The average American consumes two to three pounds of sugar each week. If they are ingesting more than their body can accommodate they are placing their short-term and long-term health at serious risk.
One major health issue with sugar is that is depresses the immune system. An influx of sugar into the bloodstream upsets the body’s blood-sugar balance, triggering the release of insulin. The body uses insulin to keep blood-sugar at safe, constant levels. Insulin also promotes the storage of fat, so foods high in sugar can lead to rapid weight gain and elevated triglyceride levels, both of which are linked to cardiovascular disease.
Complex carbohydrates are absorbed more slowly, lessening the impact on blood-sugar levels.
White blood cells need vitamin C to phagocytize (engulf and absorb) viruses and bacteria. To accumulate vitamin C white blood cells require a concentration inside the cell that is 50 times higher than that outside the cell.
Glucose and vitamin C have similar chemical structures and compete for one another upon entering the cell. Glucose and vitamin C enters cells after being mediated by the same thing. This means if there is more glucose than vitamin C, less vitamin C gets in. Your immune system is compromised with even a small consumption of sugar. For example, a blood sugar value of 120 reduces the phagocytic index by 75%. Note: this index measures your white blood cells ability to engulf and absorb viruses and bacteria.
The roots of disease are always at the cellular and molecular level, and more often than not insulin has a large role in it. Succombing to our desire for sweets, often to excess, has serious consequences to our health.
Habitually, ingesting sugar has certain health risks such as:
- Aggravating asthma
Mood swings
- Worsening nervous disorders
- Promoting tooth decay
- Increasing risk of coronary heart disease
- Speed aging process
- Glucose fuels cancer
Refined dietary sugars lack vitamins and minerals, and must rely on stored micro-nutrients within the body to be metabolized. When these stores are gone, cholesterol and fatty acid metabolization is impeded. This contributes to higher cholesterol and obesity. The American Diabetic Association and American Dietetic Association agree that sugar ingestion is one of the three major causes of degenerative disease in America.
To be healthy and remain healthy, blood-glucose levels must be controlled through diet, exercise, supplements, meditation, and prescription drugs (when necessary).
Marvin Pirila writes for his wife’s alternative medicine business, Pieceful Pursuits. Pieceful Pursuits is served through the websites [][http://www.piecefulpursuits], [][http://www.essentialoilsfirst], and [][http://www.nutritionalsupplementsfirst.com]
