The average American eats 156 pounds of added sugar each year. Sugar is delicious and once we have it, our body constantly wants more. Added sugar has become an American epidemic. “Eighty percent, or 480,000 of the 600,000 food products sold within the U.S. have added sugar, which, according to researchers and medical doctors, is why we have the world 's highest obesity rate is at 31 percent,” (Fed Up). The addictive quality of added sugar makes our brains want more of it constantly; however, our bodies are being negatively affected by its consumption in many ways. Added sugar comes from sugar beets and sugar cane and can be broken down into two parts: glucose and fructose. Glucose seeps through the walls of your small intestine causing …show more content…
Kris Gunnars of Authority Nutrition explains that “there are no proteins, essential fats, vitamins, or minerals in sugar…just pure energy.” This is why people call them “empty calories.” Added sugars can also cause tooth decay. Kris Gunnars says “it provides easily digestible energy for the bad bacteria in the mouth.” Our teeth begin to break down, rot, lose strength, and turn yellow. According the American Dental Association, when the normal bacteria inside your mouth come into contact with sugar, it produces acid that destroys enamel and results in tooth decay. People always hear dentists nagging them to limit their consumption of soda, cookies, donuts, and other sugar-filled snacks, but they really are of over exaggerating, added sugars really do have a history of causing tooth decay. Added sugars are also known to cause vitamin and mineral depletion. Added sugars use up our body’s stored B vitamins, calcium, and magnesium for digestion, while natural sugars are present in food that already contain these needed nutrients. By consuming these added sugars, these vitamins deplete and our nervous system suffers. According to Ann Marina of Livestrong, vitamin and mineral depletion may cause “… fatigue, depression, anxiety and lack of energy. Lack of calcium and magnesium may contribute to arthritis and osteoporosis.” Since added sugars are addictive, it may be hard to avoid tooth decay and vitamin and mineral depletion …show more content…
Up to 40 percent of normal weight people have the same metabolic dysfunction as those who are obese. So, 51 percent of the U.S. population is sick with metabolic dysfunction,” (Fed Up). Obesity has become an epidemic in America over the past thirty years. This is largely due to over consumption of foods with added sugars. Sugary foods contain a large amount of calories in a small amount of food. People overload on calories before we even feel full. Ann Marina of Livestrong explains, “Refined sugar is composed of simple carbohydrates, which are converted into glucose for energy. Any unused glucose is stored as fat cells in your body.” Added sugar has an addictive quality, making it easy to eat a lot at once. Income also has a lot to do with sugar intake and obesity. With the recession and many people experiencing money troubles, people often settle for the cheapest foods to feed their families. The cheapest foods happen to be fast foods and foods containing added sugars. The obesity epidemic is a sad truth in America today, but people are becoming more conscious of what they are putting into their bodies when they gain knowledge about the effects of sugar. With the consumption of added sugars, our bodies develop insulin resistance, which is the leading cause of metabolic syndrome, obesity, cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes. Dr. David Reuben, author of "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Nutrition",
Jon Gabriel explains how sugar has become an addictive drug like nicotine, the only difference is that its legal. Once we become hooked on it we become habituated to its effects and need more and more to satisfy ourselves. As a result of the increase in marketing and the on going dependence on sugary foods and beverages, children are taking in more and more sugar and obtaining less and less nutrients. According to Gentry Lasater,
However, the outcome was different from his desired result due to strong protest from the dairy and livestock industry, so the Congress instead urged people to buy lean meat and less fat food so the dairy and livestock industry do not go out of business. This created the fat-free boom in the market in the 1980s. However, food companies began to put more sugar in their products because the taste was bad when they reduced fat in the food. Now, the sugar intake of Americans has doubled compared with before. In the American market, there are approximately 600,000 different food products, and 80% of those include sugar. Although sugar is written in various forms and names, one suggests that it’s bad in any form, especially if taken too much. Sugar consumed naturally through fiber-rich fruit or vegetable should be fine, but the added sweeteners stimulate the hormones that increase insulin. High insulin prevents people from thinking they are full, and thus crave more food. This causes many diseases. Of course one meal high in sugar will not kill them, but the problem is that people generally exceed daily sugar intake in one meal alone when consuming process food. We eat more processed and convenient food instead of fruits, vegetables, and
We need our chompers to help us break the food that enters our mouths on a daily basis. And since our mouth is the first stop in the digestive void, our teeth play a very important role. Many times sugar will interfere and cause problems for the antagonist (still talking about our teeth). Sugar spreads bacteria, which is accompanied by acids that eat away tooth enamel (one of four major tissues that make up teeth). This can eventually cause gum disease and tooth decay. Tooth decay is the process in which teeth begin to decompose, do to bacteria and other fungi. Crackers, sugary cereals, caramels and soda pop's are some of the main components of tooth decay. Even breast milk has some sugars that can effect the baby's gums if they are fed for long periods of time. This is where fluoride steps in. Fluoride enhances tooth mineralization and inhabits the metabolism of the acid-producing bacteria that cause tooth decay. Fluoride is even being researched currently, for the potential treatment for osteoporosis (a fragile bone
In the documentary “Fed Up,” sugar is responsible for Americas rising obesity rate, which is happening even with the great stress that is set on exercise and portion control for those who are overweight. Fed Up is a film directed by Stephanie Soechtig, with Executive Producers Katie Couric and Laurie David. The filmmaker’s intent is mainly to inform people of the dangers of too much sugar, but it also talks about the fat’s in our diets and the food corporation shadiness. The filmmaker wants to educate the country on the effects of a poor diet and to open eyes to the obesity catastrophe in the United States. The main debate used is that sugar is the direct matter of obesity. Overall, I don’t believe the filmmaker’s debate was successful.
Because the modern diet is centered around sugar, people are drawn to eat unhealthily. Most food we eat that is advertised
Sugar is considered a toxic poison. Sugar leaches the calcium out of the skeletal frame of a human’s body. Sugar literally sucks the calcium straight from our bones; therefore it is known to many as a “skeletal poisonous powder.” There are thousands of individuals struggling throughout the United States with sugar addiction. Sugar is a leading cause of a number of health-related issues. Sugar causes health issues such as, fibromyalgia, diabetes, obesity, and osteoporosis. Like me, many individuals have no clue that they are addicted to sugar. Up until this single subject design, I thought my eating habits were quite normal. I honestly did not realize how much sugar I was taking in everyday. This single subject design has truly encouraged me to live a healthier lifestyle. The purpose of this study is to indirectly determine my sugar intake, by counting calories daily and reducing my caloric intake.
Sugar substitutes typically fly under your body’s leptin radar which is the hormone that suppresses appetite. Without leptin being triggered you will consume more of whatever it is your drinking or eating that has the sugar substitute.
For years doctors have been saying that refined sugars are empty calories and consist of absolutely no vitamins or minerals that people need to survive. Dentists warn that sugary foods encourage tooth decay. Many people avoid sweet food because it can lead to obesity, heart problems, diabetes and cancer. These negative responses by people’s bodies are actually warnings. Maybe people eat sugar for other reasons than the sweet taste. The human body's negative responses to sugar may be a similar purpose to the reason kids feel pain when they are playing too roughly. People’s consumption of sweet foods might also serve as a sign of defiance against their bodies’ health limitations. What many people do not realize is that their tasty treats can affect their mind and emotions.
What are natural and processed sugars? Natural sugars are found in fruit known as fructose and in dairy products, such as milk and cheese, as lactose. Natural sugar is packaged with fiber, water, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and disease-fighting phytonutrients and other nutrients that improve your health. Artificial sugar comes from sugarcane or sugar beets. Both of these
More than 71 percent of American adults get more than the recommended 5 to 8 percent of their total daily calories from sugar (this translates to 8 to 10 teaspoons of sugar a day). In the typical American diet, however, 15 percent of our daily calories come from sugar and other carbohydrates. Higher levels of sugar consumption are correlated with a higher risk of death due to cardiovascular diseases. Each American consumes 156 pounds of sugar each year. This is equivalent to 31 five-pound bags for each of us. Out of this amount of sugar, only 29 pounds come as traditional sugar and the rest comes from processed foods.
When a person gains weight, they think the main cause is the fat that is included in the food they eat. They are terribly mistaken. According to the video Hungry for Change, they say, “ In the 1900’s, an average person only consumed about 15g of sugar a day. But in the present, modern adults consumes 70-80g of sugar a day, and teens consumes about 120-150g”. Sugar is not only a unhealthy diet and obesity, but it is the main cause of overweight. Sugar does not contain fat, but when people eat more calories than they burn, the remaining calories stays as fat. By being overweight, it can impact a person’s entire quality of life. In the physical health, the right kind of food gives you the strength and energy to make it through in your everyday lifestyle. In other words, by eating the wrong kind of foods, you won't get the energy you need in your life. In the mental/emotional health, a little stress is good for your body because it gives ...
The first step is to understand the effects of sugary drinks on the human body. Daines states that, “Many factors contribute to obesity, but there’s one pernicious one: added sugar” (632). Consumption of sugary drinks alone has held an increasing placement in our daily eating routine. As stated in A Tax That Invests in Our Health, “We consume about 300 calories more a day than we did 30 years ago, and most of those calories come from sugar-sweetened sodas, energy drinks or fruit-flavored drinks” (632).
We are all familiar with sugar. It is sweet, delicious, and addictive; yet only a few of us know that it is deadly. When it comes to sugar, it seems like most people are in the mind frame knowing that it could be bad for our health, but only a few are really taking the moderate amounts. In fact, as a whole population, each and everyone of us are still eating about 500 extra calories per day from sugar. Yes, that seems like an exaggerated number judging from the tiny sweet crystals we sprinkle on our coffee, but it is not. Sugar is not only present in the form of sweets and flavourings, it is hidden in all the processed foods we eat. We have heard about the dangers of eating too much fat or salt, but we know very little about the harmful effects of consuming too much sugar. There still isn’t any warnings about sugar on our food labels, nor has there been any broadcasts on the serious damages it could do to our health. It has come to my concern during my research that few
Certain nutrients such as calcium, iron, vitamin A and vitamin C are needed to digest sugar, and therefore too much sugar depletes these nutrients from the body [12]. This depletion results in anaemia and a lower immune system [12].
Even if junk food does not result in obesity for some people, which is classified as being 20% over the ideal body weight (Castledine, 2004), the regular consumption of junk food can still lead to disconcerting health problems such as the common stomach ache and head ache, which can impede on every day activities. Another short-term effect of eating junk food is the sugar crash, which commonly happens after eating snacks with nearly half their calories coming from sugar adding up to 200 or more calories (Risher, 2010). Eating junk food that is high in sugars and carbohydrates provides a temporary mood and energy boost, caused by a rapid production of insulin, but results in a drop in glucose levels, known as a sugar crash, which many people compare to the feeling of a hangover (Reid, 2014). Both the long-term effects and short-term effects of eating junk food impacts the body in such a way that impedes the performance of everyday activities and