Sugar is Killing You

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One of the world’s deadliest killers couldn’t appear any sweeter, and each year it will contribute in the deaths of 35 million people. And if nothing is done, it appears that number could continue to grow.

Last September for the first time in history, sugar was identified as one of the world’s most dangerous killers. The United Nations declared deaths caused by diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other non-communicable diseases pose a greater risk to human health and survival than infectious diseases. The main culprit in many of these cases is sugar intake in diets.

Diets high in sugar are contributing to rising obesity rates in America, higher mortality and a serious strain on the healthcare system. Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, have found that the toxicity of sugars found in the foods people eat is largely to blame. High sugar and sugar intake is a likely culprit.

Researchers went as far as suggesting that the results of their findings justify regulatory measures on the consumption of high sugar levels in diets. They support the notion that sugar intake be regulated in diets just like alcohol and tobacco. Some of the regulations they suggest imposing include higher taxes, setting age limitations and limiting the availability of foods that are high sugar.

They promoted the idea of reducing the number of stores allowed to sell high sugar items in a given area, while offering incentives for grocery stores and farmer’s markets to replace fast food restaurants and variety stores to cut down on sugar intake. These rather intense measures have been suggested because, as the researches argued, education methods have proven to be ineffective.

The reason why high sugar and sugar intake was studied instead of high-calorie and high-fat foods is because high sugar foods and sugar intake have the same negative impacts on diets and people at a healthy weight as they do on overweight and obese individuals.

It should be remembered that serious complications can arise from the negative impacts of high sugar diets.

Sugar intake is a huge problem for the diets of Americans. Processed and fast foods, in addition to the usual suspects like soda and candy, are where people really suffer, because many aren’t aware that so many of the foods they eat are so high sugar. With the right education, however, it can be easier to make better choices towards your sugar intake.

The costs of this apparent sugar epidemic are more than physical. It’s estimated that 75% of healthcare costs in America are related to disease and disabilities that fueled by sugar. And as children continue to grow up on diets high in sugar, that amount could greatly increase unless changes are made soon. Research showed that sugar actually has similar effects to both alcohol and tobacco. And high sugar consumption can actually be a deadly habit.

Professionals also advise against stopping your sugar intake cold turkey because the adjustment period required in reducing sugar intake can be difficult.

A few tips to help cut down on high sugar diets are: eliminating soda, switching from cold to hot cereal and cooking your own meals.

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