Sugar Kicks Immune System

Too Much Sugar
The American diet is overloaded with sugar.  People eat an average of 125 grams, or more each day which can add up to 3 pounds, yes pounds, each week. Dried fruit is pretty sweet, so why do pineapple slices require a sugar coating?  Bread only requires a teaspoon of sugar to feed the yeast, yet why is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) one of the main ingredients in many bread products?  What’s in your soup, spaghetti sauce and even saltine crackers – some kind of sweetener. Instead of having 100% fruit juice, sugar or HFCS with water is added substituting for, yes you’re right, fruit juice.

Gradually, sugar and HFCS have been added to more food products to enhance the taste and stimulate our taste buds, substitute for healthier ingredients and addict our bodies to demand…more sugar.

How Does Sugar Kick the Immune System?
How does sugar affect the immune system, especially in the flu and cold season? Sugar, HFCS, and other sweeteners are metabolized by our body for “quick energy”.  Sugar is quickly absorbed into our system.  If you’re working out, a little bit goes a long way.  Add sugar when sick, and it kicks our immune system.

Consider these factors when slurping down a Slurpy:

• When fighting a bug, disease, or chronic infection, the sweeteners feed these body inhabitants too (bacteria, mold, fungus).
• Sugar reduces the ability of white blood cells (our body’s main defense system) to destroy foreign particles and microorganisms in our body.
• Adding sugar to our diet upsets the body’s blood-sugar balance, which can then cause a chemical and hormonal imbalance,  depressing our immune system.
• Too much sugar increases drowsiness and decreased activity.
• Sugar contains NO nutrients, and interferes with the absorption of minerals and nutrients necessary to fight off infections.
• Sugar competes with Vitamin C absorption that can help our body combat viruses and other infections.
• Increased sugar consumption raises our insulin levels,  which can promote increased fat storage. We become fatter and less active.  Exercise and keeping an active life helps the body flush out toxins, fight off diseases and infections, and maintain hormonal balance.

I’ve listed only  a  few bad side effects from sugar.  Unfortunately, there are more negative impacts from sugar, but hopefully this article will spark interest to check your sugar consumption in purchased food.  Try to cut way back on sugar and HFCS.  A little bit of sugar does go a long way – and not in a good way.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 at 11:06 am and is filed under Figuring it out, Healing Power, Lifestyle & Stress, Natural Remedies, The Food We Eat. The entry is tagged under colds, corn syrup, flu, HFCS, high fructose corn syrup, immune system, immunity, staying healthy, sugar, swine flu, Vitamin C. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.