Sugar why is it good

Here again you have to be careful with how much sugar you eat. Too much of a good thing i. If you find yourself habitually overindulging, check out our Willpower Cheat Sheet for tricks to increase your willpower!

Chocolate is a source of natural sugar, but it also contains other healthy components. Each bite provides a surge of antioxidants along with cocoa flavanols. Researchers have discovered that cocoa flavanols can improve cognitive function , and studies out of Italy have found that it can even improve thinking skills regardless of whether a person has cognitive impairment. For the biggest cognitive boost, stick to minimally-processed dark chocolate, which contains the highest levels of cocoa flavanols.

When you select natural sources of sugar they usually include healthy nutrients alongside their sweet counterparts. Dairy products, fruits and veggies all provide natural sugars in addition to fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and hydration.

You can indulge in all the natural sweets you want without creating unhealthy insulin spikes. Lots of commercially produced sweet foods contain high levels of saturated fat, which will increase your blood cholesterol levels and your risk of heart disease. Your body breaks down carbohydrates and converts them into a simple sugar called glucose.

This ready form of energy is carried through the blood and delivered to every cell. The supply of glucose needs to be constant and dependable, so your body has developed a number of systems to ensure this supply. For instance, the pancreas secretes a hormone called insulin that regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. Insulin allows glucose to enter body cells.

It also helps with the storage of excess glucose in the liver, which supplements blood glucose levels if they start to fall. A person with diabetes has either insufficient or inefficient insulin, which means their blood glucose levels tend to be too high. There is no evidence that a diet high in sugar directly causes either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. However, being overweight or obese is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and perhaps someone who is overweight might also eat a lot of sugar.

In the past, people with diabetes were told to avoid eating all foods containing refined sugar. This was because it was believed the sugar would have a bad effect on their blood glucose levels. However, more recent research on the glycaemic index see below has shown that sugar affects blood glucose levels less than some other more starchy foods, like refined bread and breakfast cereal. People with diabetes can have a small amount of sugar in their diet.

If you are adding sugar, it is best to add it to healthier foods such as wholegrain breads and cereals. For example, adding one to two teaspoons of regular jam spread on wholegrain bread is okay. People with diabetes should limit or avoid foods in which the main ingredient is sugar, such as sweets and cakes. It is also important to maintain a healthy weight to manage diabetes. Recent studies have suggested a link between foods with a high GI and a number of conditions including:.

There are books and websites available giving details of the GI of a wide range of foods. A healthy diet can include moderate amounts of sugar together with a range of low GI carbohydrate choices. The glycaemic index is a useful tool for people with diabetes to help regulate their glucose levels. People with type 2 diabetes need the glucose in their diet to be absorbed slowly. They need to eat foods with a low GI. At least one low GI food is recommended at each meal.

The quantity of carbohydrate foods eaten will also affect blood glucose levels. Talk to your dietitian about the recommended quantities of carbohydrate-based foods you need. If you have diabetes, you will need to monitor your blood glucose levels regularly.

There is no evidence to suggest a direct link between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD and the consumption of sugar. Sugar and tooth decay are closely linked. Dental plaque is a clingy film made up of food particles, bacteria and mucous. The bacteria in plaque depend on sugars to produce acids, which break down the enamel and start tooth decay. All carbohydrates contribute to this process, not just sugar, but large amounts of sugar in sweets and soft drinks are most likely to contribute to decay.

Other nutritious foods like dried fruits also allow the bacteria in plaque to produce acids. Sticky sugars that cling to the teeth are worse than sugars that are easily swallowed, such as fresh fruit. Ways to reduce the risk of tooth decay include:. This page has been produced in consultation with and approved by:. Luc Tappy, professor of physiology at the University of Lausanne, is one of many scientists who argue that the main cause of diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure is excess calorie intake, and that sugar is simply one component of this.

Tappy points out that athletes, for example, often have higher sugar consumption but lower rates of cardiovascular disease : high fructose intake can be metabolised during exercise to increase performance. Athletes often consume more sugar than other people, but because they metabolise it during exercise, they still have lower rates of cardiovascular disease Credit: Getty.

Overall, evidence that added sugar directly causes type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity or cancer is thin. Yes, higher intakes are associated with these conditions. But clinical trials have yet to establish that it causes them.

Sugar also has been associated with addiction… but this finding, too, may not be what it seems. A review published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in cited findings that mice can experience sugar withdrawal and argued that sugar produces similar effects to cocaine , such as craving.

But the paper was widely accused of misinterpreting the evidence. Still, studies have demonstrated other ways in which sugar affects our brains. Thos e who drank soft drinks and fruit juices more frequently displayed smaller average brain volumes and poorer memory function.

One study found that consuming two juice drinks per day aged the brain by two years, compared to not drinking any Credit: Getty. One recent study found that sugar may even help improve memory and performance in older adults. Researchers gave participants a drink containing a small amount of glucose and asked them to perform various memory tasks.

Other participants were given a drink containing artificial sweetener as a control. The results suggested that consuming sugar can make older people more motivated to perform difficult tasks at full capacity — without them feeling as if they tried harder. Increased blood sugar levels also made them feel happier during the task. In older adults, consuming a sugary drink may make them more motivated and even happier during a task Credit: Getty.

And turning sugar into a taboo may only make it more tempting. But sometimes foods have other values. Even when sweet foods have little or no nutritional value, they have other values Credit: Getty. Associate professor at James Madison University Alan Levinovitz studies the relationship between religion and science. When we see things in simple good and evil binaries, it becomes unthinkable that this evil thing can exist in moderation. We demonise the things we find difficult to resist — including sugar Credit: Getty.

Taking sugar out of our diets can even be counterproductive: it can mean replacing it with something potentially more calorific, such as if you substitute a fat for a sugar in a recipe. And amid the rising debate around sugar, we risk confusing those foods and drinks with added sugar that lack other essential nutrients, like soft drinks, with healthy foods that have sugars, like fruit.