Does eating too much sugar affect your brain?

I have often talked about the dangers of too much added sugar in the Western World's diet, it is in everything from bread to sausages and packed into processed foods.  Unfortunately, a lot of the available data refers to the Standard American Diet (SAD for short, and it certainly is that!).  However, the rest of us in other first world countries are not far behind.





Basic Stats:

• In 1822 the average American consumed 45g of sugar every 5 days.  45g of sugar is the amount found today in one 12 ounce can of soda.  In 2012, Americans are now consuming a stagering 765g of sugar every 5 days.
• US sugar consumption has risen from 20lbs per year in 1820 to 130lbs per year in 2012.
• The average American consumes 3lbs of sugar each week or 3,550 lbs in a lifetime (that's enough to fill a dumpster).
• The American Heart Association recommends NO MORE THAN 9.5 teaspoons of sugar per day.  The average adult consumes 22 teaspoons per day and the average CHILD consumes an alarming 32 teaspoons per day.
• 1 standard 12 ounce can of Coke contains 10 teaspoons of sugar - that's more than 2 frosted pop tarts and a Twinkie combined.
• The average American drinks 53 gallons of soda per year.
• In the American diet, added sugar alone accounts for nearly 500 calories every day, that is equivalent in calories to 10 strips of bacon.
• Americans consume 10 times more sugar than any other food additives (except salt).
• Refined sugar is linked to:
• Obesity
• Nervous Tension
• Hypertension
• Aching limbs
• High blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Hypoglycemia
• Acne
• Depression
• Skin irritation
• Headaches
• Stiffening of arteries
• Fatigue
• Violent behavior
• Refined sugar has no nutritional value, otherwise known as empty calories:
• 0 vitamins
• 0 minerals
• 0 enzymes
• 0 fiber
• According to brain scans, sugar is as addictive as cocaine.

Source: www.OnlineNursingPrograms.com

Those stats are the blatant truth.  Now, we have to remember that we are talking about ADDED SUGAR.  A normal healthy diet contains naturally occurring sugars found in fruits and grains.  However, we must understand that our diet has changed considerably and we consume far more processed foods which contain large amounts of added sugar.

This is very important to understand - naturally occurring sugars are present in a healthy diet and that is necessary as our brains need sugar on a daily basis to function normally.  Our brain cells need twice as much energy as that needed by the other cells in the body, about 10% of our total daily energy requirements.  This is obtained from glucose (blood sugar), sugar is not the brain's enemy - added sugar is.

Our brains produce a chemical called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), without this chemical our brains cannot form new memories and we can't learn new things or remember others.  Research has found that a diet high in added sugar reduces the production of BDNF.  Levels of BDNF are found to be particularly low in people with impaired glucose metabolism such as pre-diabetics and diabetics, it has also been found that as the amount of BDNF decreases, sugar metabolism worsens.

So, what does all this really mean?

Well it basically means that consuming large amounts of added sugar reduces BDNF, and the decreased levels of BDNF begin to contribute to insulin resistance, which leads to type II diabetes and metabolic syndrome which, in turn, provokes a whole load of other health problems.  Once all this happens, our bodies enter into a destructive cycle that is extremely difficult to reverse.

It is also believed that consuming too much sugar provokes over eating.  Research has shown that the chronic consumption of added sugar impairs the brain's mechanism for signaling when we have eaten enough.  Reduced activity in the brain's anorexigenic oxytocin system, which is responsible for telling us when we are full to stop us from gorging.  The oxytocin cells in the brain become sluggish from too much sugar and the signal service stops working correctly which means we end up having another slice of cake or midnight binges.  The conclusion of these studies is that we are seriously damaging our brains - and the rest of our bodies by eating too much added sugar and processed foods and what is most frightening is that we are only just now seeing the effects of what sugar does to our bodies.


Social Nutrition:
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