Alert on sugar: Children or adults should consume less sugar daily

SUGAR: It’s sweet in taste but sour for health, sugar intake has become a major concern in society and especially for healthy life. Studies show that high sugar consumption to increased risk of obesity and related diseases. To attempt to help on the problem, we have issued new recommendations for added sugar intake among children and adolescents.

Added sugars while making syrup and drinks- Including fructose, glucose and high-fructose corn syrup - that are added to foods and drinks during processing or preparation, mainly for taste and preservation. High sugars are present in candy, cakes, soda, soft drinks and many other foods and drinks that are attractive to children and teenagers, it is perhaps no surprise their sugar intake is so high. Children under the age of 2-5 should not consume any added sugars at all because children of this age do not require the calorie intake of older children and adults, so there is not enough room for the empty calories provided by food and drinks containing added sugars.

High added sugar intake linked to heart disease risk factors

Our opinion and recommendation is for all children between the ages of 2 and 20 to keep it simple for better health. Doctors suggest most children, eating no more than 6 teaspoons of added sugars per day is a healthy and achievable target. The results showed that high intake of added sugars during childhood can lead to the development of heart disease risk factors, including obesity and high blood pressure. Children who eat foods loaded with added sugars tender to eat healthy foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products that are good for their heart health. The risk of developing such health problems increases with the more added sugars a child consumes, and children who are already overweight who carry on consuming added sugars are at greater risk of insulin resistance, making them more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

Sugar- sweetened drinks remain a leading source of un-healthy life

The most common sources of sugars among children are sugar-sweetened drinks, such as soda and energy drinks. This will perhaps come as no surprise to many, given that a single 500ml bottle of cold drink can contain more than 10 teaspoons of sugar. Children should not drink more than one 500ml cold drinks a week yet they are currently drinking their age in sugary drink servings each and every day mostly. We suggest appropriate nutritional daily diet will lead your health on right way. Without knowing knowledge of intake food and preservative drinks will lead your health in worst condition. It’s better to take care of choice on food and drinks while eating at home or outside.

Sugar Contains No Essential Nutrients and is Bad for Your Teeth

You’ve probably heard these thousands times from doctors and elders… but it’s still repeating to get rid from sugar. Added sugars (like sucrose and high fructose corn syrup) contain a whole bunch of calories with NO essential nutrients. There are no proteins, essential fats, vitamins or minerals in sugar… just pure energy. Sugar is also very bad for the teeth, because it provides easily digestible energy for the bad bacteria in the mouth.

Sugar is High in Fructose, Which Can Overload Your Liver

In order to understand what is so bad about sugar, there you need to understand what it is made of. Before sugar enters the bloodstream from the digestive tract, it is broken down into two simple sugars… glucose and fructose.

·         Glucose is found in every living cell on the planet. If we don’t get it from the diet, our bodies produce it.

·         Fructose is different. Our bodies do not produce it in any significant amount and there is no physiological need for it.

The thing with fructose is that it can only be metabolized by the liver in any significant amounts. This is not a problem if we eat a little bit (such as from fruit) or we just finished an exercise session. In this case, the fructose will be turned into glycogen and stored in the liver until we need it. However, if the liver is full of glycogen, eating a lot of fructose overloads the liver, forcing it to turn the fructose into fat. When repeatedly eating large amounts of sugar, this process can lead to fatty liver and all sorts of serious problems. Keep in mind that all of this does NOT apply to fruit. It is almost impossible to overact fructose by eating fruit. There is also massive individual variability here and People who are healthy and active can tolerate more sugar than other UN-healthy people.

Sugar Can effect Insulin Resistance, a un-healthy step towards Metabolic Syndrome and Diabetes

Insulin is a very important hormone in the body. It allows glucose (blood sugar) to enter cells from the bloodstream and tells the cells to start burning glucose instead of fat. Having too much glucose in the blood is highly toxic and one of the reasons for complications of diabetes, like blindness and other diseases from diabetes. One feature of the metabolic dysfunction that is caused by the Western diet is that insulin stops working as it should. The cells become “resistant” to it.

This is also known as insulin resistance, which is believed to be a leading driver of many diseases… including metabolic syndrome, obesity, cardiovascular disease and especially type 2 diabetes. Many studies show that sugar consumption is associated with insulin resistance, especially when it is consumed in large amounts.

Sugar effects on hormones and the brain

Not all calories are created equal as we consumed. Different foods can have different effects on our brains and the hormones that control food intake. Research shows that fructose doesn’t have the same kind of effect on fullness as glucose. In one study, people drank either a fructose-sweetened drink or a glucose-sweetened drink. Afterwards, the fructose drinkers had much less activity in the satiety centers of the brain and felt hungrier.

Over time, because the calories from sugar aren’t as fulfilling, this can translate into an increased calorie intake.

Sugar is a Leading Contributor to Obesity in Both Children and Adults

The way sugar affects hormones and the brain is a recipe for fat gain problem. It leads to decreased fullness… and can get people addicted so that they lose control over their consumption. Surprisingly, people who consume the most sugar are by far the most likely to become overweight or obese. This applies to all age groups.

Many studies have examined the link between sugar consumption and obesity and found a strong statistical association. The link is especially strong in children, where each daily serving of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with a 70% increased risk of obesity.

One of the most important things you can do if you need to lose weight is to significantly cut back on sugar consumption.

Sugar raises your cholesterol and gives you heart disease

From time by time, people have blamed saturated fat for heart disease… which is the brutal killer in the world. The evidence is mounting that sugar may be one of the leading drivers of heart disease via the harmful effects of fructose on metabolism.

Studies show that large amounts of fructose can raise triglycerides, small, dense LDL and oxidized LDL (very, very bad), raise blood glucose and insulin levels and increase abdominal obesity. These are all major risk factors for heart disease. Surprisingly, many observational studies find a strong statistical association between sugar consumption and the risk of heart disease.

Sugar is the newtobacco; control it to live healthy life.

Diabetes- Be alert for your health

    

Diabetes is a chronic disease in which the body cannot regulate the amount of sugar in the blood.

Causes

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas to control blood sugar. Diabetes can be caused by too little insulin, resistance to insulin, or both. To understand diabetes, it is important to first understand the normal process by which food is broken down and used by the body for energy. Several things happen when food is digested:

     A sugar called glucose enters the bloodstream. Glucose is a source of fuel for the body.

·   An organ called the pancreas makes insulin. The role of insulin is to move glucose from the bloodstream into muscle, fat, and liver cells, where it can be stored or used as fuel.

People with diabetes have high blood sugar because their body cannot move sugar from the blood into muscle and fat cells to be burned or stored for energy, and because their liver makes too much glucose and releases it into the blood. This is because either:

·       Their pancreas does not make enough insulin

·       Their cells do not respond to insulin normally

·       Both of the above

There are 2 major types of diabetes. The causes and risk factors are different for each type:

·     Type 1 diabetes can occur at any age, but it is most often diagnosed in children, teens, or young adults. In this disease, the body makes little or no insulin. This is because the pancreas cells that make insulin stop working. Daily injections of insulin are needed. The exact cause is unknown.

    Type 2 diabetes is much more common. It most often occurs in adulthood, but because of high obesity rates, children and teens are now being diagnosed with this disease. Some people with type 2 diabetes do not know they have it. With type 2 diabetes, the body is resistant to insulin and doesn't use insulin as well as it should.

    There are other causes of diabetes, and some people cannot be classified as type 1 or type 2.

Gestational diabetes is high blood sugar that develops at any time during pregnancy in a woman who does not have diabetes.

If your parent, brother, or sister has diabetes, you may be more likely to develop the disease.

Symptoms

A high blood sugar level can cause several symptoms, including:

·       >Blurry vision

·       >Excess thirst

·       >Fatigue

·        >Frequent urination

·        >Hunger

·        >Weight loss

Because type 2 diabetes develops slowly, some people with high blood sugar have no symptoms.

Symptoms of type 1 diabetes develop over a short period. People may be very sick by the time they are diagnosed.

After many years, diabetes can lead to other serious problems. These problems are known as diabetes complications, and include:

·     Eye problems, including trouble seeing (especially at night), light sensitivity, and blindness. Sores and infections of the leg or foot, which if untreated, can lead to amputation of the leg or foot. Damage to nerves in the body, causing pain, tingling, a loss of feeling, problems digesting food, and erectile dysfunction

·         Kidney problems, which can lead to kidney failure

·         Weakened immune system, which can lead to more frequent infections

·         Increased chance of having a heart attack or stroke

Exams and Tests

A urine analysis may show high blood sugar. But a urine test alone does not diagnose diabetes.

Your health care provider may suspect that you have diabetes if your blood sugar level is higher than 200 mg/dL. To confirm the diagnosis, one or more of the following tests must be done.

Blood tests:

·     Fasting blood glucose level: Diabetes is diagnosed if the fasting glucose level is higher than 126 mg/dL on 2 different tests. Levels between 100 and 126 mg/dL are called impaired fasting glucose or pre-diabetes. These levels are risk factors for type 2 diabetes.

• ·         Hemoglobin A1c (A1C) test: Normal is less than 5.7%; prediabetes is 5.7 to 6.4%; and diabetes is 6.5% or higher.
• ·         Oral glucose tolerance test: Diabetes is diagnosed if the glucose level is higher than 200 mg/dL 2 hours after drinking a sugar drink (This test is used more often for type 2 diabetes).

Screening for type 2 diabetes in people who have no symptoms is recommended for:

·         Overweight children who have other risk factors for diabetes, starting at age 10 and repeated every 3 years

·         Overweight adults (BMI of 25 or higher) who have other risk factors

·         Adults over age 45, repeated every 3 years

Treatment

Type 2 diabetes may be reversed with lifestyle changes, especially losing weight with exercise and by eating healthier foods. Some cases of type 2 diabetes can also be improved with weight-loss surgery.

There is no cure for type 1 diabetes.

Treating either type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes involves medicines, diet, and exercise to control blood sugar level.

Everyone with diabetes should receive proper education and support about the best ways to manage their diabetes. Ask your provider about seeing a diabetes nurse educator.

Getting better control over your blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels helps reduce the risk of kidney disease, eye disease, nervous system disease, heart attack, and stroke.

To prevent diabetes complications, visit your provider at least 2 to 4 times a year. Talk about any problems you are having. Follow your provider's instructions on managing your diabetes.

Support Groups

Many resources can help you understand more about diabetes. If you have diabetes, you can also learn ways to manage your condition and prevent diabetes complications.

Diabetes is a life-long disease and there is no cure.

Tight control of blood glucose can prevent or delay diabetes complications. But these problems can occur, even in people with good diabetes control.

Possible Complications

After many years, diabetes can lead to serious health problems:

·         You could have eye problems, including trouble seeing (especially at night), and light sensitivity. You could become blind.

·         Your feet and skin can develop sores and infections. After a long time, your foot or leg may need to be amputated. Infection can also cause pain and itching in other parts of the body.

·         Diabetes may make it harder to control your blood pressure and cholesterol. This can lead to a heart attack, stroke, and other problems. It can become harder for blood to flow to your legs and feet.

·         Nerves in your body can get damaged, causing pain, tingling, and numbness.

·         Because of nerve damage, you could have problems digesting the food you eat. You could feel weakness or have trouble going to the bathroom. Nerve damage can make it harder for men to have an erection.

·         High blood sugar and other problems can lead to kidney damage. Your kidneys may not work as well as they used to. They may even stop working so that you need dialysis or a kidney transplant.

Prevention

Keeping an ideal body weight and an active lifestyle may prevent or delay the start of type 2 diabetes. Some medicines can also be used to delay or prevent the start of type 2 diabetes.

At this time, type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented. But there is promising research that shows type 1 diabetes may be delayed in some high risk people.