SUGAR: A BITTER SWEET TRAGEDY

Just the other day, on my way home from school. I had to take a bus heading to the direction of my house. When I got to the bus park, I hung around a little provision store, while waiting for the bus to get filled. Then and there, I witnessed what got me staring with wide eye disbelief.

As I hung around the provision store, there came a boy to purchase a bottle of sprite. After he got the sprite, he quickly reached into his backpack, searching for something. He brought out a small wrapped nylon bag, and got out some sugar cubes. He forced about six of the cubes into the bottle of sprite. He waited for it to dissolve, shook it an started chugging it, while he walked away leaving me stunned right were I stood.

This begs the question, do people go about doing such crazy things, with sugar, disregarding the effects it has on their health in the long run?

Various research carried out has shown that regular consumption of sugared beverages is associated with a greater prevalence of fatty liver disease, even after adjusting for body mass index, according to a large observational study.

Specifically, adults who drank more than one sugar-sweetened drink per day were 55% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03 - 2.35) more likely than non-consumers to have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in an analysis of data from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study's Offspring and Third Generation cohorts. Jiantao Ma, PhD, from the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues report the study findings in an article published online June 5, 2015, in the Journal of Hepatology (Source).

Other studies show that sugar harms the body in more ways than the following:

• Sugar causes blood glucose to spike and plummet, making you feel better temporarily but resulting in more cravings and hunger later due to its effects on hormones. This can lead into increase calorie intake.
• Because it causes high dopamine release in the brain, it can be high addictive for a lot of people, just like drugs. Of course, I should know well, I was down that hole.
• Having too much glucose in the blood is very harmful as it may cause insulin resistance. This is one of the leading drive for many diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
• It is a leading contributor to obesity in both children and adults. As people get addicted, they lose control over their consumption.

Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975. In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 650 million were obese. 39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2016, and 13% were obese. 41 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2016. Over 340 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 were overweight or obese in 2016 (WHO).

• High consumption of sugar may result in excess fructose processed into fat, and getting lodged in the liver (fatty liver). This in turn can cause fatty liver disease.
• Sugar contains no essential nutrients and is bad for the teeth, as it cause the teeth to decay, as well as gum disease.
• Another side effect of high sugar consumption, is that it can accelerate aging. Sugar attaches to proteins in the bloodstream, and creates harmful molecules called Advanced Glycation End Product (AGEs), which have been shown to damage collagen and elastin in the skin, causing wrinkles and saggy skin.

In conclusion, all these are avoidable, obesity is preventable. There are numerous natural substitute for sugar, like raw honey, stevia, coconut sugar, maple syrup, banana puree, various fruits, among others. It is advisable to eat right, Health is Wealth.

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