General Dentistry |2 min read

Dentist’s Top Reasons Sugar is Harmful for Overall Health

There are multiple resources out there from the dental and diet industry that propose a decrease in the amount of sugar you take in per day. Sugar is harmful to overall health, but especially your teeth. Dentists and family doctors agree that less is more. Below you will find scientific arguments in favor of cutting back.

sugar is harmful

Sugar is Harmful Due to Overload

Your body can only metabolize six teaspoons of sugar per day. (1tsp= 4g=24g/day) So when you are checking out food labels make sure to count sugar content before throwing it in your grocery cart. Excess sugar turns into body fat—another reason sugar is harmful to overall health. You have heard that alcohol destroys your liver. Sugar is the same. Your liver uses sugar to make fat so a buildup of fat in your liver can lead to fatty liver disease.

Dopamine

Cutting back on sugar can be extremely difficult because sugar releases dopamine just like exercise and music. Over time, the brain can experience what is called “down regulation” where dopamine receptors are thinned out so that you need more sugar to be happy. This experience may feel like what a drug addict feels when they are quitting a substance. Some have described it as “itchy” or “needy”. This is caused when dopamine receptors have experienced heavy overloading and it causes the levels to fall drastically. Other consequences of dopamine receptor malfunction include feelings of bleakness in life, dulled taste buds, brain exaggeration of sugar high preceding a sugar binge. Additionally, the brain can develop Pavlovic responses to certain emotions that queue the need for sugar. Sugar is harmful to overall health and teeth. Talk to your local dentist about ways to cut back or read more from our Sugar Blues blog on ProGrinDental.com. Dr. Ayers in Greenville SC loves to answer questions and give health advice.

 

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