Why Sugar Deserves Its Own Section

When we talked about carbohydrates, the definition was that it is simply a sugar molecule. However, there is much confusion around the word sugar, so I believe it deserves its own section to thoroughly explain the different types and to clear up any confusion. Sugar is unlike other foods in the fact that it releases dopamine in our brain, the same way that many drugs such as heroin and cocaine do. This is the “feel good” chemical and there is belief that sugar can actually become addictive for this reason. Sweet-tasting foods are a great source of fuel and energy for our bodies, and this dopamine surge caused humans to seek it out. This adaptation was designed through evolution as a reward system to further ensure the survival of our species. It is my personal belief that too much sugar is the main culprit that sabotages most diets and causes the most unwanted side effects.

The Four Main Types of Sugar

Glucose

We learned about glucose already, which is the first type of sugar I will mention here and what most carbohydrates are broken down into to be metabolized by the body for energy.

Sucrose

The second type of sugar is sucrose, which is more commonly called table sugar. This type of sugar is made up of one glucose molecule and one fructose molecule, and it is extracted from sugarcane and sugar beets. This sugar is added to cereal and many other foods to improve their sweetness.

Lactose

The third type of sugar is lactose. Lactose is found naturally in milk but is added to a variety of foods including baked goods, desserts, and sauces to add flavor. It is processed in the small intestine where it is broken down into glucose and galactose, but it requires the enzyme lactase to achieve this. Some individuals lack enough of the enzyme lactase to digest dairy, and the same enzyme production also declines with age, both leading to lactose intolerance.

Fructose

And the fourth type, and most important to pay attention to, is fructose. Fructose is found naturally in fruits, fruit juices, some vegetables and honey. As we mentioned before it also makes up half of the sugar compound sucrose. Unlike glucose, which is used by cells as an energy source, fructose is used by the liver. Only about 30% of ingested fructose can be converted to glucose in the body. The transport and metabolism of fructose does not require insulin and is only used by a few tissues including the liver, intestine, kidneys and adipose (fat) tissue.

When too much fructose enters the liver, it uses the excess fructose to create fat, a process called lipogenesis, which can lead to fatty non-alcoholic liver disease. This in turn can lead to many health issues including diabetes, obesity, and cirrhosis.

Why Fructose is the Worst Offender

Recent studies have shown that fructose is the most detrimental to our health out of the four sugars we have talked about. Research has shown that matched calorie for calorie with glucose, fructose causes significant weight gain, physical inactivity, and body fat deposition.

This might make you wonder if it is ok to eat fruit, since it is essentially “fruit sugar.” There isn’t enough fructose in a serving of fruit to cause any health problems or significant fat production. What we are talking about here is added sugar, and primarily high fructose corn syrup! High fructose corn syrup is made from corn starch and is added to many processed foods for the sweet flavor it provides. As the use of high fructose corn syrup has gone up, so have the cases of obesity and related health conditions.

Tracking Sugar Intake

In my opinion, the most important thing you can keep track of when it comes to carbohydrate consumption is your total amount of sugar. Popular apps like MyFitnessPal will give you total carbohydrates along with total sugar underneath it as a sub-category. The recommended daily amount of sugar is only 150 calories, or 37 grams for men.

I think you’ll be surprised how hard it is to keep sugar that low unless you stick to unprocessed food sources. One regular 16-ounce Red Bull energy drink has 52 grams of sugar! Many popular soda drinks are also on par with that amount and these types of products are detrimental to trying to keep a healthy diet. I have known people that have lost 15-20 pounds just by cutting out these sugary drinks after having a bad habit of drinking them for years.

If you are going to buy energy drinks, make sure you opt for the sugar-free version (which most of them offer now), which is exactly what I do. Do not forget, sugar is also added to other foods that you might not think about such as ketchup, sports drinks, dairy and many of your other favorite things to eat.

In my usual diet I would eat 350 grams of carbohydrates a day, with only 40 grams of that being sugar. One of my go-to carbohydrate sources is either brown or white rice. You can get as many carbohydrates as you need, with zero sugar. Therefore, the entire amount of rice is broken down to glucose through digestion without the negative effects of the four sugar types. To emphasize, added sugar is what we are really trying to pay attention to here. There are plenty of foods that contain natural sugar, but the amount is usually nothing to worry about as long as you consume them in moderation.

Nutrition Labels and Serving Size Tricks

Nutrition labels will give you the total sugar amount under the carbohydrates, and some even will give you the added sugar amount. Once you get the total amount of sugar, look down into the ingredients list to get the type of sugar they have added to the product.

Here is another important side note to really pay attention to and remember when it comes to making selections when you are reading nutrition labels: pay attention to the serving size! When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandated that labels needed to be put on food products, people started to realize how unhealthy and calorie-dense certain foods were. A trick the manufacturers use now is to change the serving size.

In the example I used earlier, which was the 16-ounce Red Bull, if you read the label, it says 26 grams of sugar. However, if you look at the top of the label, it says, “per serving,” and the serving size is 8 ounces. This means there are 2 servings per can. Out of all the people you know, who buys a soft drink and only drinks half a can? So, make sure you are paying attention to the serving size when you are calculating your total numbers for the day.

Sugar Spikes and Crashes

Another negative effect of sugar is the response it triggers in the body. With natural foods, it is extremely hard to get a large sugar spike due to the time it takes for digestion and the moderate glycemic rating of those foods.

When a large amount of glucose is detected by the body, it translates that into the fact that a large meal must have been eaten. With added sugar, you get a very large sugar spike in very short amount of time. Therefore, a proportionate amount of insulin is released to drive down circulating glucose in the blood stream to normal levels, as we talked about before.

The release of insulin drives down blood sugar, but there is nothing digesting in your stomach to provide a steady stream of glucose after the initial spike, like there would be with other complex carbohydrates such as oatmeal. What happens in this case is blood sugar can actually get lower than baseline, causing the “sugar crash.” This is also known as reactive hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar.

I have experienced this, and the effects are sweating, shaking, dizziness and extreme hunger. In this situation you have to try to find some fast-digesting carb source, to get some glucose back into your body. I usually go for Gatorade, because it provides one of the quickest responses out of all the different things I have tried.

So, when you have a sugary drink, you feel an initial rush of energy due to the quick rise in blood sugar. But within an hour or two your blood sugar drops below baseline, and you feel tired and lethargic. These are also known as “empty calories” because they have no nutritional value and do not provide sustained energy.