How Does Sugar Affect Your Health

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Sugar and Health

Some scientists believe that the over-consumption of sugar leads to obesity if not balanced with regular exercise and activity. Obesity has been scientifically proven to be linked to detrimental, sometimes fatal, diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes or Atherosclerosis. If it is known that excessive, unregulated amounts of sugar could possibly lead to disease and possibly death, why is it not being regulated such as other products like tobacco or alcohol, both of which lead to death when partaken of in large amounts? Sugar is readily eaten in significant amounts; amounts that have been increasing every year. But how does sugar cause these ‘life-style diseases’ and what can be done to prevent further spread of this epidemic?

Sugar is found in many foods that are consumed daily, though there are many differing types of sugars, from the natural to artificial. Fructose is one example of a purely natural sugar which is found in fruits and honey, another being is lactose; an integral part of milk. Sucrose is the form sugar takes that is most recognisable, more commonly known as table sugar. Sucrose is a disaccharide carbohydrate, being composed of one glucose and one fructose molecule. When sugar enters the gastrointestinal tract after being masticated, it is eventually hydrolysed into its
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In 1822, the average westerner consumed 45g of sugar every 5 days; the equivalent of one 375mL can of Coke. In 2012, it had risen to 765g every 5 days, which is the equivalent of 17 cans of Coke (Authority Nutrition, 2016). This is a rather shocking statistic and can be linked to the fact that the percentage of obese westerners has more than doubled in the past 35 years. Clearly, the increased intake of sugar daily is related to the increased rate of lifestyle diseases in the past