HEALTH: There’s nothing sweet about what sugar does to your body

How sweet it isn’t.

More and more studies are slamming sugar, particularly the additives in soft drinks and processed foods, as research continues to reveal how the sweetener can harm the human body in excess.

1.

Fatty liver. Your intestines break sugar down into two parts: glucose, or blood sugar, which is metabolized by cells for fuel; and fructose, which is metabolized mostly by the liver. Eat too much fructose, and the overloaded liver turns it into fat, causing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease associated with obesity and diabetes.

 

2. Weight gain. Added sugars don’t contain essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals or fats. So they don’t leave you feeling full, which means you crave even more of these “empty calories.” And unless the empty calories are burned through exercise, they get stored as fat and extra pounds — especially around the belly.

 

3. Type 2 Diabetes . Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, lets glucose enter cells. Too much blood sugar can be toxic, so insulin levels spike to handle it. But sugar consumed in large amounts has been linked with insulin resistance, when the body builds up a tolerance to the hormone and it stops working. This leads to type 2 diabetes, as the pancreas can’t produce enough working insulin to keep your blood sugar down.

4. Heart Disease. Too much of this fructose also lowers your good cholesterol, but boosts the bad cholesterol, which produces triglycerides (fats) that travel to the arteries and raise your risk of heart attack and stroke.

5. Brain and Mood Disorders. Eating something sweet spikes blood sugar — bringing that sugar rush — but the ensuing crash can come with mood swings, brain fog and fatigue . Research shows that Americans who eat processed food, often high in sugar, are at greater risk of depression. And diets high in fructose slowed down the brains of rats in a 2012 study, which impaired memory and learning skills.

6. Cancer. Insulin is one of the hormones implicated in the multiplication of cancer cells, so spikes in insulin from sugar consumption can spur cancer growth. Sugar has also been specifically linked to breast and colon cancer.

7. Tooth decay . Sugar itself doesn’t rot your teeth — but it feeds into cavities. The bad bacteria in your mouth thrive on fermentable carbohydrates such as sugar and starch. This causes plaque buildup and tooth decay.

8. Addiction. Recent studies show sugar is more addictive than cocaine. That’s because sweets cause dopamine, the feel-good neurotransmitter, to surge in the reward center of your brain. The more sugar you eat, the more desensitized the reward center becomes to it, leading you to need more treats to hit that sugar high.