Reasons To Eat Less Sugar
While losing weight is well and good, that's just one of the health benefits of cutting back on the sweet stuff. Here are a few more reasons to tame your sweet tooth:
It can lower your blood pressure. Obesity, one of the main consequences of excessive added sugar intake, is a major risk factor for high blood pressure. This can increase the workload of the heart and arteries, causing damage to the whole circulatory system over time.
It keeps your brain sharp. Eating too much sugar can impair cognitive function and reduce proteins that are necessary for memory and responsiveness.
You'll be less likely to develop Alzheimer's and dementia. A diet high in added sugar reduces the production of a chemical known as brain-derived neurotophic factor (BDNF), which helps the brain form new memories and remember the past. Low BDNF levels have been linked to these two diseases.
It will keep your skin looking young. A lifetime of eating too much added sugar can make skin dull and wrinkled. This is due to a process called glycation, where the sugar in your bloodstream attaches to proteins to form advanced glycation end products. This damages collagen and elastin, the protein fibers that keep skin firm and elastic.
It will lower your risk of diabetes. Because of the high insulin resistance caused by excess sugar intake, fructose, glucose and other forms of sugar can't get into the cells and become "stuck" in the bloodstream. This high blood sugar leads to pre-diabetes and eventually the threat of actual diabetes.
