Effects of Sugar
Sugar stresses the body more than anything else. It drains the body of vitamins, minerals and nutrients while being burned for energy.
Sugar can cause: cardiovascular disease; cataracts; emphysema; arteriosclerosis; free radicals in the bloodstream; loss of tissue elasticity and function; permanent alteration in the way proteins act in the body; headaches; myopia; depression; dyspepsia (indigestion); platelet adhesiveness; inappropriate behavior and decreased performance in children; pancreas damage; skin aging by changing the structure of collagen; depletion in chromium which is tied to the development and progression of nearsightedness; and hormonal imbalance.
Sugar can also increase: size of the liver by making liver cells divide; amount of liver fat; kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney; body's fluid retention; delta, alpha, and theta brain waves; risk of getting gout; levels of glucose in an oral glucose tolerance test over the ingestion of complex carbohydrates; bacterial fermentation in the colon; risk of colon cancer in women; insulin responses in humans consuming high-sugar diets compared to low-sugar diets; concentration of bile acids in stools and bacterial enzymes in the colon which can modify bile to produce cancer-causing compounds.
Sugar can lead to: formation of kidney stones; hypothalamus to become highly sensitive to a large variety of stimuli; dizziness; and biliary tract cancer.
High sugar (sucrose) diets: tend to be lower in antioxidant micronutrients; by pregnant adolescents is associated with a twofold increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational (SGA) infant; significantly increases serum insulin; increases the risk of Crohn's disease and ulcer-active colitis; substantial decrease in gestation duration among pregnant adolescents; and could be an important risk factor in lung carcinogeneis.
Effects of sugar on children
Sugar can adversely affect schoolchildren's grades; worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit disorder (ADD); and the sugar in chewing gum can cause dental caries.
Other effects of sugar
Malabsorption is frequent in patients with functional bowel disease; in fact, sugar is the number one enemy of the bowel movement.
Sugar lowers the enzymes' ability to function and slows food's travel time through the gastrointestinal tract.
Sugar can impair the structure of DNA and change the structure of protein.
Sugar can promote an elevation of low density proteins (LDL).
Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries and make tendons more brittle.
Sugar is an addictive substance that is intoxicating, similarly to alcohol.
Sugar can be a risk factor is gallbladder cancer.
Sugar can exacerbate PMS
Sugar depletes your stores of thiamine, which is needed to burn carbohydrates.
Sugar suppresses lymphocytes
A decrease in sugar can increase emotional stability
The body changes sugar into two to five times more fat in the bloodstream than it does starch and is a major contributor to Adult-onset (type 2) diabetes.
There is a risk of IHL (ischemic heart disease) in hypertensives using diuretics and ingesting dietary sugar.
Sugar has the potential of inducing abnormal metabolic process in a normal healthy individual and to promote chronic degenerative diseases.