One of the recent mysteries of science is why depression, diabetes and dementia seem to cluster in epidemiological studies, and why having one of these health issues seems to increase your risk for the others. The answer: in a study in the journal Diabetologia, researchers found that when blood glucose levels are elevated, BDNF levels drop. BDNF is a compound that helps brain cells communicate with one another, build memories, and learn new things; decreased levels of BDNF have been linked to both Alzheimer's and depression. That means that the simple act of eating sugar compromises your brain and quickly; the more you do it, the greater your risk of diabetes, and the greater your risk of depression and dementia as well. In a 2015 study of post-menopausal women, higher levels of added sugars and refined carbs were associated with an increased likelihood of depression, while higher consumption of fiber, dairy, fruit and vegetables was associated with a lower risk.
In a study of nearly 1,000 seniors (median age: 79.5), researchers found that eating a diet high in simple carbs significantly increased the risk of developing dementia. All of the subjects were cognitively normal at the beginning of the study, and about 200 developed signs of dementia over the next 3.7 years. The risk of mental decline was higher in those who ate high-carb diets, and lower in those whose diets were higher in fat and/or protein.
Your Heart—Sugar Doubles Your Risk Of Dying From Heart Disease: People who get 25 percent of more of their calories from added sugar are more than twice as likely to die from heart disease as those who eat less than 10 percent, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. One out of ten of us fall into that category.
Now, if you're an average American, your daily sugar consumption is about 17 percent of calories, according to the study. That's hardly a laurel to rest on: people who ate between 17 and 21 percent of their calories from added sugar had a 38 percent higher risk of dying from heart disease, compared with people who consumed 8 percent or less of their calories from added sugar.
At first, the researchers figured that since those who ingest more sugar have poorer diets, that might be a main cause, but even after making adjustments for the quality of one's diet, the link between sweets and cardiovascular risk remained the same.
The study found that the major sources of added sugar in the American diet were:
Sugar-sweetened beverages (37.1%)
Grain-based desserts like cookies or cake (13.7%)
Fruit drinks (8.9%)
Dairy desserts like ice cream (6.1%)
Candy (5.8%)
Sodas and other sweet drinks are a major red flag: the researchers found that a higher consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages was directly tied to an increased risk of dying from heart disease. The impact is so great that you don't need to be meandering through middle age to see the impact: even teenagers who consume food and beverages high in added sugars show evidence of risk factors for heart disease and diabetes in their blood, according to a second study in The Journal of Nutrition.
Your Blood Pressure—Added Sugar Raises Your Blood Pressure: In fact, sugar may be worse for your blood pressure than salt, according to a paper published in the journal Open Heart. Just a few weeks on a high-sucrose diet can increase both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Another study found that for every sugar-sweetened beverage, risk of developing hypertension increased 8 percent. Too much sugar leads to higher insulin levels, which in turn activate the sympathetic nervous system and lead to increased blood pressure, according to James J. DiNicolantonio, PharmD, cardiovascular research scientist at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri. "It may also cause sodium to accumulate within the cell, causing calcium to build up within the cell, leading to vasoconstriction and hypertension," he says.
Your Skin—Sugar Causes Your Skin To Sag: Your skin has its own support system in the form of collagen and elastin, two compounds that keep your skin tight and plump. When elevated levels of glucose and fructose enter the body, they link to the amino acids present in the collagen and elastin, producing advanced glycation end products, or "AGEs." That damages these two critical compounds and makes it hard for the body to repair them. This process is accelerated in the skin when sugar is elevated, and further stimulated by ultraviolet light, according to a study in Clinical Dermatology. In other words, eating lots of sugar poolside is the worst thing you can do for your skin.
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