“Sugar and fat don’t occur together in nature. Food scientists combine them in processed foods, which override our systems and make us crave more.”-Shawn Wells
Do your mouth water when you see candy or crunchy sweet food? It is fact that every body can not resist the intake. These kind of food contains extra amount of sugar in comparison to drinks. In fact sugar is class of molecules called carbohydrates. You are not sometimes serious to check the labels that contain glucose, sucrose, fructose, maltose, lactose, dextrose or starch. The food containing these type of labels have high contents of sugar. Sugar is not only added to drinks but also to tomato sauce, yogurt or even dried fruits.
Different Food Tastes
When you are not able to control and it hits to your tongue, it gives signal to the brain stem. This in turn extended to cerebral cortex which is also have different other tastes. From here signals activate the brain reward system. This reward system is series of electrical and chemical pathways. When you have a good taste, you feel delighted. The drug, socialising and sexual behaviour give pleasant experience. These are activating our reward system in brain. Over activation of this reward system gives kicks to unfortunate events just like loss of control, craving and increased tolerance to sugar.
Intestine does not have taste signals but they give signal to brain to produce more insulin to compensate extra sugar intake you have taken. Sugar causes dopamine to be released just like other food like drugs or alcohol. When there is continuous intake of sugar, dopamine release drops. We therefore need to eat different types of food. Too much or too often same type of food will give boring effects to dopamine release. Over consumption of sugar can have an addictive effects on the brain. But once in a while the taste is fine for the brain.
Negative Effects Of Sugar
Excessive sugar consumption is reflected not only to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, fatty liver, cancer but it has proved to be detrimental negative effects on the brain, producing inflammation or reactions of an emotional nature such as infant hyperactivity, tiredness, insomnia, anxiety, dementia and depression.
A study published in Scientific Reports, which included 264,000 adults over the age of 50, with a 10-year follow-up, showed that people who drank more than four cans of sugary drinks per day were at greater risk of suffering from depression. reaching figures of almost 30% compared to those who did not consume it.
Another problem that people who consume too much sugar can suffer from, according to scientific studies, is poor memory. This is because when there are high levels of glucose in the blood, the brain will try to metabolize it by producing damage to the hippocampus.
The hippocampus is the area of the central nervous system where ideas and memories are formed, organized, and recorded. Thus, the more sugar is supplied to the brain, the more it becomes saturated. Over time, this could drift into neurological degradation, leading to impairments in memory and reasoning skills.
As science shows, there is a strong relationship between habitual sugar ingestion and the later risk of developing mental illness. This is because this substance can cause a neurotoxic effect in the brain.
Therefore, eliminate or minimize table sugar, ultra-processed foods, breakfast cereals, sauces, and sugary drinks.
Some Of The Measures To Curb The Sugar Level
Daily exercise and more water intakes are good remedies to reduce the bad effects of sugar. Always select food with low sugar content foods like yogurt, wheat pasta, bulgur, legumes etc. Take plenty of food containing fibres. Eat foods rich in chromium and magnesium. And of course proper sleep can not be listed out for maintenance of adequate sugar level in the body for effective function of brain.
Take Away
1. Take 80% of your sugar intake just like your food.
2. Some of the dieticians recommend cinnamon to help reduce fasting blood sugar levels and may help improve insulin sensitivity.
