Why Sugar Is Addictive

I grew up playing the game “Candyland”, and I dreamed of finding the golden ticket and living in Willie Wonka’s factory. I was also given a Gatorade after every sporting event I ever played in so what could be so bad about sugar? Sugar, real and artificial, can be found in almost every product we consume and although sugar is a simple carbohydrate that the body uses for energy, its impact on our body is far from simple. The consumption of sugar has been linked to a host of chronic health problems, including obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The addictive nature of sugar is also a significant problem that leads to the other detrimental effects listed above. Sugar has also been useful to help preserve goods, fuel fermentation, balance acidity, and add flavor to other foods. Whether it’s cereal, spaghetti sauce, or yogurt, sugar is everywhere and has become unavoidable in our daily diets. As Americans, we have become accustomed to the sweet addictive taste of sugar, and our dependence on excessive amounts of sugar in its different forms has become alarming to many health experts. In analyzing preference and dependency with sugar, I will trace the addictive nature and major risks sugar has placed on society.

Now let's talk about sugar. It’s in just about everything we eat. On average the american citizen consumes 19.5 teaspoons per day, that adds up 66 pounds per year, for one person! That is a clear display of our addiction to sugar as human beings. Studies have shown that through brain scans it has been found that sugar affects the brain similarly to the way certain drugs do. In an article I read called “Sugar is a ‘Drug’ and Here’s How We’re Hooked” the author explained how studies supported that sugar consumption can lead to neurochemical and behavioral transformations that resembles substance abuse. The dangers of sugar have gotten so serious that research released by the American Heart Association shows that there are about 180,000 deaths

Children’s health and wellness expert Dr. Alan Greene discusses this likeness of sugar to a drug in-depth in his Healthline.com article Is Sugar an Addictive Drug. “Evidence is mounting that too much added sugar could lead to true addiction. Added sugar is not the sugar naturally found in foods, but the amped up levels added to many processed foods. Medical addiction changes brain chemistry to cause binging, craving, withdrawal symptoms, and sensitization. Excess added sugar can do just that, through changes in the same pathways as addiction to amphetamines or alcohol. Sugar addiction could be an even harder habit to break, according to recent evidence about how added sugar affects our stress hormones.” Though the quantity and variety of food avaliable to us today is for the most part a good thing, it is having and will continue to have dire consequences for the

Food consumption that is high in sugar has been linked with obesity rates, so in order to cut obesity rates we must avoid a heavy load of sugar intake. In order to understand why sugar is “trending” as something to avoid in our diet, here are some reasons why: sugar has been found to be poor for our metabolism and harmful to our health (Flegal). It contains no essential nutrients. Sugar is also high in fructose, which can essentially overload your liver. Sugar can also cause insulin resistance. This is something strongly correlated with obesity rates, which can also be associated with diabetes. So with sugars effects to insulin resistance, it can be a contributor to type II diabetes as well as other chronic diseases. A specific note of this diabetes influence sugar has comes for an analysis done on caloric consumption and diabetes. “When people ate 150 calories more every day, the rate of diabetes went up 0.1%. But if those 150 calories came from a can of fizzy drink, the rate went up 1.1%” (Lambert) showing that added sugar is eleven times more harmful within the same calorie

Defining a sugar-addiction is not different than identifying an addiction to other substances. Addiction to substances similar to heroin, cocaine, alcohol, and cigarettes are defined by a pattern within a twelve month period. Three out of seven symptoms: increased tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, using the substance more than intended, an inability to control the use of the substance, expending effort to obtain the substance, replacing important activities with the use of the substance, and continuing to use the substance despite its negative consequences could indicate an addiction of the substance (Tufts University 4). Sugar-addiction is a complex issue, when it comes to sugar, since it is a substance that is in countless foods that are eaten.

Are you a sugarholic? Do you crave soft drinks, candy bars, ice cream, and donuts? Would you be devastated to find out you ran out of ketchup? If you're still not sure of your level of sugar addiction, take this simple true/false test as created by Dr. Nancy Appleton, author of Lick The Sugar Habit. If you answered false to more than four of these statements, chances are you are addicted to sugar the same way an alcoholic is addicted to alcohol. You crave sugar, have withdrawal symptoms when you don't get it, and probably feel better for a short time after you've eaten sugar. In eating sugar to feel better, Dr. Appleton states that a person is actually making his condition worse. In the last two centuries, sugar has become a staple of the American diet.

Upon research I learned that sugar does, in fact, play a very important part of our brains function, there are also many different factors that go into effect depending on your own body. So basically two people can eat the exact same meal with equal amounts of sugar and it can affect them completely differently. One major explanation behind our bodies processing sugar differently than others would be a diabetic and non-diabetic. According to research, our brain uses up the largest amounts of sugar because it needs large amounts of energy to function. Without sugar there would be lack of focus and inability to comprehend or focus on the daily task, on the other hand to much sugar can cause the same effects leading to a crash type state.

There are five different tastes in your tongue, salty, sweet, sour, and bitter and umami. Sugar covers four out of five of those tastes. This way you can’t taste the negative aspects of the food. “Well, fructose is a toxic substance that is also abused. By that analogy, we ought to regulate it.” Robert Lustig. Fructose has abuse potential. Evidence from an epidemic, observational, and experimental studies show an association between sugars and overweight. In the study of young adult intakes of sugar reports that the consumption of sweet beverages, especially soft drinks were found to be associated with obesity.

When I used to live in China, she would always urge me to have foods that contained less sugar. Now, I worry for my health because I would not like to be in the same situation she currently is. I tend to avoid addictive sugars as much I can, even fruits. I learned that fruits can become the number killer against my health condition. I am scared of becoming a diabetic since it runs in my family.

Sugar is not the horrifying monster that everyone thinks will hurt you. Sugar isn't as bad as everyone thinks it is, it's actually good for you in different ways. It helps you focus, sugar is not addictive, and it doesn't cause serious diseases.

Sweet tooth is a real thing, the love for sugar is in our DNA, there are 2 sweet receptor genes that makes us love sugar or sweets. We shouldn’t each much sugar but The American Heart Association (AHA) has given us recommendations on how much sugar we should consume. Woman should consume no more than 24 grams of sugar each day, which is 6 teaspoons of added sugar each day, that’s less than one can of soda! An average woman eats 18 teaspoons daily, that’s 3 times more than our average recommendations! Sugar is a sneaky little spy, it’s hidden in places you never knew had sugar. Salad dressings to crackers have added sugar, which can go way past our average sugar amount, which goes over 24 grams of sugar! AHA (The American Heart Association) says too much added sugar can lead to obesity, 2 types of diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. This can cause fat build-up leading to these problems. A fact about sugar is sugar is part fructose and glucose, which can hurt the liver or body. Glucose eats off your stomach and fructose stays in the liver which can be bad. When fructose stays in the

Topic: Sugar’s effects on our bodies INTRODUCTION Attention Getter: Did you know that sugar, in lab tests, proved to be just as, if not more, addicting than cocaine? Studies conducted by Dr. Serge Ahmed and his team at the University of Bordeaux showed that when rats were allowed to choose between water sweetened with saccharin, a calorie-free sweetener, and cocaine the large. The majority of animals preferred the sweet taste of saccharin.

When you pop open a can of Soda, or a bottle of Lemonade, or even a sports drink do you ever think of the amount of sugar you are drinking? The recommended added sugar intake per day for men is 38 grams and for women 25 grams. Sugar is known as empty calories because they have no essential nutrients in them. This means that there is literally nothing healthy about sugar. In fact Dr. Nancy Appleton came up with 146 reasons why sugar is bad for you. Some of these reasons include increase in risk for disease, depression, or addictiveness.

Attention: Are you a sugarholic? Do you eat refined sugar everyday? Can you go more than one day without eating some type of sugar containing food? Have you ever hidden candy in your home in an effort not to share them with anyone? If you have you are not alone; I am guilty of my own questions. Sugar addiction is the most prevalent, widely practiced and legally accepted addiction in our society. Through my research I have found several books written on the sugar addiction

Research by Prof. Selena Bartlet from Queensland University of Technology, shows drug used to treat nicotine addiction could be used to treat sugar addiction. Pointing that sugar addiction should be treated as drug abuse. The research stated that excess sugar consumption elevate dopamine levels in the reward and pleasure ventral cortex of the brain, in a similar way to many drug of abuse including tobacco, cocaine and morphine.