Sweet Relief – Is it Time to Take a Break from Sugar?

On Valentine’s Day, we call each other sugar, honey, and sweetheart and celebrate love with a box of chocolates. On Thanksgiving, we put marshmallows on our sweet potatoes and binge on pie. We celebrate Christmas with eggnog, cookies, and candy canes, and Easter with marshmallow chicks and chocolate eggs. Halloween is all about the candy. And of course, every birthday celebration includes cake.

It seems like no special occasion is complete without a taste of something sweet. The problem is too many of us don’t need special days as an excuse to overindulge. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), the average American consumes around 17 teaspoons of added sugar per day, nearly three times more than the AHA recommendation of a maximum of 6 teaspoons for women and 9 teaspoons for men.

17 Ways Excess Sugar Impacts Your Health

Sweet treats may taste good, but sugar is not always good for your body. It can impact your health in multiple ways:

1. Weight. Your body stores excess sugar calories as fat, contributing to weight gain. Studies indicate that too much fructose may cause resistance to the hormone leptin, which regulates hunger, so consuming too much sugar may actually keep you from feeling satiated. Excess weight is a risk factor for cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.
2. Teeth. The leading cause of tooth decay, sugar feeds bacteria in your mouth, causing them to release acid byproducts that attack tooth enamel.
3. Blood pressure. Consuming too much sugar can increase blood pressure.
4. Cholesterol. Sugar has a negative effect on your blood lipids, lowering your "good" HDL cholesterol, raising your "bad" LDL cholesterol, and increasing triglycerides.
5. Cardiovascular system. Consuming too much sugar is associated with heart disease, fatty deposits in the arteries (atherosclerosis), and stroke.
6. Type 2 Diabetes. Eating large amounts of sugar raises diabetes risk by contributing to weight gain – obesity is a risk factor for diabetes A diet too heavy in sugar can also lead to insulin resistance over time.
7. Energy. While a sweet treat delivers a quick energy boost, this is soon followed by a sharp drop in blood sugar, causing you to “crash.” A meta-analysis of several studies found that carbohydrate consumption, especially sugar, increases fatigue within 30 minutes and lowers alertness within 60 minutes of consumption.
8. Cancer. Scientists are currently studying the link between sugar and cancer, specifically breast, prostate, esophageal, colorectal, pancreatic, endometrial, and bladder cancers. This may be linked to the fact that sugar contributes to inflammation and obesity, both risk factors for cancer.
9. Chronic inflammation. Consuming too much sugar can increase chronic inflammation, which in turn damages DNA and is linked to a range of diseases, from Alzheimer’s to heart disease.
10. Osteoporosis. Too much sugar increases the amount of calcium and magnesium you excrete, lowers vitamin D levels, and raises cortisol levels, all of which has been linked to osteoporosis. Sugar also reduces the activity of osteoblasts, the cells that build bone.
11. Kidneys. Fructose can increase serum concentrations of urate, potentially leading to the development of kidney disease. Consistently high blood sugar can also damage kidney blood vessels.
12. Joints. Added sugar raises the levels of uric acid in the blood, increasing the risk of developing gout, an inflammatory condition characterized by pain in the joints.
13. Brain. High-sugar diets have a negative impact on memory and have been linked to an increased risk of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and stroke.
14. Liver. A high intake of fructose, often in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has been linked to an increased risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
15. Cellular aging. Consuming high amounts of sugar has been shown to accelerate telomere shortening, which increases cellular aging. Telomeres are protective structures at the end of your chromosomes that keep them from tangling or fusing together. Telomeres shorten over time, causing cells to deteriorate and malfunction. Sugar accelerates the process.
16. Depression. High sugar consumption has been linked to anxiety and depression. A 2017 study found that men who consumed 67 grams or more of sugar per day were 23% more likely to develop depression than men who ate less than 40 grams per day.
17. Skin. A diet high in sugar and refined carbohydrates has been linked to a higher risk of developing acne. Sugar also ages the skin – a diet high in sugar and refined carbs produces compounds called advanced glycation end products (AGEs) that damage collagen and elastin, proteins that help the skin stay flexible and strong.

Tips for Cutting Back on Sugar

As you’ve probably concluded by now, it’s a good idea to reduce your sugar consumption. Here are a few tips that can help you eat more mindfully and healthily.

• When you grocery shop, start with the perimeter, where you will find healthy, unprocessed foods such as meats, seafood, eggs, and produce. Do a little comparative shopping–different brands of peanut butter or pasta sauces can vary in how much sugar they contain.
• Sugary drinks such as soda, energy drinks, juice, or sweetened tea don’t curb hunger. They just add extra calories to your meal. Just one can of soda will put you over your recommended daily sugar limit! Don’t add sugar, syrup, honey, or molasses to your beverages. Enjoy a glass of sparkling water with a slice of lemon.
• Get your sweet fix from fruit and eat your fruit fresh, not canned in syrup. Top your oatmeal or cereal with fresh or dried fruit instead of sugar. Instead of buying sweetened yogurt, add fresh or frozen berries to plain yogurt.
• Experiment with your recipes. When you bake, reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe by a third or even a half, or substitute unsweetened applesauce for sugar. Try replacing added sugar in recipes with almond, vanilla, lemon, or orange extract, or sprinkle on some ginger, allspice, cinnamon, or nutmeg.
• Replace candy with a homemade trail mix of fruit, nuts, and a few dark chocolate chips.
• Replace sweet salad dressings with vinaigrette made with olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice. Try adding chopped herbs, fresh garlic, or mustard to your home-made dressing.
• Avoid alcoholic beverages that are sweetened with soda, juice, honey, sugar, or agave.

After a couple of weeks of cutting back on sugar, you may find that a lot of your favorite treats now taste too sweet. That’s a sure sign you’ve finally tamed your sweet tooth.

Understanding the label lingo

Food labels can be confusing when it comes to sugar. The first thing to look for is “added sugars.” Natural sugars, such as the fructose in fruit or the lactose in milk, can be part of a healthy diet. Added sugar is used to flavor foods, whether it’s the maple syrup you pour on your pancakes or the sugar used in food processing. The American Heart Association recommends limiting your consumption of added sugars, an ingredient in a surprising number of processed foods, from soup to peanut butter. Each of the below ingredients may be featured as an added sugar on a food label:

• Agave nectar
• Brown sugar
• Cane juice or cane syrup
• Corn sweetener
• Corn syrup
• Fruit juice concentrates
• High-fructose corn syrup
• Honey
• Invert sugar
• Malt sugar
• Molasses
• Raw sugar
• Rice syrup
• Sugar
• Dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, and sucrose
• Syrup

Here’s some additional label language you may need help deciphering:

• “Sugar-free” means the product has less than 0.5 grams of sugar per serving
• “Reduced sugar” means at least 25% less sugar compared to the typical product.
• “No added sugars” means no sugar was added during processing
• “Total sugars” is the sum of the total of the natural and added sugars in the food.

This article first appeared in the March 2025 edition of the HealthPerks newsletter.