Limiting the consumption of sugar is advisable from a health point of view, but unfortunately not that easy to implement. Many dishes are true «sugar traps» and the effect of fructose in fruit is also underestimated. A nutritionist explains at FITBOOK how to recognize excessive sugar consumption.
The symptoms of eating too much sugar are varied and different for each person. Graduate ecotrophologist Uwe Schröder from the German Institute for Sports Nutrition knows how to recognize excessive consumption. He also answers, among other things, why sugar is still important for the body and how many grams per day are healthy.
What happens in the body when you eat too much sugar?
The consumption of sugar, even in small concentrations, leads to the release of insulin. The hormone is produced in the pancreas and ensures that the sugar leaves the blood quickly. However, if you consume too much sugar, it becomes increasingly difficult for the body to store it in the cells. “Then the cells become blunt against the insulin and insulin sensitivity decreases. This increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, for example,” warns ecotrophologist Uwe Schröder. “Ultimately, the sugar leads to a dulling of the organism in relation to the insulin. You need more and more insulin to get the cells to let the sugar in.”
On the other hand, if you exercise regularly, you would have sugar stores in your muscles, which help build muscle. «That’s the phenomenon why sugar is causing more problems today than it used to be, because most people – as current studies also show – are moving less and less.» Sugar. The liver would therefore convert it to fat instead. Schröder warns: “This non-alcoholic fatty liver is a very big problem. There are studies by the German Institute for Nutritional Research in Potsdam that almost 30 percent of all people in Germany already have the beginnings of fatty liver.” In people over 50 years of age it is even 40 percent. The main reason here is the combination of too little exercise and too many carbohydrates such as sugar.
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What is the maximum daily sugar consumption?
“That depends on how much you move,” explains Schröder. If you are regularly physically active, you can of course eat much more carbohydrates (and thus sugar) than without physical activity. This is how you build up muscle storage and can also use sugar as a direct source of energy. The nutritionist does the math: “I need about five grams of dextrose, i.e. glucose, per hour for the work of the brain, for the red blood cells and for the nerve cells – i.e. the organs and systems that are inevitably dependent on blood sugar for a short period of time. That would be 120 grams per day.
However, this does not mean that you can eat 120 grams of glucose every day. Because these 120 grams of glucose, which are necessary for the maintenance of the organism, can also be produced by the body itself, for example from protein. It’s about the total amount of energy. A maximum of ten percent of the total energy should be sugar. Schröder explains: «Let’s assume I would consume 2,000 kilocalories a day, 10 percent of which would be 200 kilocalories. A gram of carbohydrates has about four kilocalories, so that would be a maximum of 50 grams of sugar a day.” However, that is the absolute upper limit for someone who does not move much. This calculation refers to glucose because, unlike table sugar (sucrose), it is found in the blood and can be produced by the body itself.
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Fructose is more harmful than glucose
That 50 grams per day is sucrose. This is the usual household sugar, which consists partly of glucose and partly of fructose. Accordingly, you can also achieve 50 grams of sugar per day if you only eat fruit for the most part. First of all, fruit sugar does not need insulin, explains the ecotrophologist. But fructose would be converted to fat easily and with high priority in the liver.
«We now know that glucose per se has an extremely high impact on insulin levels, but that fructose tends to have a more harmful effect.» It is also known that fructose can stimulate the inflammatory processes in the body, more on that later.
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6 symptoms of eating too much sugar
The signs of excessive sugar consumption are very individual and diverse. Blemishes, tiredness, frequent thirst, headaches and tooth decay can be symptoms of too much sugar in the body. The following six signs are among the most well-known and most damaging in the long term.
1. Poor insulin levels and blood sugar levels
Uwe Schröder recommends having the fasting blood sugar determined by a doctor. But that’s just one point. «Most insurance companies don’t pay for that, but we recommend having the insulin level determined as well.» Because the fasting blood sugar can still be normal, while the body already needs an extremely large amount of insulin to keep the blood sugar level so low.
Another possibility would be to measure blood sugar several times a day with a meter from the pharmacy like a diabetic. “Then you can see whether the blood sugar level remains significantly elevated for a long time after a high-sugar meal. If that’s the case, you’re already eating so much sugar that the cells are deadened.» However, if the blood sugar level keeps falling, you’re still sensitive to insulin. The blood sugar and insulin values are therefore reliable indicators of whether you are consuming too much sugar and how high the risk of type 2 diabetes could be.
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2. Obesity and fatty liver
Unsurprisingly, too much sugar combined with too many other carbohydrates can lead to obesity. But not only that: The storage of the sweet substance in the liver can also lead to fatty liver. Schröder gives the tip to go to the doctor if you suspect a fatty liver. The ultrasound can detect the first signs of fatty liver and have the liver values determined. «If you have changed liver values even though you are not an alcoholic and not taking any medication, this indicates changes in the liver that can be attributed to sugar metabolism.»
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3. Cravings
Another symptom of too much sugar can be cravings after immediately consuming sweets. «Then you react very well to it, but it can be a kind of psychological dependence on sugar when cravings occur,» warns Schröder. He recommends keeping a record of when you’ve consumed sugar and sugary foods throughout the day. In this case, it is ideal to take “insulin breaks”, i.e. to have as long a gap as possible between two sugary meals. «That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t eat anything in between, but the meals should then be more protein and fat.» The goal is to keep the insulin level low over a long period of time.
4. Intestinal problems
Intestinal problems are the classic, as Schröder puts it. Because if you eat a lot of sugar, you are feeding the bad, non-physiological intestinal bacteria. This could lead to an imbalance between good and bad gut bacteria. This could result in a permeability of the intestinal wall, which means that substances from the intestine get into the blood «that actually have no place there». This fuels the subliminal inflammatory reactions in the body.
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5. Weakened immune system
“There are sugar substances that come from gut bacteria that go right through these open spots in the gut wall called lipopolysaccharides. These irritate the immune system, to which it reacts strongly,” explains Schröder. “Sugar also plays a role for some blood cells. If it is constantly present in a high concentration in the blood, the energy metabolism can no longer function as well.”
The subliminal inflammatory reactions already discussed also have far-reaching consequences. But: «If then something else comes from the outside, like now for example Corona, then this disease could become more severe than it might have been if there hadn’t already been an inflammation level in the body».
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6. Difficulty concentrating
In order to be able to concentrate well, the blood sugar level should always be appropriate. The calculated five grams per hour are ideal for him. Because the brain cells could also slowly lose their insulin sensitivity due to too much sugar, called central nervous insulin resistance. This was only recognized a few years ago. In this regard, hypoglycaemia triggered by too much sugar is also possible in people whose sensitivity has not yet suffered. Schröder explains: «If I now eat a lot of sugar and I’m still sensitive, then my blood sugar level drops due to the insulin release. It can even drop below the baseline if the insulin output was strong.”
This provoked hypoglycaemia is called “reactive hypoglycaemia”. In this phase, the brain no longer gets the optimal amount of sugar because the blood sugar is significantly too low. «Then I can’t concentrate and it’s difficult for me to perform at my best mentally.» One symptom of too much sugar is concentration problems.
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Expert tip for energy in exams
Uwe Schröder warns against consuming large amounts of sweets before or during an exam. Those who get into reactive hypoglycemia need sugar to raise their blood sugar levels. This is the beginning of a vicious circle: «I eat sugar, get insulin, the blood sugar level goes down again, I have to eat sugar again… That doesn’t necessarily help to stabilize my concentration.» The expert’s recommendation: «I would eat half a slice of bread eat with quark and a bit of banana before the exam, ideally…