Does too much sugar cause diabetes or is that just an old wives tale?
Posted in Definition on 20. Apr, 2010
I’ve been eating a lot of sugar lately. Diabetes doesn’t run in my family but I’ve heard too much sugar can cause it. Is this true?
6 Responses to “Does too much sugar cause diabetes or is that just an old wives tale?”
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Reply
Yeah, it’s true. Too much sugar can cause your cholesterol levels to go up. And high cholesterol endangers your body and you could be vulnerable to diabetes. So easy on those sugar!
It can lead to type 2 diabetes. Your body releases insulin in response to sugar consumption. If your diet is such that your body must maintain high levels of insulin, then you can develop insulin resistance, a condition where the body does not respond adequately to normal amounts of insulin. This insulin resistance marks the beginning of diabetes.
Sugar can turn a small problem into a big one.
Excessive refined carbohydrate intake of any kind (including sugar) can lead to type two diabetes. My mother was diabetic and her moron doctor said it was because of the sugar. So, I vowed to avoid sugar. Fast forward 40 years and here I am… diabetic. Was it sugar? Nope. Was it excessive refined carb intake? Yep!
First we need to define the kind of sugars you are referring to.
There are two kinds of sugars that the body will recognize. One is carbohydrates and the other is plain sugar.
Carbohydrates are high starch foods such as rice, pasta, potatoes, cereal and breads. After you eat these they are turned directly into glucose by the body.
So when you eat these try to choose ones with vitamins and minerals in them such as whole grain breads, cereals, dried beans, lentils. and legumes.
Regular sugar on its own does not cause diabetes. Sugar is full of calories, which is an energy source for the body. The problem is that many people eat more calories than they burn, which causes fat to build up on the body. The extra fat builds up and blocks they way the body uses insulin and glucose.
Here are some web pages that will give you more information.
Good luck to you.
Absolutely an old wives’s tale! Too much of anything is not good for you! Moderation in all things is always your best course.
Diabetes is much more complicated than just too much sugar. Type II (adult onset) diabetes is caused by the inability of the pancreas to produce enough insulin to process the sugar in your body; however, all of the starch you consume is converted to a form of sugar. A large contributing factor to acquiring Type II diabetes is consuming too many calories.
Type II diabetes *does* seem to run in families. My mother was diagnosed with diabetes in her 70s, I’m not sure when my older sister was diagnosed. I was diagnosed around age 65 and my younger sister (two years older) was apparently diagnosed in her 60s. My brother, now 67 has not yet been diagnosed with diabetes.