In addition to throwing off the body’s homeostasis, sugar may result in a number of other significant consequences. The following is a listing of some of sugar’s metabolic consequences from a variety of medical journals and other scientific publications.

1. Sugar can suppress your immune system and impair your defences against infectious diseases.^1,2
2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in your body: causes chromium and copper deficiencies and interferes with the absorption of calcium and magnesium. ^3,4,5,6
3. Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.^7,8
4. Sugar can produce a significant rise in total cholesterol, triglycerides and bad cholesterol and a decrease in good cholesterol.^9,10,11,12
5. Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function.¹³
6. Sugar feeds cancer cells and has been connected with the development of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, biliary tract, lung, gallbladder and stomach.^{14,15,16,17,18,19,20}
7. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose and can cause reactive hypoglycemia.^21,22
8. Sugar can weaken eyesight.²³
9. Sugar can cause many problems with the gastrointestinal tract including an acidic digestive tract, indigestion, malabsorption in patients with functional bowel disease, increased risk of Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis.^{24,25,26,27,28}
10. Sugar can cause premature aging.²⁹
11. Sugar can lead to alcoholism.³⁰
12. Sugar can cause your saliva to become acidic, tooth decay, and periodontal disease.^31,32,33
13. Sugar contributes to obesity.³⁴
14. Sugar can cause autoimmune diseases such as: arthritis, asthma, multiple sclerosis.^35,36,37
15. Sugar greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections).³⁸
16. Sugar can cause gallstones.³⁹
17. Sugar can cause appendicitis.⁴⁰
18. Sugar can cause hemorrhoids.⁴¹
19. Sugar can cause varicose veins.⁴²
20. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraceptive users.⁴³
21. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.⁴⁴
22. Sugar can cause a decrease in your insulin sensitivity thereby causing an abnormally high insulin level and eventually diabetes.^45,46,47
23. Sugar can lower your Vitamin E levels.⁴⁸
24. Sugar can increase your systolic blood pressure.⁴⁹
25. Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.⁵⁰
26. High sugar intake increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs)(Sugar molecules attaching to and thereby damaging proteins in the body).⁵¹
27. Sugar can interfere with your absorption of protein.⁵²
28. Sugar causes food allergies.⁵³
29. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.⁵⁴
30. Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.⁵⁵
31. Sugar can cause atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.^56,57
32. Sugar can impair the structure of your DNA.⁵⁸
33. Sugar can change the structure of protein and cause a permanent alteration of the way the proteins act in your body.^59,60
34. Sugar can make your skin age by changing the structure of collagen.⁶¹
35. Sugar can cause cataracts and nearsightedness.^62,63
36. Sugar can cause emphysema.⁶⁴
37. High sugar intake can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in your body.⁶⁵
38. Sugar lowers the ability of enzymes to function.⁶⁶
39. Sugar intake is higher in people with Parkinson’s disease.⁶⁷
40. Sugar can increase the size of your liver by making your liver cells divide and it can increase the amount of liver fat.^68,69
41. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney such as the formation of kidney stones.^70,71
42. Sugar can damage your pancreas.⁷²
43. Sugar can increase your body’s fluid retention.⁷³
44. Sugar is enemy #1 of your bowel movement.⁷⁴
45. Sugar can compromise the lining of your capillaries.⁷⁵
46. Sugar can make your tendons more brittle.⁷⁶
47. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.⁷⁷
48. Sugar can reduce learning capacity, adversely affect school children’s grades and cause learning disorders.^78,79
49. Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha, and theta brain waves which can alter your mind’s ability to think clearly.⁸⁰
50. Sugar can cause depression.⁸¹
51. Sugar can increase your risk of gout.⁸²
52. Sugar can increase your risk of Alzheimer’s disease.⁸³
53. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalances such as increasing estrogen in men, exacerbating PMS, and decreasing growth hormone.^84,85,86,87
54. Sugar can lead to dizziness.⁸⁸
55. Diets high in sugar will increase free radicals and oxidative stress.⁸⁹
56. High sucrose diets of subjects with peripheral vascular disease significantly increase platelet adhesion.⁹⁰
57. High sugar consumption of pregnant adolescents can lead to a substantial decrease in gestation duration and is associated with a twofold increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.^91,92
58. Sugar is an addictive substance.⁹³
59. Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.⁹⁴
60. Sugar given to premature babies can affect the amount of carbon dioxide they produce.⁹⁵
61. A decrease in sugar intake can increase emotional stability.⁹⁶
62. Your body changes sugar into 2 to 5 times more fat in the bloodstream than it does starch.⁹⁷
63. The rapid absorption of sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese subjects.⁹⁸
64. Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).⁹⁹
65. Sugar adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition.¹⁰⁰
66. Sugar can slow down the ability of your adrenal glands to function.¹⁰¹
67. Sugar has the potential of inducing abnormal metabolic processes in a normal healthy individual and promoting chronic degenerative diseases.¹⁰²
68. I.V.s (intravenous feedings) of sugar water can cut off oxygen to your brain.¹⁰³
69. Sugar increases your risk of polio.¹⁰⁴
70. High sugar intake can cause epileptic seizures.¹⁰⁵
71. Sugar causes high blood pressure in obese people.¹⁰⁶
72. In intensive care units: Limiting sugar saves lives.¹⁰⁷
73. Sugar may induce cell death.¹⁰⁸
74. In juvenile rehabilitation camps, when children were put on a low sugar diet, there was a 44 per cent drop in antisocial behaviour.¹⁰⁹
75. Sugar dehydrates newborns.¹¹⁰
76. Sugar can cause gum disease.¹¹¹

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55. Ibid. 132
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61. Dyer, D. G., et al. Accumulation of Maillard Reaction Products in Skin Collagen in Diabetes and Aging. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 1993:93(6):421_22.
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69. Ibid.
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72. Goulart, F. S. Are You Sugar Smart? American Fitness. March_April 1991:00:00 34_38. Milwakuee, WI,:
73. Ibid. fluid retention
74. Ibid. bowel movement
75. Ibid. compromise the lining of the capillaries
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81. Ibid,44
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94. Ibid.
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109. Schoenthaler, S. The Los Angeles Probation Department Diet-Behavior Program: Am Empirical Analysis of Six Institutional Settings. Int J Biosocial Res 5(2):88-89.
110. Gluconeogenesis in Very Low Birth Weight Infants Receiving Total Parenteral Nutrition. Diabetes. 1999 Apr;48(4):791-800.
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Source:Counting the Many Ways Sugar Harms Your Health