How sugar affects mental health. Scientists from Tokyo tell us about it

How sugar affects mental health. Scientists from Tokyo tell the story

People with mental health problems eat it about 2.5 times more than the rest of us.

Sweet eaters eat an average of 31 kg of sugar in a year – this is almost four times the norm. According to simple calculations, it turns out about 15 teaspoons a day. Disappointing statistics prompted scientists to find out what threatens the health of such a “sweet life”.

Candidate of Medical Sciences, Doctor of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics SITILAB

All consequences of “sweet life” trigger a chain of pathological changes in the body and can lead to serious diseases.

Japanese scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University believe that excessive sugar consumption can provoke the development of mental disorders. The researchers proved this on the example of mice with a predisposition to mental disorders. It turned out that the rodents-sweeteners and people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have common characteristic symptoms. Among them:

• decreased sensorimotor function;
• decreased working memory;
• hyperactivity.

Genes are to blame, the authors of the paper suggest.

What else happens to the body if you eat a lot of sugar?

Stress on the liver

Irina: The negative effect of sugar is similar to the effect of alcohol on the body. That is why today children often have diseases that are usually associated with alcoholism. Often little sweet lovers are diagnosed with fatty hepatosis of the liver, which in adults often has an alcoholic nature. But children do not drink alcohol, so the main source of these problems is unlimited consumption of sweets.

Insulin resistance

If sugar is eaten often and a lot, the body can stop responding to insulin properly. Because of this, metabolism is disturbed and type II diabetes mellitus develops. The cause of this rearrangement lies in the mitochondria – important elements in cells, they are also called “energy stations”. This leads to metabolic malfunctions that disrupt energy production. This is primarily affected by trans fats and secondarily by sugar.

Dental problems

Frequent consumption of sugary drinks and desserts contributes to tooth decay. Sugar attracts a large number of harmful microbes.