The sweetness of sugar is powerfully alluring, and eating too much of it can lead to addiction and poor health.
Eating too much sugar can be a slippery slope to various diseases—and even addiction. While many endeavor to cut back or quit it can sometimes be easier said than done. Not only is sugar an addictive substance, but it is a hidden ingredient in many of the foods we eat.
Causes of Sugar Addiction
Why does eating sugar lead to addiction? Once sugar enters the body, it triggers the secretion of two chemicals in the brain. One is dopamine, the secretion of which gives a pleasant feeling that one wants to repeat. The other is serotonin, which has an impact on mood, sexual desire, sleep, and appetite. Its secretion can calm the nerves and enhance the mood.
Eating sugar regularly, causes your brain to become less sensitive to the activation effect of sugar to trigger chemical secretion. In that case, one needs to eat more sugar to achieve the same effect, and over time either voluntarily or involuntarily one will eat more sugar.
People who are naturally prone to anxiety or depression are particularly susceptible to sugar addiction. Eating sweets can make them feel happy or seemingly relieve tension and anxiety, which can lead to an addiction. To these people, sugar is a form of self-medication and adds to the difficulty of eating less of it.
Sugar Addiction Can Be Consequential
If you develop a strong psychological and physical dependence on sugar, what are the likely consequences?
First, sugar addiction causes blood sugar and insulin levels in the body to fluctuate and soar. Sugar is our body’s prime source of energy. For it to be effective, it has to enter the cells to supply the needed energy. To accomplish this task, the body needs to secrete insulin to transport sugar into the cells. Therefore, when you eat a lot of sugar, to send sugar into the cells, the body will be activated, sometimes quite hastily, to secrete additional insulin to maintain blood sugar balance. This is the reason why the more sugar you eat, the higher the spike in your blood sugar and insulin.
When substantial amounts of sugar are eaten regularly, your cells can become less and less sensitive to insulin. For instance, if you repeatedly ask someone to move heavy things for you, they will eventually become tired and refuse to do it. The analogy in our case here is, that the same amount of insulin may not be able to bring sugar into the cells, a situation called insulin resistance.
