Addiction to sugar more powerful than cocaine - Expert calls for urgent attention

For most people, until sugar gets into their food, they do not feel that they are eaten something sweet enough.

From breakfast meals, to the snacks taken in between, and everything else eaten in the day, sugar becomes a major part of every day life.

But Ebenezer Denzel Amanor, who writes about health matters via Surveillance Ghana, has raised a worrying alarm about the increasing amounts of sugar consumed by people daily.

Speaking to GhanaWeb, he painted a pictures of how prevalent sugar is in everyday life, adding that there is the need for urgent actions to be made to reduce the intake as much as possible.

“Sugar is everywhere in what we eat but it is not exactly a good thing for many people. It is a silent killer.

“Sugar in a baby’s brain is called ADHD; sugar in an adult’s brain is called dementia and Alzheimer’s; sugar in your eyes is called glaucoma; sugar in your teeth is called cavities; sugar on your skin is called aging; sugar in your sleep is called insomnia; sugar in your blood is called diabetes; excess sugar in your system is called cancer; sugar on Wall Street is called a billion-dollar industry,” he said.

Ebenezer Denzel Amanor, also stressed the need for people to reduce the intake of sugars because it is dangerous to their health.

He added that “Addiction to sugar is more powerful than cocaine,” making it a far more concerning thing.

Ebenezer Denzel Amanor also raised an alarm over the fact that a lot of intake of blood can damage the blood vessels in a person’s body.

“High blood sugar over time damages blood vessels in the brain that carry oxygen-rich blood. When your brain receives too little blood, brain cells can die. This is called brain atrophy and can cause problems with memory and thinking and eventually can lead to vascular dementia,” he added.

Besides, he added, the more frequent a person is exposed to high glucose intake, the more their mental capacity diminishes.

While admitting that it is not an easy thing to cut down on sugar intake, Ebenezer Denzel Amanor advised that people, at least, make conscious efforts to cut down on especially the intake of high levels of sugars during their breakfasts.

He also appealed to people to read labels of products they are consuming to understand how much sugar is in there, and to resort to eating more whole foods as well as full-fat foods.

Heavy intake of sugars have been shown to cause weight gain and can lead to cancers, especially the over-consumption of sugar, particularly added sugars in processed beverages and foods, which can contribute to obesity - an important risk factor for cancer.

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