While natural and artificial sugar do have slightly different affects on the brain, they both are not healthy for you and your nervous system, especially if they are consumed often and in excessive amounts.
- When you intake sugar, the touch receptors on your tongue send signals to your brain triggering your brain's "reward system" which releases dopamine, a "feel-good" hormone. When your reward system is overly used your sugar cravings become heightened and your tolerance for sugar is increased, potentially causing several problems in your learning abilities and health. Overuse of the reward system can also lead to sugar addiction because you continue to crave more and more sweets.
- ADD and ADHD are common diagnoses that can come from eating too much sugar because you become hyperactive and have more trouble concentrating and remembering things than people who don't eat as much sugar. Anxiety, Depression and other behavioral issues have also been linked to intaking too much sugar because of the sugar crashes that come after the sudden burst of energy that you initially get when you eat sugar and because too much sugar can mess with your neurotransmitters that regulate your moods and behavior. Inflammation in the brain can be caused by large sugar intake amounts which is another explanation for why sugar can lead to depression and anxiety.
- A high sugar diet can lead to weakened synaptic connections between brain cells, impairing their functions because large amounts of sugar intake leads to a resistance to insulin which is a hormone that controls blood sugar levels and regulates brain cell functions; insulin is also what strengthens synaptic connections between brain cells.
- Artificial sweeteners trick your brain into thinking that you are intaking sugar because of the sweet taste so it triggers your brain’s reward system, but when it doesn’t receive the calories it thinks are coming it signals the brain to want more sugar and causes you to have bigger cravings for sweets and carbs.
- In 2012, there was a study performed at UCLA with rats that showed the negatives effects of a high sugar diet on your brain in relation to your learning and memory skills. Before the experiment began, all of the rats were trained to memorize a maze twice a day for 5 days. Then they were split into two different groups, one group of rats drank sugar water along with rat chow while the other group drank regular water along with rat chow for 6 weeks straight. After the 6 weeks, both of the groups were put through the maze again and the group of rats that drank the sugar water were slower and had more trouble remembering how to escape the maze than the group that didn't drink sugar water. The group of rats that drank the sugar water had so much trouble with the maze after the 6 weeks was because their synaptic connection between brain cells became weak and their was inflammation in their brain because of the excess amount of sugar.
Works Cited:
- "How Artificial Sweeteners Confuse Your Body into Storing Fat." Mercola.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Jan. 2017.
- Schmidt, Elaine. "This is your brain on sugar: UCLA study shows high-fructose diet sabotages learning, memory." UCLA Newsroom. N.p., 15 May 2012. Web. 09 Jan. 2017.
- "How Sugar and Learning Disabilities Are Related." Gemm Learning. N.p., 09 Apr. 2015. Web. 09 Jan. 2017.
- Gregoire, Carolyn. "This Is What Sugar Does To Your Brain." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.
- Schmidt, Elaine. "This is your brain on sugar: UCLA study shows high-fructose diet sabotages learning, memory." UCLA Newsroom. N.p., 15 May 2012. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.