can increase your systolic blood pressure.⁴⁹
It can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.⁵⁰
High intake increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs)(Sugar molecules attaching to and thereby damaging proteins in the body).⁵¹
It can interfere with your absorption of protein.⁵²
It causes food allergies.⁵³
It can cause toxemia during pregnancy.⁵⁴
It can contribute to eczema in children.⁵⁵
It can cause atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.^56,57
It can impair the structure of your DNA.⁵⁸
It can change the structure of protein and cause a permanent alteration of the way the proteins act in your body.^59,60
It can make your skin age by changing the structure of collagen.⁶¹
It can cause cataracts and nearsightedness.^62,63
It can cause emphysema.⁶⁴
High intake can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in your body.⁶⁵
It lowers the ability of enzymes to function.⁶⁶
Intake is higher in people with Parkinson's disease.⁶⁷
It can increase the size of your liver by making your liver cells divide and it can increase the amount of liver fat.^68,69
It can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney such as the formation of kidney stones.^70,71
It can damage your pancreas.⁷²
It can increase your body's fluid retention.⁷³
It is enemy #1 of your bowel movement.⁷⁴
It can compromise the lining of your capillaries.⁷⁵
It can make your tendons more brittle.⁷⁶
It can cause headaches, including migraines.⁷⁷
It can reduce the learning capacity, adversely affect school children's grades and cause learning disorders.^78,79
It can cause an increase in delta, alpha, and theta brain waves which can alter your mind's ability to think clearly.⁸⁰
It can cause depression.⁸¹
It can increase your risk of gout.⁸²
It can increase your risk of Alzheimer's disease.⁸³
It can cause hormonal imbalances such as: increasing estrogen in men, exacerbating PMS, and decreasing growth hormone.^84,85,86,87
It can lead to dizziness.⁸⁸
Diets high in sugar will increase free radicals and oxidative stress.⁸⁹
High sucrose diets of subjects with peripheral vascular disease significantly increases platelet adhesion.⁹⁰
High consumption of pregnant adolescents can lead to substantial decrease in gestation duration and is associated with a twofold increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.^91,92
Sugar is an addictive substance.⁹³
It can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.⁹⁴
It given to premature babies can affect the amount of carbon dioxide they produce.⁹⁵
Decrease in it intake can increase emotional stability.⁹⁶
Your body changes sugar into 2 to 5 times more fat in the bloodstream than it does starch.⁹⁷
The rapid absorption of sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese subjects.⁹⁸
It can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).⁹⁹
It adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition.¹⁰⁰
It can slow down the ability of your adrenal glands to function.¹⁰¹
It has the potential of inducing abnormal metabolic processes in a normal healthy individual and to promote chronic degenerative diseases.¹⁰²
It increases your risk of polio.¹⁰⁴
High intake can cause epileptic seizures .¹⁰⁵
It causes high blood pressure in obese people.¹⁰⁶
In intensive care units: Limiting sugar saves lives.¹⁰⁷
It may induce cell death.¹⁰⁸
It dehydrates newborns.¹¹⁰
It can cause gum disease.¹¹¹
In juvenile rehabilitation camps, when children were put on a low sugar diet, there was a 44 percent drop in antisocial behavior.¹⁰⁹

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Ibid. 132

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Ibid. fluid retention

Ibid. bowel movement

Ibid. compromise the lining of the capillaries

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