Experts provide answers to why people tend to crave sugar and how eating too much sugar affects long-term metabolism and brain health.
Americans love Easter candy and will spend more than $5 billion on it in 2024, with chocolate bunnies and eggs being among the most popular treats, according to the National Confectioners Association.
Eating a candy or two during the holidays is fine, but consuming too much sugar all the time can have serious negative effects.
According to Brenda Davey, a registered dietitian and professor in the Department of Human Nutrition, Food, and Exercise at Virginia Tech, sugar intake has negative health effects, including metabolic and cardiovascular disease, weight gain, and poor diet quality.
“Health organizations such as the American Heart Association recommend limiting sugar-sweetened foods and drinks,” Davey says. “The general recommendation is to limit added sugar intake to less than 10% of total daily calories.”
For someone who needs 2,000 calories a day, this means 200 total calories, including added sugar, which is the equivalent of 7 to 8 marshmallow peeps.
“Foods high in sugar often replace nutritious foods in the diet, which can affect healthy growth and development, so they need to be even less consumed in children,” Davey says.
There are very few things that are “hardwired” into human behavior, but sugar-loving and sugar-seeking is one of them, says Alex DiFeritonio, assistant professor at VTC’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. Specifically, the combination of sugar and fat, such as that found in chocolate candy, is particularly beneficial for the brain.
As the Easter holiday approaches and grocery store aisles fill up with candy, Davey and DiFeritonio shared guidance on candy consumption to help people survive the Christmas sugar rush.
why we crave sugar
DiFeritonio explains that the brain relies on simple sugars as its main fuel source. This encourages behaviors that keep you energized.
“The brain runs on glucose, and that’s its main fuel,” DiFeritonio says. “In our evolutionary environment, it’s a very good idea to consume resources in large quantities when we have access to them. In our modern environment, that tendency is not very good for us.”
Simply put, our brains function normally, but modern society provides us with more sugar than our bodies need.
Effects of eating too much sugar
Davey points out that consuming too much sugar over a long period of time can cause weight gain and increase the risk of other negative health effects.
“It’s important to distinguish between sugars that occur naturally in foods such as fruit and added sugars,” says Davey. “Fruits contain fiber and many beneficial nutrients needed to promote good health. They are an important part of healthy eating patterns such as the DASH diet and the Mediterranean diet.”
Sugar intake doesn’t just affect our physique, it also affects our long-term brain health.
“Excessive sugar intake over a long period of time can lead to weight gain and, in some people, type 2 diabetes,” DiFeliciantonio says. “These physical conditions are also bad for the brain and can increase inflammation, particularly in the hypothalamus, which is involved in energy balance. High blood sugar and type 2 diabetes are associated with cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease.”
kids and sweets
Children require more energy at certain stages and rely on carbohydrates to support growth and development. But DiFeritonio points out that candy isn’t something kids need.
“Children also need carbohydrates to promote growth,” she says.
“But I don’t think anyone needs scientists to tell them that most of these carbohydrates shouldn’t come from candy.”
Source: Virginia Tech
#love #sugar