Please note that “sugar” in this context is concerning the processed forms of sucrose (table or cooking sugar) in addition to high fructose corn syrup. The former comes mainly from cane, beets or dates. The latter comes from corn.
Sucrose is a disaccharide (a double molecule made up of glucose and fructose)[*11], and high fructose corn syrup is composed of 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose in similar percentages to sucrose[*12].
Both of said products enter the body and from the intestine will be absorbed as glucose molecules, and fructose molecules. Glucose will actually be in the blood stream from mouth to blood within 12 minutes on an empty stomach[*13]. Fructose will have to take a longer pathway and be transformed into glucose first. This latter process from mouth to blood stream is about 45 minutes on an empty stomach. Their ultimate fate is stimulation of insulin secretion, cell entry and storage as glycogen (animal starch) to a limited degree but mostly as triglycerides (fat). The only portion of glucose from above intake process which doesn’t get stored would be the molecules that get burned off directly in muscle and brain which don’t require insulin to enter the cells. Always remember: insulin is a storage hormone and doesn’t play much of a role in energy production, if any at all. The net effect of this hormone is storage of carbohydrate, protein (from other protein sources which are absorbed as amino acids), and fat[*14].
Therefore from above take the message: if you don’t burn off the sugar quickly then it will be stored, mostly as fat. So unless you are underweight then that isn't desirable.
Also from above you may deduce that if you are able to control your refined sugar intake and burn it off expediently then there is less danger from its intake. This is true, but there is another aspect here which I would like to explain which makes the principle of intake control much more complicated.
The aspect I am alluding to is the addictive properties of refined sugar. Addiction, is defined as the repeated compulsive use of a substance despite negative health consequences, and can be produced by a variety of different drugs[*15].
The phenomenon of addiction is associated with the reward system in the brain, and particularly within an area in the brain designated the nucleus accumbens. The best studied addictive drugs are opiates (such as morphine and heroin), cocaine, amphetamine, ethyl alcohol, cannabinoids from marijuana, and nicotine. I firmly believe, with very little doubt, that refined sugars should be added to these substances.
All of them (the substances in the previous paragraph) affect the brain in different pathways, but all have in common the fact that they increase the amount of dopamine (a chemical in the brain which functions as a signaling messenger) available to act on receptors in the nucleus accumbens, which will translate into the feelings of joy, comfort, calm, and other “feel good” sensations. In a nutshell, they rapidly stimulate the reward system of the brain.
This rapidly rewarded activity (refined sugar intake) will also establish another phenomenon whereby there is an immediate reward (feel good sensation) in the brain as soon as the sugary food is in the mouth. This is accomplished by what is called a conditioned reflex. (A conditioned reflex is a reflex response to a stimulus that previously elicited little or no response, acquired by repeatedly pairing the stimulus with another stimulus that normally does produce the response. In Pavlov's classic experiments, the salivation normally induced by placing meat in the mouth of a dog was studied. A bell was rung just before the meat was placed in the dog's mouth, and this was repeated a number of times until the animal would salivate when the bell was rung even though no meat was placed in its mouth. In this experiment, the meat placed in the mouth was the unconditioned stimulus (US), the stimulus that normally produces a particular innate response. The conditioned stimulus (CS) was the bell-ringing. After the CS and US had been paired a sufficient number of times, the CS produced the response originally evoked only by the US. The CS had to precede the US. This is so-called classic conditioning[*16].)
Therefore from the preceding take the message: if you eat refined sugars regularly then you (most people) will become addicted to it even to the degree it elicits “a reward in the brain” as soon as it enters the mouth (possibly even before that). Hence you will enter into “the repeated compulsive use of a substance despite negative health consequences”[*15].
Another aspect to fear with long-term addiction would be the development of tolerance, i.e., the need for increasing amounts of a drug (refined sugar) to produce a “high”. So you may end up eating larger and larger quantities of refined sugars over time.
Also don’t ignore the fact that withdrawal from substances a person is addicted to produces psychological and physical symptoms[*16]. An easy test to see if you are addicted to refined sugar is to stop eating all products containing it for a minimum of 7 (seven) days, and observe your uncomfortable feelings, sensations, craving, restlessness, lack of concentration, anxiety, and others if you are addicted. The addicted person will have varying degrees, different combinations, and/or other symptoms of withdrawal, as the previous sentence was a non-exclusive, non-encompassing statement.
The direct dangers of refined sugars are:
- Inhibition of release of adrenaline[*17] by the impact of rapid release of insulin, which is an element, I believe in the development of atherosclerosis[*18] (artery clogging).
- With regularity of carbohydrate (refined sugars are refined carbohydrates) intake (which is not burned off) the overall (absolute magnitude) output of insulin increases until the pancreas gets overwhelmed and exhausted[*19, 20] and diabetes mellitus type 2 will probably ensue (this is an elemental part of the development of this disease).
- Unless burned off rapidly then storage of the substance will be in the form of fat. Obesity will result.
- Becoming addicted to refined sugars (which doesn’t appear to occur with sugars present in fresh fruit).
The Corn Refiners Association in the United States claims: “No single food or ingredient is the sole cause of obesity. Rather, too many calories and too little exercise is a primary cause[*21].” From above you may see this is not the whole story as relates to the role of sugar in obesity or the dangers of sugar.
In summary: if you are disciplined enough to keep your intake of refined sugars to a minimum and burn off physically what you take in, then go for it. If you are not, like most of the human race, then my recommendation is drop it from your diet.
