The Dangers of Sugar

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the average American consumes 156 pounds of ADDED sugar per year. That’s five grocery store shelves loaded with 30 or so one pound bags of sugar each.  If you find that hard to believe, that’s probably because sugar is so ubiquitous in our diets that most of us have no idea how much we’re consuming.  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) puts the amount at 27.5 teaspoons of sugar a day per capita, which translates to 440 calories  – nearly one quarter of a typical 2000 calorie a day diet.

Studies have focused on sugar’s role in over-eating.  We intuitively know that sugar and obesity are linked, but the exact reason why hasn’t been well understood until recently.  Research has shown that chronic consumption of added sugar dulls the brain’s mechanism for telling you to stop eating.  It does so by reducing activity in the brain’s anorexigenic oxytocin system, which is responsible for throwing up the red “full” flag that prevents you from gorging.

Moral of the story: Be careful about consuming processed foods and "diet" foods which are often loaded with sugar. Going on a sugar detox is a great idea and keep your total daily intake of sugars as far below 40g as possible. (the sugar in food is listed in nutritional info or can be looked up online.)