Author - Dr. Nitin Gupte

Excess Sugar Harms Every Tissue Of The Body

Sugar is nearly hundred per cent simple carbohydrate and provides no other nutrient.

It therefore has no nutritional value and plays no role in our nutrition.

Excess sugar consumption adversely affects every tissue of our body.

Sugar is metabolised in the liver and excess sugar is converted into fat and this leads to excess accumulation of fat in the liver. This can lead to a condition called non alcoholic fatty liver disease. This leads to inflammation of the liver tissue and eventually scarring of it which can lead to liver cirrhosis and will finally need a liver transplant.

When we eat calories that the body doesn’t need immediately, these excess calories are converted into triglycerides, a circulating fat in the blood and stored in fat cells in the body. Body releases energy from this store of triglycerides when the body needs calories between meals.

When we eat excess sugar regularly, the blood levels of triglycerides increase and this leads to raised levels of LDL or the bad cholesterol in our blood.

Sugar also inhibits an enzyme that releases energy from triglycerides.

This leads to further increase in the blood triglycerides levels.

Thus eating excess sugary food increases the levels of triglycerides.

LDL cholesterol causes plaque formation in the walls of the coronary and brain arteries and leads to heart disease, heart attacks and strokes.

HDL cholesterol clears the LDL cholesterol deposits from the coronary and brain arteries and removes them to liver which breaks it down to be removed from the body, thus preventing heart disease, heart attacks and strokes.

Excess sugar in your food increases the levels of the LDL or the bad cholesterol and suppresses the levels of the HDL or the good cholesterol in the blood.

So the high levels of LDL cholesterol and low levels of HDL cholesterol lead to heart disease, heart attacks and strokes.

Excess sugar leads to raised levels of insulin in the blood and this causes inflammation and damage to the arterial walls all over the body, they thicken and become hard and less elastic.

This puts excess pressure on the heart and raises the blood pressure. Inflammation also damages the endothelium, the innermost lining of the arterial walls and this leads to platelets and white cells of the blood clumping together and forming clots and plaque formation in the arteries and heart disease, myocardial infarcts and strokes.

Eating sugar causes a surge of a feel good chemical called dopamine to be released in the brain. It gives you a feeling of pleasure. The brain doesn’t release the same amount of dopamine if you eat complex carbohydrate foods or even fruits. And gradually you need more sugar to get the same amount of dopamine surge to get the same amount of pleasure. This is the reason why you get the cravings for eating something sweet from time to time in a day.

It is because they have been accustomed to eating excess sweet before and used to the pleasure derived from eating them.

This may explain the strong cravings for sweets that many people feel when they try to lose weight on balanced, wholesome food. It is because they have been accustomed to eating excess sweet before and used to the pleasure derived from eating them.

Eating a cookie or a candy gives you a burst of energy due to sudden surge in blood sugar but soon the cells absorb the excess blood sugar and you experience sugar crash, translating into a low, jittery feeling.

Continuous consumption of excess sugar has been linked to depression.

Excess sugar also leads to dental caries.

Excess sugar also causes inflammation of the joints and increase the joint pains. It is also linked to increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.

Excessive sugar intake leads to increased excretion of calcium, magnesium and potassium in urine and loss of calcium and magnesium lead to osteoporosis.

Research has also proved that excess sugar consumption also reduces the availability of active Vitamin D in the body, increased calcium loss from bones, poorer quality of bone formation and increased risk of fractures.

Earlier researchers thought that salt is more damaging to the bone health, but now they have found out that sugar is the bigger threat to the bone health!

It also increases the levels of cortisol as well as insulin in the body, high levels of both hormones are damaging to the body.

It also damages the collagen and elastin fibre in the skin those keep the skin looking younger and wrinkle free. Damage to these tissues leads to wrinkling and ageing of the skin.

High sugar intake raises the blood sugar which causes inflammation of the skin as it causes in all other tissues of the body. So it causes inflammation in the skin of the scalp too and this leads to drying up of the scalp, dandruff and damages the hair root follicles, leading to hair loss, thinning of hair and loss of quality of the hair.

Excess sugar also adds excess calories to your daily intake. Calories coming from sugary liquids like tea, coffee, aerated cold drinks do not satisfy hunger like solid food can. Thus you tend to consume more solid food, as the brain doesn’t register the liquid calories, adding too many calories to your food and this leads to weight gain.

Excess sugar also causes inflammation of the fat cells which release harmful chemicals which cause weight gain.

This in turn is detrimental to the health of your joints and vertebral column and leads to diseases like osteoarthritis of the knees and degenerative diseases of the vertebral column like prolapse disks.

Cholecystitis is common amongst the obese, especially women.

Obesity also leads to hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and strokes.

And you can consume sugar not just under the name of sugar but also under the names of jaggery, honey, glucose, fructose, maltose, sucrose, corn syrup, maple syrup, beat sugar etc. fifty or sixty names.

So stop eating too much sugar and sweet foods.

Also read article ‘Basics Of Nutrition’ on this website.

Eating And Living Heart Healthy!

India is home to the world’s largest number of heart disease patients.

We Indians are genetically more prone to develop heart disease and that is to ten years before the people of the developed countries.

We not only catch heart disease early but it also appears to progress faster in our people.

The number of our people dying of heart disease and strokes is significantly higher than people of the Western world.

According to the Global Burden Of Disease study, the age-standardized death rate of Indians per 100000 due to coronary heart disease is 272, way higher than the world average of 235.

It is vital for us to eat heart-healthy food and lead a heart-healthy lifestyle to prevent developing heart disease and strokes.

In a heart-healthy diet, we primarily have to rely on a vegetarian diet.

Luckily the majority of Indians are vegetarians and those who eat non-vegetarian food also eat it only in a few meals a week, unlike the Western people who eat it in every meal of the day all week.

That is the reason why eating a heart-healthy vegetarian diet is far easier for us than for Western people.

In a heart healthy diet, we need to eat whole grain cereals and pulses, ample fresh vegetables and fruits, moderate amounts of preferably mono unsaturated fatty acid dominant, cold pressed groundnut or olive oil, and skimmed milk.

It is maybe easier to eat either groundnut or sesame seed oil in India and olive oil in the West.

Most of us have whole grain cereals in the form of chapati, rice, bhakri, and pulses in the form of dals, varan, amti, usal and vegetables in both lunch and dinner.

Thus we must have cereals, pulses, and vegetables in both lunch and dinner.

In addition, we must keep our consumption of salt low, shift over to using the above oils and start eating ample fruits.

If you are a fish eater, it is very beneficial to eat sea fish 200 gm twice a week for getting adequate amounts of heart-healthy omega 3 fatty acids.

But few amongst us eat non-vegetarian food and even fewer eat fish. Because of this, only a few can eat fish adequately enough.

Omega 3 is also available in supplement form for those who don’t eat fish, but as a rule, most nutrients are better absorbed and assimilated by the body from food than from nutritional supplements.

And if you are taking omega 3 supplements, you must watch your lipid profile as some of these supplements develop high levels of heart-healthy HDL cholesterol. Levels of HDL cholesterol higher than normal too can be harmful to the heart.

So you must take omega 3 supplements only under the advice and supervision of your doctor.

Omega 3 fatty acids lower the levels of your triglycerides and prevent or reduce inflammation and improve the health of the endothelium of the arteries and keep you heart-healthy.

But the health of the heart depends upon many other factors too.

Pure vegetarian people have been known to stay heart-healthy till their nineties and beyond.

In a heart-healthy diet, we can eat one whole egg three or four days a week, preferably on days on which we don’t eat any other non-vegetarian food. But you should consult your doctor about eating eggs if you are suffering from heart disease.

In non-vegetarian foods turkey, goat meat and skinned chicken can be had in moderation, the less the better. Lamb, beef, and pork are best avoided as they are high in saturated fats and cholesterol.

It is advisable to keep the consumption of sugar, jaggery, honey, ‘rava’, ‘maida’, refined corn flour, sago, cream, ghee, butter, cheese, full cream paneer, groundnuts, coconut, sesame, fast food like pizza, burger, wada, fried snacks like chips, French fries, ‘bakarwadi’, ‘chakli’, ‘shev’, ‘farsan’, bakery products like bread, biscuits, cakes, pastries to the minimum.

Hydrogenated oils or vanaspati ghee and bakery products made from it and fried foods have trans fatty acids which are very harmful to the heart. They are best avoided.

Dry fruit nuts like almonds, walnuts, cashew nuts, pistachios are high fat (50 to 60 percent fat), high-calorie foods.

Most heart disease patients are overweight or obese.

So they are better off avoiding dry fruit nuts.

Avoid mayonnaise, ketchup, and sauces like soya, barbecue, oyster, Worcestershire sauce as they are high in salt and sodium.

Also avoid frozen foods like ham, salami, sausages, nuggets, and also frozen vegetables. They too are high in salt and sodium.

Avoid ice creams and desert sweets or ‘mithai’.

Eating on these lines will keep your sugar, salt, saturated fats, cholesterol, and calorie consumption low and help you lose weight and get heart healthy.

In addition, you must look to improve your lifestyle, maintain healthy hours of meals, take adequate rest, sleep adequately and at regular hours, exercise regularly, walking too is an excellent exercise, if possible practice ‘pranayam’, meditation or yoga Nidra to be happy and peaceful.

Lose weight if you are overweight or obese.

Stop smoking and consuming tobacco in any form, it is harmful to heart health in any form.

Minimize or stop alcohol.

These guidelines will help protect you from hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and strokes.

Please also read the articles ‘Basics Of Nutrition’ and the ‘Good And The Bad Fats’ on this website.

Rampant Iron Deficiency Anaemia In Women And Children!

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), 35.7 percent of children and 46.1 percent of women in India were anemic in the year 2016.

The numbers have gone up to 68.4 and 66.4 percent respectively, in the year 2019.

This is an alarming rise. And children seem to have overtaken women in this regard.

Iron is an important mineral that our body needs for various functions like oxygen and carbon dioxide transportation, metabolism, growth, normal cellular function, synthesis of hormones and connective tissue, and DNA.

Deficiency of iron causes anemia, fatigue, lack of energy, hampered physical and mental growth in the growing age, lowered immunity, and impaired cognitive development.

We get iron from our food like most other nutrients.

The iron that we get from animal source foods is heme iron while that we get from vegetable source foods is of the non-heme iron. The heme iron has greater bioavailability, that is, it is better absorbed by our body than the non-heme iron which has lower bioavailability, that is, it is not as well absorbed by our body as the heme iron.

That means even if the amount of iron present in the vegetable source foods is greater than that available in animal source food, the body utilities the animal source iron better.

The best sources of non-heme iron are pulses like soya, peas, various beans, and lentils like tur, masur, matki, chavli, mug, most vegetables, especially leafy vegetables like spinach, fenugreek, amaranth and grains like rajgira, and cereals like wheat, bajri or pearl millet, jowar or sorghum, nachani or ragi or finger millet, oats, etc. Fruits like apricots, dates, peaches, prunes, currants, raisins, pears, figs, apples are also good sources of iron.

Dark chocolate is also a good source of non-heme iron.

Our bodies can utilize non-heme iron better when we consume vegetable source iron-rich foods along with Vitamin C-rich foods. So including tomatoes and bell papers and citrus fruits and guavas in our food will help us utilities the non-heme iron better. Indian gooseberries and guavas are the richest sources of Vitamin C.

The best source of heme iron is animal liver and red meat. This heme iron is the best source of iron for us. The safest red meat to consume is goat meat, even better than poultry.

Shell fishes, oysters, and also some other fish like tuna, salmon, and crabs are also good sources of heme iron. Fishes with scaly skin are better sources of heme iron.

The richest source of iron is clams (‘tisrya’, a shell fish delicacy). They are also rich in Vitamins C and B12.

So for an ill, anemic person with normal blood cholesterol levels, clams, goat meat, liver, oysters, and fish could just be the best nutritional support on his or her way to recovery.

Cooking food in iron vessels also adds iron to our food. We can use this to add iron to our food.

Only avoid cooking acidic food with a lot of tomatoes, lime, vinegar, or tamarind and dessert delicacies in iron vessels as they may develop a metallic taste.

Use iron vessels to cook food quickly, avoid prolonged, slow cooking in iron pots.

Once cooked, always immediately remove the cooked food from the iron vessels to steel or glass vessels, don’t leave it in the iron vessels as it will add metallic taste to the food.

Apart from iron, we also need to include adequate Vitamin B12 and folate in our food to fight of anaemia.

The above animal source foods plus milk will also provide ample Vitamin B12 to such a diet.

The only source of Vitamin B12 in the vegetarian diet is milk. Vegetarian people need to drink at least two and half cups of milk to get adequate Vitamin B12.

Adding ample green leafy vegetables to food will add sufficient folate to such a diet, the other important nutrient that helps us fight off anaemia.

Please also read the article ‘Basics Of Nutrition’ on this website.

Sitting Is As Bad For The Heart As Smoking!

Dr. James Levine, director of the Mayo Clinic, Arizona State University Obesity Solutions Initiative and inventor of the treadmill desk, has been studying the adverse effects of our increasingly sedentary lifestyles for years and has summed up his findings in two sentences.

“Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death.”

Levine is credited with coining that mantra — “sitting is the new smoking” — but he’s not the only one who believes it. Researchers have found and continue to find evidence that prolonged sitting increases the risk of developing several serious illnesses like various types of cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

Studies have repeatedly shown that the effects of long-term sitting are not reversible through exercise, eating and living healthy. Sitting, like smoking, is very clearly bad for our health and the only way to minimize the risk is to limit our sitting time each day.

You will surely know a few people who apparently lived and ate healthy and exercised regularly but still suffered from a heart attack (infarct) and wondered what may have caused these heart attacks. The reason may well have been sitting long hours at a desk job for years.

So even if you exercise for an hour or more regularly and eat healthy, you could still be susceptible to develop diabetes or to die of heart disease or various cancers, if you sit for long hours for years.

So the sooner you cut down on your sitting hours, the better!

Also read the article ‘Walking To Be Slim And Healthy!’ on this website.