The Alarming Effects of Excessive Sugar Consumption on Children and Young Adults: A Wake-Up Call for Parents

2023-07-02 06:04:00

“We now see parents who give bottles of sugary drinks” is alarmed by an endocrinologist from the CHL. She warns once morest the hyper-consumption of sugar, but also once morest the spread of a worrying disease among young people: “Nash”.

We now have cirrhosis linked to excessive sugar consumption. It’s not very well known, but it’s very serious“says Dr. Catherine Atlan, specialist in nutrition, endocrinology and diabetology at the CHL.

From our experience”We tested for you: what does a month without sugar do?” (article to read here), we discussed with this specialist of this “public enemy number 1“, according to many alarmist publications.

A formulation that makes Dr. Atlan’s hair stand on end: “Sugar is our body’s fuel. We don’t know how to work without, the brain cannot function without it. So it’s not our enemy at all.

But of course, it’s all regarding the amount and type of sugars. “On does not need sweets to function, because our organism is able to draw fast sugars, the only ones usable by the organs, from complex sugars contained for example in pasta, potatoes, bread, etc. .” SO “Is glucose our enemy? No. Is it that excessive amount of glucose brought by our food is our enemy? Yes.

When sugar becomes a “drug”

Yes, the excess of fast sugars (those found in sweets and sodas in particular) “can lead to a feeling of dependence, to an addiction, because – I am going to speak as little scientifically as possible – as soon as you eat a large quantity of fast sugars, you immediately have a feeling of well-being“, a bit like with alcohol, she compares. “The more you consume, the more you will seek this state.“An addiction to sugar which is studied in certain countries, in particular the United States where this consumption of sugar is generalized.

Dr. Atlan has one product in particular in his sights: sodas. “It needs to be demonized. It’s not the sugar that should be demonized, it’s the sodas that we don’t need.“The problem, she continues, is that soda allows you to consume a large amount of sugar very quickly – you just have to swallow the liquid, unlike candies which you have to at least take the time to chew.

Now she doesn’t want to completely ban sweets for children either: “Car nor are we going to deprive a child of a candy to celebrate a birthday, etc. I raised kids anyway” she laughs.

What regarding sweet breakfast, or alcohol?

Should we ban the western breakfast, sweet, as we read more and more, to favor the salty breakfast? “I don’t like to deny the cultural aspect of food, it’s also a story, habits. If you don’t feel well following this type of breakfast, yes we can see what we can do. If you eat three pains au chocolat, or large bowls of super-sweetened cereal, then yes, you will have a breakfast that is too rich, you risk having a sluggishness at the end of the morning linked to this hyperglycemic breakfast…

She also wants to talk regarding alcohol, an unrecognized source of sugar. “ In a glass of wine or beer, there is also sugar, so it is an important energy supply. 1 gram of alcohol is 7 calories, while a gram of sugar is 4 calories. We don’t know how to metabolize alcohol, so the liver does what it can, usually it turns it into fat.”

“The Nash is here now, in Europe”

Which organ suffers the most from excessive sugar consumption? “Liver. There is also what is considered a new disease: Nash, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. It causes diabetes, but it also leads, like alcohol, to liver cirrhosis, even liver cancer. Then yes, we now have cirrhosis linked to excessive sugar consumption. It took a while to arrive in Europe, but it’s there now, in children or very young adults.

There are no miracle drugs once morest this disease which is also nicknamed “the disease of soda“: “The best way to stop the progression of Nash to cirrhosis is to completely stop the consumption of industrial sugar.”

And because prevention is better than cure, she strongly advises parents once morestinitiate “too soon children with sweet tastes. When I see children in the waiting rooms with bottles of sugary drinks… we don’t see it too much yet in Luxembourg, but I’ve already seen it elsewhere, bottles of Coca-Cola, I hope it won’t come too quickly to us“.

Leave the children”drinking lots of sodas, eating bags of candy, yes, it’s a crime. I weigh my words, it’s a crime” she hammers. But she also nuances: “Afterwards, it is also a crime of ignorance, because of parents are not sufficiently informed“, in particular because the authorities must improve awareness of this danger.

The paradox of modern food is also that this excess affects the poorest: “The poorer we are, the more malnourished we are. So we shouldn’t blame parents, it’s known that there is a very strong link between obesity and socio-economic background. Poor people who suffer from obesity, we make them feel guiltywhile it must be understood that part of their behavior also comes from the way in which they are offered poor quality food” she recalls.

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