Is Sugar Really Addictive? Unveiling the Truth
The consumption of sugar stimulates the same brain regions as cocaine. Can individuals develop an addiction to sugar, and does sugar contribute to adverse health effects?
Cake, orange juice, tomato ketchup: what do these foods have in common? They contain sugar. And not a little of it. Common table sugar (sucrose) is a carbohydrate and consists of fructose and glucose. The WHO recommends no more than 50 grams of sugar per day for an adult - that's around 17 sugar cubes.
But it is difficult for people to live without sugar. Glucose is essential for our brain. But you don't necessarily need table sugar for this. The body is able to break down glucose from polysaccharides. Multiple sugars are found in starchy foods such as potatoes, rice and pasta.
Does sugar make you sick?
Overconsumption of sugar has subtle and fatal effects on our bodies. The first symptoms are headache, nausea or diarrhea. There are also cosmetic problems such as skin blemishes and faster skin aging. In the long term, diabetes develops. An increased blood sugar level damages the blood vessels.
It also promotes a rapid gain in weight. Excessive sugar consumption increases triglyceride levels. The risk of stroke and heart attack increases. The liver values can look like those of an alcoholic person, you get a fatty liver. This subsequently develops into liver cirrhosis and then cancer.
If only it didn't taste so good...
Even as a child, we learned to associate the sweet taste with something positive: the slightly sweet breast milk, the chocolate cake at every birthday party or the delicious ice cream as a reward for good grades. There is almost no adult who doesn't like sweets. And there's nothing wrong with that. The excess is the problem.
The next time you go shopping at the supermarket, turn everything you put in your shopping cart over and read the nutritional information. You'll be amazed at how much sugar you find in products you wouldn't expect. The so-called hidden sugar is found in most finished products, including savory foods. Sugar is often listed on nutritional tables below the carbohydrates with “of which sugar”.
The fructose content in fruit should not be underestimated. Unfortunately, this also counts when it comes to sugar consumption. However, sugary drinks are particularly problematic. Because these are far too underestimated. A can (330ml) of Coca-Cola contains around 11.5 sugar cubes.
Fruit juices are also real sugar bombs. Because for 1 liter of orange juice you need around 10 oranges. The juice is quickly drunk. But you would never eat so many fruits individually during this time. This means that the body receives much more sugar in one go through the juice than would actually be possible through normal food.
Sugar as a drug
Sugar activates the reward system in our brain. If you eat a piece of chocolate, the happiness hormone dopamine is released - just like with cocaine or sex. These endogenous substances awaken in us the desire to evoke the feeling of happiness again. This may be the reason why we like to reach into the sweets drawer when we're frustrated or stressed. If you avoid sugar or carbohydrate-containing foods, this quickly becomes irritable.
There is still no conclusive study proving that sugar is addictive. However, researchers found in an animal experiment with rats that the animals developed a strong craving for sugar water. If they were deprived of sugar water, they experienced withdrawal-like symptoms. It was also noticed that the rats needed more and more sugar to produce dopamine.
A low-sugar diet prevents life-threatening diseases and should therefore be clearly focused on. Of course, there is no need for a strict ban on sugar. If we pay more attention to hidden sugars in foods in the supermarket and reduce sugary drinks to a minimum (or at best eliminate them), we are really doing something good for our bodies.
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