Sweet, delightful, tantalising sugar: it’s the stuff of childhood dreams and adult nightmares. Or, at least it should be. While it’s true that sugar tastes great and we are in fact biologically programmed to like sweet foods, the reality is, today’s modern, refined sugar is a major health hazard. The rise in our consumption of sugar can be directly linked to the rise in cases of many diseases not the least of which would be obesity. To keep yourself healthy and happy you need learn the sour truth about sugar and why you should steer clear of the sweet stuff.

There are many different types of sugars: those naturally occurring in foods such as fruits and milk as well as those produced in a lab. Our western diets consist of entirely too much lab-producing/altering sugar or refined sugar. Refined sugar is in almost everything these days. Seriously, next time you’re at the store, read the labels, even items you wouldn’t necessarily consider sweet are loaded with refined sugar, things like bread and salad dressing.


We’ve heard for years that sugar is harmful to your teeth, but do you know why? Basically sugar dissolves quickly in saliva, therefore easily finding its way into the bacterial layer on your teeth causing plaque. Plaque feeds on sugar and converts it to acid. This acid eats away the enamel and causes cavities. The acid is produced within seconds of the sugar entering the mouth and attacks the tooth enamel as long as the sugar remains in contact with the teeth.

Consumption of refined sugar also has a damaging affect on your skin. Foods high in refined sugar cause inflammation of the skin, which in turn creates high levels of free radicals. Free radicals attack the collagen in your skin. Collagen is what keeps our skin nice and firm. Without enough of collagen, you will start to notice wrinkles. So, in other words, if you eat enough refined sugar you will start to look like a sourpuss all the time.

Not only are free radicals bad news for your skin they are also deadly for the body. Without getting into the gory scientific details, free radicals move throughout the body attacking healthy cells and “converting” them into disease cells. Very, very simplified but you get the idea: free radicals are bad and too many in the body can lead to a whole host of problems.

Refined sugar also messes with our digestive and immune systems. Because refined sugar contains no vitamins or minerals, in order for it to be metabolised it must draw on the body's reserve of vitamins and minerals. Also, metabolising refined sugar raises insulin levels. Raised insulin levels depress the immune system and promote the storage of fat; so, when you eat foods high in refined sugar, you increase fat storage. And since many high-sugar foods are also high in fat, you are just setting yourself up for a diet disaster.

There are many studies out there that have shown a direct link to high sugar consumption to high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, premature aging and so many other horrible conditions. But we have to power to fight back. Simply remove refined sugar from your every day consumption and you will feel, look and be better immediately. Sure it’s hard to give up something so prevalent and, admittedly yummy, but it’s worth it. The sour truth about sugar is that it’s a silent killer. Kind of leaves a sour taste in your mouth, doesn’t it?