Why Too Much Sugar Can Kill You

We all know that there are two kinds of humans in our holy earth – programmers and non-programmers. The creeps called a programmer tends to be a couch potato who feeds on salted chips and diet coke, and leaves its room only when absolutely needed. And they don’t bite… unless they are hungry or irritated, that is.

This article is dedicated to all the programmers spread worldwide who think that the elixir called ‘diet coke’ is enough for them to produce quality codes. But alas! Science has found out that having too much sugar can be seriously injurious to your health… even for the heavenly creatures like ‘programmers’. Here are some of the threats that plague the noble programmers.

1. Weight gain

It’s pretty widely known that excessive sugar consumption causes unhealthy weight gain. Let’s take a look at the calorific value of this ‘white poison’. Mere 100 grams of sugar contains 377-387 calories irrespective of its color. Compare that to the 23 calories of spinach or 35 calories of broccoli. And yes, it’s really a marketing scheme that highlights the goodness of the brown sugar.

Other than some added minerals and metals, those two are nearly identical, at least from caloric value POV. Apologies for being the monster of your dream, but you would barely be getting any extra benefits from consuming more and more brown sugar.

Another important fact is as sugary products barely contain anything other than carbs or starch, it doesn’t quench your hunger. And it’s one of the key reasons why people almost always especially lazy bums like programmers over-consume coke and soda. Over time all these excess calories show their true nature and cause unwanted weight gain leading to diabetes and other diseases.

2. Lower HGH

Human Growth Hormone (aka HGH), is a chemical produced by the pituitary gland that has a direct effect on human growth. As its name suggests, it’s responsible for the natural growth of the human body (mainly in children and adolescents). Apart from that it also regulates body composition, muscle and bone growth, and sugar and fat metabolism.

But how is it related to consuming sugar? Well, studies suggest that sugar regulates the secretion of the HGH. Consuming excessive sugar can lower the release of HGH in your body causing you to age earlier. But beware, although it has an anti-aging effect on the human body it is yet to be proved. Most of the time, synthetic HGH along with anabolic steroid is used unauthorisedly as a performance enhancer and anti-aging substance.

3. Higher Glycation

Ever heard the term glycation? If not, chances are you’re not aware of yet another bad effect of sugar on our body that kills us slowly. Glucose has a high affinity of bonding with other compounds such as proteins, lipids, and fats. When sugar molecules enter our body and go into the bloodstream, it starts bonding with them in a process known as glycation.

This gives rise to the byproducts called Advanced Glycation Endproducts, in short, AGEs. This causes the protein fibers to become malformed and stiff, giving rise to chronic inflammation and tissue damage, often leading to Alzheimer’s and pancreatic issues.

Glycation also fast forwards the aging procedure by reacting with the skin proteins. Mainly two proteins are responsible for the young and soft complexion of the human skin, namely Collagen and Elastin. But renegade sugar molecules make them less supple and weak.

As a result, our skin starts losing the glow of the youth and wrinkles start forming. The aforementioned AGEs simply worsen the situation even further – they fast forward this process even further with the help of catalysts like UV light and nicotine.

The solution is pretty simple – try to avoid stuff with high glucose concentration such as sugar (duh!) and corn syrup. Eat more healthy carbs like whole-grain bread and brown rice. Also taking supplemental Carnosine (a kind of amino acid found in muscles and brain tissues) can help fight against the AGEs.

4. Higher Insulin level

Not all types of sugars get digested the same way. Our body breaks down simpler carbohydrates such as glucose or fructose much easily and, more importantly, quickly compared to the relatively more complex carbs like starch or fiber. But what does it have to do with the level of insulin in our body?

Well, it turns out that the faster the sugar breaks down the higher the level of sugar becomes in our blood. And in order to cope up with this higher sugar level, our pancreas releases more insulin. While your body has been able to deal with the excess sugar temporarily, this impacts negatively in the long run.

Over the long haul, the overworked pancreatic cells start to wear out producing less and less amount of insulin. And this is how, in short, you become a type-2 diabetes patient. But wait, there’s more – your internal cells and tissues wear out over time as they are exposed to this higher level of insulin.

5. Oral problems

Scientists have found more than 700 species of bacteria in our mouth, although a normal, healthy person’s mouth houses usually 35-70 of them. While most of them are harmless living peacefully in your mouth, some are indeed harmful namely Streptococcus mutans and Porphyromonas gingivalis. Baddies like Streptococcus can seriously cause tooth decay as these bacteria produce enamel eroding acid reacting with the consumed sugar and starch. So once again, better get a hold on the sugar consumption.

   

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