Sugar, their types and harm. Is sugar a sweet poison? Cane and refined sugar.
A sweet poison, white death, an invaluable source of energy, etc. – these are all different names for sugar. Sugar is one of the most popular foods. Why do we enjoy eating sweets and at the same time are so afraid of it? We will answer these questions in this article.
From early childhood, sugar is present in the human diet, but despite this, the debate about its beneficial properties has not subsided so far. In principle, when we talk about sugar from the point of view of the average person, the majority means the very sugar that each of us has at home in the sugar bowl. This is the first thing that comes to mind. But there is a broader concept of relatively sweet – these are carbohydrates. In principle, carbohydrates – this is sugar because any carbohydrate eaten ultimately in the body turns into sugar (glucose). In bread, sugar is in the form of sucrose, in fruit, in the form of fructose., and sugar, which is found in liquid dairy products, is called lactose, and this is a very important product for humans nutrition, etc. However, people often confuse the concept of sugar, glucose, fructose, etc. By the way, there was such a saying that “Sugar, although sweet, but it will not replace bread.” We primarily need carbohydrates for energy, especially the brain.
Sugar can be in various products: in flour products, fruits, vegetables, even in mushrooms, but it does not look like sucrose, but as a chain of two glucose and fructose molecules, the so-called disaccharide. Glucose monosaccharides also exist when there is only one single molecule. If you use this glucose, then it is quickly absorbed (absorbed) by the human body. Such carbohydrates are called simple. And there are complex carbohydrates that break down into its constituent parts in the human body, turn into the same glucose. But they will decay and be absorbed much more slowly than regular glucose. As a result, simple carbohydrates are absorbed very quickly, which leads to a sharp jump in blood sugar and its subsequent drop, i.e. we have fast, but very short energy. And complex carbohydrates, being gradually absorbed, give us longer energy without surges of sugar. Here the concept of the Glycemic Index of Food (Carbohydrates) appears, which shows how much a particular product increases the level of glucose in the blood. I made a separate article: “The glycemic index of products. GI table ”, I strongly advise you to familiarize yourself with it.
If your body does not receive carbohydrates for a long time (primarily glucose), then you can feel how the body will suffer from it. The feeling of hunger is that feeling that comes out of the body as a signal if our glucose level is low enough. In principle, it is normal if you look at the level of sugar in your blood, but it will be closer to the lower limit of the norm. Immediately, a signal goes to the brain that it would be time to eat, it would be time to raise the level of glucose and get energy.
First of all, the brain suffers from its lack (headache, dizziness, bad mood, irritability). And, in general, to remove these problems, you can eat a piece of sugar and get rid of these manifestations for some not very long period of time. But, since this glucose is absorbed very quickly, the effect will be short-lived, therefore, then we will want to eat even more. Then you will need complex carbohydrates that will really lead to full saturation. The brain and the body as a whole cannot function if there is no glucose at all. But the human body is so designed that we have an adequate right balance between blood sugar and the hormone (insulin) that lowers sugar. And this balance is not broken for the time being.
If a person is healthy and does not suffer from a number of pathological diseases that can lead to a violation of this balance, then the excess sugar intake and its deficiency will be compensated for the time being with a physiological balance. Still, the source of fast energy for the human body does not have to be ordinary sugar, which is on your table. The human body can take the necessary sugars from alternative, more wholesome foods: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc. Ultimately, all these are ordinary carbohydrates, which can be complex (long absorbed and often less sugar) and simple (quickly absorbed). I advise you to read a separate article:”Types of carbohydrates: simple and complex carbohydrates. ”
Even athletes during training take small sweets with them in the form of candy or sugar, briefly replenishing the energy costs during training. As an example, tennis players between games use bananas to quickly replenish energy. The norm of sugar per day is about 50 grams. It should be noted that this is not pure sugar, in most cases, these are products containing lactose, sucrose, fructose, etc. If we are talking about pure sugar, then there are two types of sugar: refined or peeled and cane or unrefined. If you compare refined(Refined) white sugar with unrefined cane sugar, cane sugar is more useful because it contains a small amount of fiber and vitamins. It is believed that the consumption rate of fruits is about 4-5 servings, which is about 3 pears and 2 bananas per day or 1 orange 3 bananas.
Sugar Harm
In fact, the main problem associated with an excess of sugar in the diet – is, of course, an increase in weight. This is his harm because sugar in its usual form represents “empty” calories (4 kcal per 1 gram), and there is nothing else in it: not the water that is in the fruit; no plant fibers or fiber that are just as good; nor the vitamins necessary for the person with whom fruits are so rich. If we start regularly exceeding the moderate amount of sugar recommended by the World Health Organization, we will inevitably come to the fact that excess sugar begins to turn into fat. This has been proven for a long time: Excess sugar is overweight. There is a separate article: “Why are we getting fat” , which describes this mechanism in more detail.
It is believed that sugar contributes to the development of diabetes. In most cases this is true, but this question cannot be unambiguously answered. Still, diabetes is a heterogeneous disease, and there are several types of this disease. If we talk about type 1 diabetes, or as they called it “young” diabetes, it has nothing to do with sugar consumption. There are more complex mechanisms that lead to the lack of their own insulin in the patient’s body. Significantly more common and reaches in our time epidemic proportions, type 2 diabetes, or diabetes “adults”, as it was called before. This diabetes is more common in obese people, but not always. Some people naturally have an intense metabolism, and when they eat a lot of sugar, they don’t have excess weight, but type 2 diabetes can develop.
The fact is that sugar in our body is stored mainly in the form of glycogen in the muscles and a little in the liver. I call them the main storage of sugar. But these stores are not rubber. We wake up every morning with vaults devastated overnight, and if we eat a lot of carbohydrates (sugar) during the day, we can quickly fill them, and the excess sugar with the help of the liver will turn insulin into fat in the body. If sugar has nowhere to go (storage is full), then it travels in the blood and our blood sugar rises, which can lead to diabetes mellitus. In most cases, type 2 diabetes is overweight and obesity, because it’s all interconnected, but there are exceptions that I wrote about above. The harm of consuming large amounts of sugar lies in the fact that when it travels in the blood, it destroys our blood vessels, as a result, cracks appear in them. And this is the first stage of the development of atherosclerosis because it is in these places that cholesterol plaques then appear.
But still, if nature is given to be slim (oh), you do not need to tempt fate and overeat with sweets, because this can actually lead to weight gain and poor health. Understand that if you constantly provoke your body, then the problems will begin. And unfortunately, statistics show this. Now people consume too much sugar in the form of products. Watch a very interesting video, after which you will be shocked. It disassembles the nutritional plan of the average child and all the foods eaten by him are transferred to regular sugar.
Endocrinologists have such a catchphrase “fats burn in the flame of carbohydrates”! If a person receives an adequate and correct amount of carbohydrates, including sugar, then the fats in the body will be processed, and will not be stored where we do not need. If sugar will be eaten a lot, then its surplus will definitely be deposited in the form of fat.
In principle, without refined sugar, a person can live his whole life, because carbohydrates are found everywhere, i.e. in all products. It is believed that the older the person, the less he should eat, including sugar, because sugar contributes (as it turned out in statistical medicine) to the development of aging. It all starts with the skin, when collagen molecules, which support the structure of the skin, are condensed. And dense molecules are the early appearance of wrinkles. So sweet tooth does not look very good. Those who eat a lot of sugar, whether men or women, they disrupt the calcium metabolism in the blood. This leads to the rapid onset of osteoporosis.with age. Therefore, you must definitely reduce the daily portion of sugar. Also, the need for sugar decreases in age, because energy consumption is less, i.e. man moves less.
As for carbohydrates, these are vital substances, because the human diet consists of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, and about 50-60% of the calories are carbohydrates. It is better to eat those sugars that are found in fruits, vegetables, etc., i.e. complex carbohydrates. When a person eats all this, he may not use white sugar (refined). By the way, dried fruit contains more sugar than fresh fruit, and this is also very important for those people who adhere to some diets, especially for people who are sick with diabetes. Therefore, it is better for a patient with diabetes to eat a fresh apple than dried fruits. These people must look at the glycemic index. carbohydrate before eating it.
I believe that it is unnecessary to teach children sweets from childhood. At least they should be limited. In addition to all the harm mentioned above, sugar also upsets the balance of the microflora of the oral cavity, which leads to the development of caries, even in children with milk teeth. A sweet habit develops that lasts a lifetime and is very difficult to get rid of. Also, you don’t need to jam stress with sweets, because this is a very bad habit. Quite often, especially women, when they worry, they seize stress with sweets (chocolate). It is a habit to have your own physiological explanation, because sweet causes hormone pleasure (endorphins), and the person immediately becomes well. Sweet almost immediately affects the mood, as an (anesthetic) analgesic effect. And the sweet receptors (for sugar) are in our language, i.e. almost at the entrance of food. However, to cheer you up, it’s better not to eat pure sugar, cakes, and chocolates, just treat yourself to other more healthy products. Even Walter said “use, but not abuse.” These are the rules of wisdom, and this saying is the best suited to sugar. In this article, we have seen this.