Sugar may be as dangerous to your brain as any drug. In fact, many Americans use it as a drug. Sugar high, sugar blues, sugar fix…these are all part of our vocabulary for a reason.
Sure, it’s fat free! We know many dieters who consider sugar okay because it’s fat free. But make no mistake, it causes cellular damage throughout your body and in particular to your brain.
When you have an elevated blood-sugar level, you elevate your insulin level. You also elevate your stress hormones, which follows right behind your blood sugar. These are all capable of causing inflammatory responders to go into high gear in the body. This can damage the mitochondria of the cells, which are our main cellular energy-producers.
When the mitochondria are damaged by constant elevation of blood sugar, especially if you are overweight, this may cause a pre-diabetic or diabetic condition. When the mitochondria are damaged, the nerve cell deteriorates and dies. This is why sugar addicts experience fatigue.
If you ask baby boomers or seniors what the two most common complaints are, they say fatigue and pain. An elevated blood sugar level contributes to both. It prematurely ages the cells.
Daily drinkers of alcohol are particularly prone to brain damage as they age. Since alcohol is processed as sugar by the cells, and sugar metabolism produces free radicals through the oxidation process, and those free radicals damage brain cells, you can expect to see deficits in memory in any adult who consumes alcohol daily.
It is well-documented by scientists that a low calorie diet extends the life span. This is due to the fact that the fewer calories to burn, the less cellular damage. This applies not only to those people who are obese, but to the average person who may have only 10-20 pounds of excess weight. Eat less for better brain health. Cutting out sugar means cutting out empty calories.
Any simple or refined carbohydrate can cause problems. This means in addition to sugar, (which is found in many ingredients of packaged and processed foods, not just desserts), white flour pastries, breads, and pastas.
Artificial sweeteners are not the solution. They can cause headaches, migraines and attention difficulties.
It may be asking a lot when it comes to suggesting that people lower their intake of sugar. But the quantities of sugar consumed by the average American has increased in recent decades. The food industry may be as guilty as the tobacco companies for promoting use of a substance known to be addictive and damaging to health.
At Mind-FX Science, we believe it is not too much to ask people to take their health responsibly and do what needs to be done to protect brain and body wisely. Even if that means reducing sugar intake. Your brain depends on you.