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Sugar's Surprisingly
Large Number of Deadly Effects
Escape The Worst Source of the
Seasonal Blues
and Improve Your Health All Year
by Making Better Choices
Even though we think of the end-of-the-year holidays as the worst time for being exposed to sugar, we get plenty of opportunity to partake all year long.
And that's a shame because there is abundant evidence that sugar intake is not only harmful to health, it's downright deadly. Here's what I mean:
Sugar Speeds Up the Aging Process
Sugar speeds the Aging Process. Rats who stop getting fed sugar live twice as long at those who continue eating it.
Sugar Boosts Blood Pressure
This means it contributes to a greater likelihood of stroke or heart attack.
Sugar Smacks Down the Digestive System
Consuming excessive amounts of refined sugar aggravates Crohn’s Disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). 80% of Crohn’s Disease patients adopting a sugar-free diet show improvement.
Eating too much sugar increases the risk of gallstones.
Sugar directly irritates the stomach and impairs protein digestion. In turn, this prevents the body from healing as quickly because proteins are the building blocks of cellular repair.
Sugar Plugs Up the Urinary Tract
Eating sugar increases the likelihood of Kidney Stones.
Eating Sugar Squelches the Immune System
Sugar reduces the body’s production of antibodies, the body's front-line solders that identify and neutralize foreign invaders.
Excessive consumption of sugar interferes with the function of neutrophils, the most abundant type of white blood cells and a crucial part of a healthy immune system.
Excessive consumption of sugar interferes with the function of phagocytes (literally "big eaters") that circulate through the body gobbling up toxic and dangerous materials.
Sugar Reduces the Body's Ability to Fight Off Cancer
Sugar increases the risk of breast cancer by defeating the ability of the body to fight abnormally multiplying cells.
Sugar increases the risk of colon cancer - just one teaspoon of additional sugar per day increases colon cancer risk by 40% and an additional three teaspoons or more increases the risk of colon cancer by 100%.
Eating Sugar Interferes with Crucial Metabolic Processes
Increased blood sugar levels raise the insulin production, contributing to insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes.
Sugar can initiate cross-linking of proteins and sugars, forming a sticky, caramel-like substance in the tissues (AGEs) that block healthy metabolism and lead to pain and other health problems.
Sugar ramps up production of free radicals within the body, which have multiple negative effects on health, including increasing inflammation, aggravating heart disease and multiplying the likelihood of strokes.
Excessive consumption of sugar can cause insulin resistance, a hallmark of metabolic syndrome and a precursor to diabetes.
Excessive consumption of sugar exacerbates obesity by increasing the formation of body fat. In a diet too low in fat, it substitutes for dietary fats in energy production. Ironically, this leads to the accumulation of fat around the internal organs, which interferes with their natural functioning.
Sugar increases circulating triglycerides in the blood. Recent research implicates elevated triglycerides as aggravating a wide variety of chronic and ultimately deadly diseases such as heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and pancreatitis.
Sugar Ruins Oral Health
Sugar causes tooth decay by converting the bad bacteria that naturally exist on the teeth into cavity causing lactic acid. This creates plaque, which is a fundamental part of creating tooth decay.
Eating Sugar Ages Skin
Excessive sugar intake accelerates the development of wrinkles because of the cross-linking of sugar and protein. The result has the apt acronym, AGE.
Other Effects of Sugar Intake
Sugar increases the production of cholesterol in the body. Since 80% of the cholesterol we have is made inside the body, this is a major contributing factor.
Sugar increases the production of cortisol, aka the 'stress hormone.' Chronically elevated cortisol has a long list of negative effects including weight gain, elevated blood pressure, sleeplessness, impaired learning and memory, and lowered immunity.
Wow, that's quite a list!
Given what you now know about the effects of sugar in your body, I hope you'll be more careful through the holiday season and through the entire upcoming year. You'll be trading 5 minutes of "happy mouth" for a lifetime of happier, healthier living.
Reference: Hyperhealth Pro Science Based Encyclopedia of Nutrition and Natural Health
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