Stop Sugar Addiction That Fuels Inflammation & Heart Disease

Inflammation causes heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Controlling inflammation (not cholesterol levels) is critical if we are to reduce and even cure heart disease and those diseases of aging. As sugar ignites inflammation, it incites heart disease.

Investigators have been pleading with the medical community to pay more attention to helping patients manage inflammation. We now know that inflammation may be initiated by our own immune system in response to inciting events and sugar, more specifically fructose plays a critical role in the process.

High Fructose Corn Syrup And Sugar Addiction

Sucrose, with the chemical formula C12H22O11, is an equal combination of fructose, C6H12O6, and glucose. C6H12O6, is the most common of the sugars involved in this inflammatory process.

There has been a rapid increase in the use of fructose syrup from corn in food manufacturing. This high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is significantly sweeter than sucrose, a much cheaper process for manufacturers but significantly more toxic to our liver, and cardiovascular system.

The inflammatory process that mediates heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity is a result of rapidly rising blood sugar that results in toxic biochemical changes caused primarily by fructose in the cell.

Avoiding sugar and high-glycemic (simple) carbohydrates which the body will rapidly convert to sugar is a primary focus to stop sugar addiction thereby reducing inflammation. A marker of inflammation, C-reactive protein (CPR), plays a major role in heart disease.

Elevated CRP – Another Reason To Get Sugar Under Control

A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine identified people with elevated CRP levels had four fold increases in having a heart attack.

Not only is elevated CRP more accurate than cholesterol in predicting heart attack risk, but high CRP levels have turned up in people with diabetes and pre-diabetes and in people who are overweight.

The CRP molecule is not found in foods. However, its levels in the body are strongly influenced by diet more specifically the increased amount of sucrose and fructose, not fat.

A recent Harvard Medical School study revealed that women who ate large amounts of high-glycemic (or diabetes promoting) carbohydrates which included potatoes, breakfast cereals, white breads, muffins, and white rice, had very high CRP levels.

If a woman ate those high-glycemic carbohydrates and was overweight, she had the highest and most dangerous CRP levels. So the link of elevated CRP, heart disease and sugar consumption becomes clearer.

Following high carbohydrate consumption, our body makes CRP from interleukin-6 (IL-6), a powerful inflammatory chemical. IL-6 is a key cell communication molecule. It activates our immune system to release CRP and many other inflammation-causing substances.

Sugar Addiction – Inflammation & Weight

Being overweight increases inflammation because adipose cells (particularly visceral fat cells around our abdominal organs) makes large amounts of cytokines and CRP. These cytokines cause elevated sugar levels because of insulin resistance. That results in more abdominal fat and increasing IL-6 and CRP levels.

This rapidly deteriorating cycle worsens by increasing obesity and higher blood sugar levels even more; in turn that increases the risk of heart disease induced by the burning embers of inflammation. It’s a vicious cycle.

The pancreas responds to excess glucose in the blood stream by pumping out large amounts of insulin. Then the body develops a resistance to persistent elevated insulin levels. Excess blood sugar results in glycosylation. This is the process when sugar can attach itself to collagen inside of blood vessels, organs, and muscles.

This material has the consistency of the outer coating of the dessert Crme Brulee and results in stiff blood vessels with inflammation and blockage, organ deterioration, and systemic inflammation.

High insulin levels and persistent elevated sugar levels results in our body creating long chain fatty acids that are stored inside the belly as visceral fat. Fortunately, when we are young, this process is blocked by progesterone. As both men and women age, progesterone falls to immeasurable levels in our forties and the belly fat battle begins.

The best way to stop sugar addiction and cravings is to control blood sugar and insulin by staying away from simple carbohydrates and eating more protein. That sounds so much easier than it is especially when sweets have the addictive qualities of crack cocaine and opium.

Of all the substances we consume that are damaging, sugar is the most harmful as it ignites inflammation and inflammation causes heart disease. We can see the result of excessive sugar in diabetes, obesity and cancer as well. Having seen the ravages of damaged hearts for 15 years as a heart surgeon, my goal today is helping patients prevent disease.

A huge step in prevention is overcoming sugar addiction. To learn how you can easily end sugar addiction visit https://stopsugarcravingseasily.com