Almost everyone has a sweet tooth but how does sugar affect a person’s health? Nearly everyone enjoys the tempting and exquisite taste of sugar but at what life-altering cost. This is an important question as sugary cakes, chocolates and drinks are a key part of many a child’s birthday celebrations and parties. Sugar may taste good but it really has little to no nutritional value as it has no protein, vitamins, minerals or fibre which can be absorbed after consumption.
When a person consumes a sugary food item, there of course is the pleasant sweet sensation but there is a whole array of disadvantages which is leading to people to seriously alter their diets and there are dangers; sugary drinks are said to kill an average of 24,000 Mexicans every year which is an alarming 404.5 adults per million of the country's population. If sugar can take the lives of so many adults then what effect does it have on children and their growth and development? It goes beyond simply being hyperactive.
In a worrying study carried out by the Independent newspaper, it stated that drinking sugar had side effects which limited and reduced the expression and development of genes critical for brain development; the only other case where this is seen is in a person who experiences early childhood trauma. In the same study, it was found that a gene key to the formation and growth of nerves, Neurod1, was also limited by sugar. Given the potentially damaging effects of sugar, the world is slowly waking up to the health dangers brought on by sugar consumption.
Other long term health problems of sugar, according to the Washington Post, include obesity and Type 2 diabetes, Heart disease and high blood pressure, Cancer, depression, allergies, ADD/ADHD, Asthma and Arthritis; all the aforementioned are critical health issues and all brought on by the one substance that a majority think are harmless; sugar which is also known to weaken the immunity system by causing an imbalance in bacteria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n29ZIJ-jQA – Is sugar toxic?
There are ways around this all and if children can be taught at a young age then they will benefit greatly; this includes using sugar substitutes, cutting liquid sugar, reading the labels and reducing sugar in children from a young age.
So why do food and beverage companies insist on still using sugar in their products despite all the many red flags? Sugar is a billion dollar industry and as reported in the Atlantic, in 2014, companies like Kellogg’s spent up to $32 million last year to advertise Pop Tarts while Coca-Cola spent $269 million advertising its flagship product (Coca-Cola); rivals Pepsi spent $150 million to advertise and highlight the brightly coloured sugar-water known as Gatorade.
You are what you eat and this is definitely the case in terms of sugar.
By Christopher Lau
