Does Sugar Affect Your Skin, Hair & Body? 5 Reasons Why Sugar is Bad for You

Excess Sugar intake isn't good for our body and it can have many side effects. It's better to take only daily recommended sugar and if possible take added sugar as less as possible. Sugar can affect different parts of our body but here, I am writing about 5 main reasons to use less sugar in our daily diet.

1- Sugar causes Acne & Early Skin Ageing:

Taking too much sugar in your diet links to acne. Sugary foods, juices, and drinks may cause breakouts. You can apply sugar scrub on your face and it doesn't cause any breakout, only you need to eat less sugary foods. High sugar diet increases sebum production and inflammation on the skin which results in pore clogging and acne on the face.

Sugar also causes early aging. Early signs of aging include light wrinkles around eyes and mouth. According to studies, sugar reacts with the protein in our body and produces advanced glycation end products. These products result in early aging.

2- Sugar causes Hair Loss:

Too much sugar in your diet may result in grey hair. Sugar causes inflammation in the body. It's considered that excess sugar in the body causes insulin and androgen to attack hair follicles. They bind around hair follicles and cause hair fall. High insulin levels in the body cause hair fall in patches. In a diabetic patient, hair fall doesn't only happen on the head but also on other parts of the body. The high sugar levels in the body cause unbalanced hormones result in hair fall and grey hair but more research is needed on this topic.

3- Sugar can Affect Your Brain:

Sugar can slow down our brain. It also leads to depression. Processed foods, cakes, and sugary drinks increase the chances of it. According to research, sugar can have a significant impact on our mental health. Sugar has a negative side-effect on our memory. It can also lead to blood vessels damage in the brain. The continuous higher sugar level in the body significantly affect mental capacity and can even cause brain shrinkage.

4- Sugar can Drain Your Energy:

Carbohydrates give us energy. Carbohydrates contain sugar. Taking too many carbohydrates or sugar in your diet might give you a sudden boost in energy then it drops or you can say 'crash'. You start feeling drain and if you keep taking sugar to boost energy then this fluctuation of sugar level significantly affect your body energy level. Choose carbs having low sugar level.

5- Sugar can Increase the chances of Heart Disease:

Sugar is also related to heart disease because it causes obesity, inflammation, high blood pressure and insulin in the body. Overweight people are more likely to suffer from heart disease than healthy weight people. Even if you have a healthy weight, you should control the intake of added sugar in your diet. Sugary drinks can cause atherosclerosis - which is clogging of arteries - caused by deposits. Even after eating fruits and vegetables, You shouldn't increase your added sugar because even a healthy diet won't work if you don't keep an eye on your sugar intake.

How much Sugar is Enough Per Day?

An added sugar is a sugar that you add by yourself in drinks and coffees. It's not considered as naturally occurring sugar like we found in fruits. The maximum amount of added sugar a man can take in a day is 9 teaspoons and a woman can take is 6 teaspoons per day. It's better for children over 11 years and adults to consume no more than 7 teaspoons a day. The best thing is to avoid added sugar if you can.

How to Reduce Sugar Intake?

There are few tips that may help you to reduce your sugar intake;

Drink water instead of fizzy drinks and colas.
Make home-made smoothies rather buying from the market.
Drink fresh fruit juices. Extract juice from fruits at home.
In tea or coffee, gradually try to add less sugar so it won't taste you bad and you slowly start taking less sugar.
Swap children's sweets and chocolates with fruits and fresh juice homemade lollies.
Avoid processed foods.