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Do Sweets Improve Your Brain Activity? The Expert Opinion
Candies, ice cream, cakes, and sugary soft drinks are so hard to resist. Especially now, when the industry has learned to make them colorful and much more appealing than anything on the healthy nutrition table. We know that overeating sugar can cost us our health, shape, and teeth, but still.
Nowadays, people can easily become addicted to eating sugar. Everyone does that, from kids, pupils, and students, who consistently lack time so much that they order academic assistance from EssayPro and similar websites, up to the adults facing the same problem of lack of time and need of some more sugar to sweeten the hurdles of life.
That is why they all eat out their hunger with foods full of carbohydrates, sugar, and unhealthy fats.
Moreover, modern food producers cheat consumers stating that there is no sugar in their products but adding various sweeteners that are as bad for our health as real sugar. Our body and our brain, in particular, become addicted and dependent on a regular dosage of glucose, and we are helpless in this battle.
However, sugar also has some positive effects. Our body produces energy from glucose that it receives from consuming sugar. Our brain needs around 400 calories of glucose a day to function properly.
This is nearly as much as you can get after eating two chocolate bars at once. Do you think this trick is going to work with your body? The answer is no.
Here is why.
It Matters Where You Get Sugar From
It is wrong to state that all people need is a sugar-free diet to stay healthy. NHS guidelines state that people need to consume sugar daily but in reasonable amounts – no more than 30 g for adults per day. If we go back to 400 calories of glucose that our brain needs, only a quarter of this amount can come from real sugar.
We consume protein, fats, and carbohydrates daily, but it is only carbons that provide us with enough energy to move and live. Most of the carbs we consume with regular food have a relation to sugar.
Thus, we should be cautious about what products exactly we eat.
For example, any type of artificial sugar that can be found in processed foods is harmful to our bodies. However, such natural sugars as honey, fruit, and maple syrup provide our brain and body with a healthy energy booster.
A medium-sized banana is a storage of 14 g of sugar, which you are likely not to be even counting in the total sugar grammage consumed per day. Try mid-day squares as a healthy option for snacks.
It Matters How You Get Sugar
Even though natural sugars are beneficial for our health, it is still important to take into account how you get them. For example, if you have a choice whether to eat a fruit or drink a glass of juice made of it, never hesitate and choose the first option.
When you drink juice, even the fresh one, it causes your body to react by releasing too much insulin. Such a reaction activates a fat storage mode in your body. That means that you open the gate for more food and weight gain.
However, if you choose to eat an apple instead, you will be consuming both the juice and the fiber that goes with it. That means that your body will have to employ many processes to digest, making this spike in insulin reasonable.
What Happens When We Over Consume Sugar?
When we eat sugar, our tongue receptors send signals to our brain that ‘tells’ our body how to react. The answer is usually in hormones that are released immediately, such as dopamine. If we eat sugar too much and too often, our brain’s reward system becomes hijacked, leading us into problems.
Our brain and body become addicted to the consistent release of dopamine associated with eating sweets. It all turns into an addiction that leads us to craving cakes, candies, and other sweets.
When low dosages of sugar are needed to stimulate our brain activity, overconsumption of it impedes our memory and learning skills. Sugar and other artificial sweeteners literally slow down our brain because the communication between brain cells becomes impaired.
Moreover, under constant overconsumption of sugars, insulin, a hormone that deals with glucose in our body, fails to conduct its function. It leads to cardiac issues and diabetes, let alone weight gain and obesity.
Sugar-rich diet can bring about depression and anxiety to many people. They become addicted to sudden releases of dopamine. It peaks and then plummets, leaving people irritated and upset as a result of a sugar crash.
Final Words
It would be completely wrong to state that sugar is an absolute evil for our body and brain. We owe it our energy.
However, it really matters what sugar we consume and how. We also should learn to balance our diet to make sure that we receive fats, carbs, and protein in sufficient amounts and avoid overconsumption of sugar.
When this harmony is reached, your brain and body will definitely function on a new level.
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