76 Ways Sugar Can Ruin Your Health

1. Sugar can suppress your immune system and impair your defenses against infectious disease.^1,2
   
2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in your body: causes chromium and copper deficiencies and interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium. ^3,4,5,6
   
3. Sugar can cause can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.^7,8
   
4. Sugar can produce a significant rise in total cholesterol, triglycerides and bad cholesterol and a decrease in good cholesterol.^9,10,11,12
   
5. Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function.¹³
   
6. Sugar feeds cancer cells and has been connected with the development of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, biliary tract, lung, gallbladder and stomach.^{14,15,16,17,18,19,20}
   
7. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose and can cause reactive hypoglycemia.^21,22
   
8. Sugar can weaken eyesight.²³
   
9. Sugar can cause many problems with the gastrointestinal tract including: an acidic digestive tract, indigestion, malabsorption in patients with functional bowel disease, increased risk of Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis.^{24,25,26,27,28}
   
10. Sugar can cause premature aging.²⁹
    
11. Sugar can lead to alcoholism.³⁰
    
12. Sugar can cause your saliva to become acidic, tooth decay, and periodontal disease.^31,32,33
    
13. Sugar contributes to obesity.³⁴
    
14. Sugar can cause autoimmune diseases such as: arthritis, asthma, multiple sclerosis.^35,36,37
    
15. Sugar greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections)³⁸
    
16. Sugar can cause gallstones.³⁹
    
17. Sugar can cause appendicitis.⁴⁰
    
18. Sugar can cause hemorrhoids.⁴¹
    
19. Sugar can cause varicose veins.⁴²
    
20. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraceptive users.⁴³
    
21. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.⁴⁴
    
22. Sugar can cause a decrease in your insulin sensitivity thereby causing an abnormally high insulin levels and eventually diabetes.^45,46,47
    
23. Sugar can lower your Vitamin E levels.⁴⁸
    
24. Sugar can increase your systolic blood pressure.⁴⁹
    
25. Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.⁵⁰
    
26. High sugar intake increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs)(Sugar molecules attaching to and thereby damaging proteins in the body).⁵¹
    
27. Sugar can interfere with your absorption of protein.⁵²
    
28. Sugar causes food allergies.⁵³
    
29. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.⁵⁴
    
30. Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.⁵⁵
    
31. Sugar can cause atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.^56,57
    
32. Sugar can impair the structure of your DNA.⁵⁸
    
33. Sugar can change the structure of protein and cause a permanent alteration of the way the proteins act in your body.^59,60
    
34. Sugar can make your skin age by changing the structure of collagen.⁶¹
    
35. Sugar can cause cataracts and nearsightedness.^62,63
    
36. Sugar can cause emphysema.⁶⁴
    
37. High sugar intake can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in your body.⁶⁵
    
38. Sugar lowers the ability of enzymes to function.⁶⁶
    
39. Sugar intake is higher in people with Parkinson's disease.⁶⁷
    
40. Sugar can increase the size of your liver by making your liver cells divide and it can increase the amount of liver fat.^68,69
    
41. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney such as the formation of kidney stones.^70,71
    
42. Sugar can damage your pancreas.⁷²
    
43. Sugar can increase your body's fluid retention.⁷³
    
44. Sugar is enemy #1 of your bowel movement.⁷⁴
    
45. Sugar can compromise the lining of your capillaries.⁷⁵
    
46. Sugar can make your tendons more brittle.⁷⁶
    
47. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.⁷⁷
    
48. Sugar can reduce the learning capacity, adversely affect school children's grades and cause learning disorders.^78,79
    
49. Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha, and theta brain waves which can alter your mind's ability to think clearly.⁸⁰
    
50. Sugar can cause depression.⁸¹
    
51. Sugar can increase your risk of gout.⁸²
    
52. Sugar can increase your risk of Alzheimer's disease.⁸³
    
53. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalances such as: increasing estrogen in men, exacerbating PMS, and decreasing growth hormone.^84,85,86,87
    
54. Sugar can lead to dizziness.⁸⁸
    
55. Diets high in sugar will increase free radicals and oxidative stress.⁸⁹
    
56. High sucrose diets of subjects with peripheral vascular disease significantly increases platelet adhesion.⁹⁰
    
57. High sugar consumption of pregnant adolescents can lead to substantial decrease in gestation duration and is associated with a twofold increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.^91,92
    
58. Sugar is an addictive substance.⁹³
    
59. Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.⁹⁴
    
60. Sugar given to premature babies can affect the amount of carbon dioxide they produce.⁹⁵
    
61. Decrease in sugar intake can increase emotional stability.⁹⁶
    
62. Your body changes sugar into 2 to 5 times more fat in the bloodstream than it does starch.⁹⁷
    
63. The rapid absorption of sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese subjects.⁹⁸
    
64. Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).⁹⁹
    
65. Sugar adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition.¹⁰⁰
    
66. Sugar can slow down the ability of your adrenal glands to function.¹⁰¹
    
67. Sugar has the potential of inducing abnormal metabolic processes in a normal healthy individual and to promote chronic degenerative diseases.¹⁰²
    
68. I.V.s (intravenous feedings) of sugar water can cut off oxygen to your brain.¹⁰³
    
69. Sugar increases your risk of polio.¹⁰⁴
    
70. High sugar intake can cause epileptic seizures.¹⁰⁵
    
71. Sugar causes high blood pressure in obese people.¹⁰⁶
    
72. In intensive care units: Limiting sugar saves lives.¹⁰⁷
    
73. Sugar may induce cell death.¹⁰⁸
    
74. In juvenile rehabilitation camps, when children were put on a low sugar diet, there was a 44 percent drop in antisocial behavior.¹⁰⁹
    
75. Sugar dehydrates newborns.¹¹⁰
    
76. Sugar can cause gum disease.¹¹¹
    
    
    
    
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    References
    
     By Nancy Appleton, Ph.D Author of the book Lick The Sugar Habit
    
    References cited in this article: 76 Ways Sugar Can Ruin Your Health