The way the sweet stuff impacts your body is way more complex than just causing weight gain.
Eating sugar creates a surge of feel-good brain chemicals dopamine and serotonin.
So doesusing certain drugs, like cocaine.
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And just like a drug, your body craves more after the initial high.
The insulin’s job is to absorb the excess glucose in the blood and stabilize sugar levels.
Once the insulin does its job, your blood sugar drops again.
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The equation is pretty simple: Excess sugar equals excess calories equals excess weight in the form of fat.
Our high-sugar diets are a big part of why more than one-third of American adults are clinicallyobese.
So your pancreas goes into overdrive to produce more insulin.
Above-normal blood glucose levels is called prediabetes.
When blood sugar levels reach even higher, that’stype 2 diabetes.
One of the liver’s functions is regulating blood sugar levels.
“Fatty liver can develop within a five-year period,” Gradney explains.
But it can happen even quicker based on your dietary habits and genetic predisposition to insulin resistance.
If it progresses, it can eventually lead to liver failure down the road.
Your love of soda isn’t really worth that, is it?
“The pipes will finally get tired.
That’s what happens with your vessels,” Gradney explains.
So any area relying on small blood vessels can become affectedkidneys, brain, eyes, heart.
Once the tooth enamel is weakened, you’re more susceptible to tooth decay."
“We encourage people to read labels and count grams of sugar,” Gradney says.
According to the Academy, there’s no hard and fast recommendation for daily intake, she adds.
Good rule of thumb: “Always choose the option that has the least amount of sugar in it.
If you have juice or soda, choose water.”
And choose whole foods to naturally limit the amount of sugar in your meals.
“The more you stay away from processed foods, the better off you’ll be.”
