Sugar: Harm and Importance for the Body

Table of Contents

Sugar is the most important of the carbohydrates vital for feeding brain cells. Glucose is one of the components of sugar, and from it our brain receives energy. Energy for vital processes.

Description

Sugar is a crystalline substance in white, light-brown or caramel color. It has no smell; the sweet is from moderate to strong. Color, shape of the crystals and sweetness depend on what the sugar produced from. Usually, sugar produced from sugar beet or sugar cane. The shelf life is not limited if you follow the rules of proper storage of the product: dry and ventilated room.

Beneficial properties

Glucose is the main food of brain cells. For normal brain functioning, a 24-hour glucose intake required. The body has glucose reserves in the liver in the form of glycogen, which automatically enters the blood at night.
The pancreas doesn’t make insulin if there’s no sugar.

Harm of sugar

The main harm of sugar is its excessive consumption, which leads to weight gain and can provoke diseases: diabetes, atherosclerosis, obesity, problems with the cardiovascular system.

More information about the harm of sugar, you can read on the website of National Library of Medicine.

Sugar consumption rate

In adolescence, sugar intake in limited quantities is useful during active cognitive activity. After 35 years, the amount of sugar consumed per day should not exceed 5-6 teaspoons. You have to remember that sugar is in many foods, from sauces to vegetables. If you care about your body, you need to completely abandon pure sugar and products with a high content of it. You can always replace sugar with sweeteners or fruit glucose.

The WHO (World Health Organization) recommended added sugars to be <10% of total daily energy intake based on observational data from dental caries. This amounts to <50 g (12 teaspoons) of added sugars/day based on a typical 2000-kilocalorie diet.