Sugar is Poison!

Sugar is addictive! Is candy killing you?

With Halloween and ridiculous amounts of candy consumption just around the corner, the title of this week’s newsletter is deliberately thought-provoking and somewhat controversial. I also believe that it is true, so let’s look into it further.

It is a two-part series. This newsletter covers the negative impacts of sugar and next week’s newsletter will cover the tactics and strategies you can use to beat sugar addiction and improve your performance through better nutrition.

Impetus behind this newsletter topic

The primary reason that I felt compelled to write on the topic of sugar addiction is that around 6 years ago I went almost completely processed cane sugar-free, and then over the last 2 years, it has insidiously crept its way back into my life due to momentous life changes and on-going mild levels of stress.

With the move into Spring for me this year, I have undertaken a habit audit and review and one of the major commitments I am making is to get back to sugar-free and stay that way.

Sugar-free for me means –

• Not having food in my home with processed cane sugar or alternatives such as corn syrup, beet sugar etc.
• Not buying or eating food when I am out on a normal day that contains the same forms of processed sugar
• Enjoying a wide variety of naturally occurring sugar in food that has been minimally processed
• Cooking nutritious meals for myself instead of reaching for processed meals
• Doing meal preparation and taking my own healthy snacks whenever I am out and about
• Occasionally choosing to eat sugar as part of a celebration meal or special eating experience

I’ll share approaches to beat sugar addiction and eat a more healthy diet that supports optimal performance in next week’s newsletter.

Summary of recent research

This summary of an article published in 2017 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that “In animal studies, sugar has been found to produce more symptoms than is required to be considered an addictive substance. Animal data has shown a significant overlap between the consumption of added sugars and drug-like effects, including bingeing, craving, tolerance, withdrawal, cross-sensitisation, cross-tolerance, cross-dependence, reward, and opioid effects. Sugar addiction seems to be dependent on the natural endogenous opioids that get released upon sugar intake. In both animals and humans, the evidence in the literature shows substantial parallels and overlap between drugs of abuse and sugar, from the standpoint of brain neurochemistry as well as behaviour.”

Other recent research published in Frontiers in Psychiatry in 2018 considered the obesity epidemic and how ancient survival mechanisms in our brains are causing addiction-like responses. It is a fascinating read and they concluded that in animal subjects ’sugar can be considered part of the broader construct of food addiction’ and that it fulfils 5 out of the 11 criteria that indicate an addition from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders, Fifth Edition. The DSM-5 is the official diagnostic tool for Psychiatric treatment.

It has to do with the neurochemical responses that are triggered when we eat sugar, which causes us to overconsume sugar to prolong the euphoric effects, and then the withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety that are experienced when sugar is withheld. They found that sugar cravings are intense physical and emotional phenomena and that “Craving has been intimately related to high rates of relapse in drugs of abuse and now with sugar.” Specifically in the areas of impaired control, social impairment, and continued use despite the risk and withdrawal.

I highly recommend a read of this article; it makes a compelling and well-researched case that sugar addiction is a very real phenomenon and that it has the potential to impact our physical and mental health through obesity and addiction behaviours.

It is also widely known and accepted in the medical and lay communities that sugar contributes to diabetes and heart disease. Just in case you need some convincing, a recent article from Harvard Health The sweet danger of sugar - Harvard Health sums up the negative impacts of sugar in processed food very nicely.

"Excess sugar's impact on obesity and diabetes is well documented, but one area that may surprise many men is how their taste for sugar can have a serious impact on their heart health"

Dr Frank Hu, professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

In his study published 2014 in the JAMA Internal Medical Journal, Dr Hu and his colleagues concluded that “the higher the intake of added sugar, the higher the risk for heart disease".

Sugar makes us sick so why are we still eating it?

There is an overwhelming body of medical research and physical evidence about the causal, links between excess sugar consumption from processed foods and skyrocketing rates of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

So why do we keep eating it to excess? Sugar is addictive – that’s why! We love the taste of it and it provides a hedonistic reward response.

Medical experts provide evidence that sugar causes addiction responses and can be considered a part of the category of psychological disorders falling into the food addiction category.

If you need it put more forcefully and succinctly, excess sugar consumption causes responses similar to drug addiction; greatly increases your chances of heart disease; greatly increases your chances of developing diabetes; increases inflammation in the body and brain; increases the chances of many types of cancer; and contributes directly to the obesity epidemic in developed countries and all the negative health impacts that come with it including – reducing life expectancies, reduced quality of life, impaired movement, and social stigma.

Negative impacts of sugar on your brain

Overeating, poor memory formation, learning disorders, and depression have all been linked to the over-consumption of added sugar. WOW!

The brain uses more energy than any other organ in the human body and glucose is its primary source of fuel. Sugar is converted into glucose by the process of digestion. So, it must be good for us that sugar can fuel the brain? And aren’t we lucky that we have so much easy access to sugar?

Nope, quite the opposite. More sugar is definitely NOT better! The standard diet of developed nations exposes our bodies and our brains to excessive amounts of added sugar.

According to the US National Cancer Institute, the average adult male in America consumes an average of 24 teaspoons of added sugar per day, that’s almost a quarter of the recommended daily calorie intake and 4 times the recommended amount of total sugars per day. The top sources are soft drinks, fruit drinks, flavoured yoghurts, cereals, cookies, cakes, candy, and most processed foods. Added sugar is insidious as it is also present in many foods that you wouldn’t expect including cereals, soups, bread, cured meats, savoury sauces, ketchup, and other condiments.

Sugar naturally occurs in foods with carbohydrates like whole grains and fruit, and when you consume these foods, you also gain the benefits of fibre, vitamins, and other nutrients essential to optimal brain and body function. When you ignorantly consume huge amounts of added sugar you are consuming calories devoid of nutrition and this can make you feel hungry as you haven’t met your recommended daily allowance for the nutrient vital to human survival. Added sugar literally deprives us of good nutrition.

Elevated levels of glucose (the by-product of sugar digestion) damage blood vessels and this manifest in the brain as –

• Slowed cognitive function
• Deficits in memory
• Problems with attention
• Inflammation in the brain

A 2017 study in the journal Appetite found that the memory damage caused by sugar consumption can be reversed by following a low-sugar diet. And more research published in the journal Nutrients in 2015 found reducing sugar consumption and supplementing with omega-3 fatty acids and curcumin improves working memory.

Negative impacts of sugar on mood

Another serious effect of sugar on the brain is its impact on our moods and mental states. Various studies have found excess sugar consumption is associated with the following –

• Compromised emotional processing: brain imaging studies have been used to show a link between elevated blood glucose and impaired emotional processing in healthy young people.
• Increased anxiety: Another study published in Diabetes Care found that people with type 2 diabetes reported increased sadness and anxiety during acute hyperglycaemia (elevated blood sugar).
• Higher risk of depression: One of the largest studies to link sugar with depression—an analysis of dietary consumption and mood of 23,245 individuals enrolled in the Whitehall II study—found higher rates of sugar consumption were associated with a greater incidence of depression.

Find out more…

I’ve included all the references below and there are countless studies on the epidemic of sugar addiction and obesity. In my opinion, the more interesting findings relate to the impacts of brain health and mood.

The key message from this newsletter is eat less sugar if you want to improve your wellbeing, performance, and happiness.

Module 4 of The POSITIVE Lawyer online learning and coaching program provides a summary of good foundations to support energy and focus, all designed to help you optimise your performance.

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OR, buy The POSITIVE Lawyer Mindset book for some great tools and techniques.

My aim is to inspire you to transform your working life and achieve great things and I look forward to joining you on your journey!