Added Sugar and longevity; the Ugly, the Bad and the Good!
The Ugly…
Aging is a one-way street, and we all travel down its path every day. But what if you could do one thing today that would slow your body’s aging process?
You can. You can stop eating sugar. Cutting sugar may make you feel smarter (more on that later).
“Sugar is a primary driver of the aging reaction,” says neuroendocrinologist Robert Lustig, M.D., professor emeritus of pediatrics and a member of the Institute of Health Policy Studies at the University of California San Francisco. “The more sugar you eat, the quicker aging will occur. As you get older, your cells go downhill, but if you consume a lot of sugar, they go downhill seven times faster.”
But wait, it’s not an “all or nothing” approach, but more so a better understanding of what will be beneficial and what’s harmful. Natural sugars in your diet are important, we’ll cover those below.
Where Added Sugar Lurks
Much of the sugar we eat doesn’t come from ice cream and cake. It comes from everyday foods that we don’t associate with sweetness. Here’s a (partial) list of sneaky sugar sources, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
- Condiments, such as ketchup and salad dressings
- Sauces, including pasta sauces, barbecue sauce, excluding made-from-scratch
- Flavored yogurt, especially low-fat yogurt
- Cereals, including granola, instant oatmeal, and breakfast cereals
- Nut butters, such as peanut butter, excluding freshly ground
- Juices, most commercial brands, excluding fresh pressed
Let’s repeat that statistic: Eating a lot of sugar causes your body to age at seven times its natural rate.
We all know that sugar is bad for your teeth and your waistline, and that it plays a role in the development of diabetes. But that’s just the beginning of the story. In a study published in July 2024, researchers at UCSF looked at 342 middle-aged women and found the cells, tissues and overall systems of those who followed a diet low in added sugar were biologically younger than their actual age. But for each additional gram of added sugar people ate each day, they were about seven days older in their biological age — regardless of how healthy their diet was otherwise.
“We knew that high levels of added sugars are linked to worsened metabolic health and early disease, possibly more than any other dietary factor,” Elissa Epel, vice chair in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UCSF and coauthor of the JAMA Network Open study, said in a statement. “Now we know that accelerated epigenetic aging is underlying this relationship, and this is likely one of many ways that excessive sugar intake limits healthy longevity.”
“Epigenetic aging” refers to how your body ages based on external factors beyond just the calendar and the natural occurrences that come with it. Stress, pollution, a lack of exercise and poor diet are all factors in epigenetic aging. But added sugar may be unique among these factors, an aging superpower. And the less you have of it in your life, the better.
Fructose may be more harmful than other sugar molecules because it is primarily metabolized by the liver, where it is readily converted into fat; in excessive amounts, it leads to increased fat accumulation and scarring in the liver. Manufacturers are now required to document added sugars on food labels, so there’s an obvious tip-off if the product contains harmful sugar.
Think of added sugars the way you’d think of alcohol: The extent of damage to your body is proportionate to the amount you consume, what scientists call “dose dependent.” Every gram of sugar interacts with your body in some way, Lustig says, but it’s the cumulative impact that portends the most damage and drives accelerated aging.
What sugar really does to your body
When sugar molecules bind to proteins and lipids in the body, they form harmful compounds called advanced glycation end products (AGEs). These AGEs accumulate in tissues, reducing their plasticity and flexibility, increasing inflammation, and creating oxidative stress in cells — all of which produce diseases, says Monica Serra, a health scientist administrator for the National Institute on Aging. In blood vessels and arteries, they can increase the risk of heart disease or strokes. In the kidneys, they can contribute to insulin resistance, and in the skin, they can deplete collagen and add to the appearance of aging.
“They affect every tissue in a negative way and across your entire lifespan, which is why we try to emphasize healthy habits in childhood,” says Serra. “By the time you get older, you see the impact of these dietary choices, at a time when you have less resilience.”
This is where fructose does its worst damage, says Lustig. “Every time glucose or fructose binds to a protein, you get an oxygen radical. If your body is making radicals faster than you can quench them, your cells undergo damage, and they eventually die. Fructose makes the reaction occur seven times faster and generates 100 times the number of oxygen radicals as glucose. Every time this process occurs, you age faster.”
8 ways sugar can harm your health
Sugar places an increased burden on an already aging body, says Dorothy Chiu, a postdoctoral scholar at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health and coauthor of the UCSF study. Getting older puts us at greater risk for disease, she says, but “sugar is the icing on the cake.” Here’s what sugar can do:
1. Raises dementia risk
Excessive amounts of sugar can increase inflammation and weaken the blood-brain barrier, which can trigger cognitive decline, Serra says. In one study, researchers found that in older adults (average age 79), consuming more sugar may double the risk of developing dementia later in life. “People at highest risk got 32 percent of their calories from sugar versus the low group consuming only 17 percent of calories from sugar,” says Puja Agarwal, assistant professor of internal medicine at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center and lead author of the study. “This study tells us consuming higher sugar or calories from sugar may impact risk for dementia.”
2. Makes your belly bigger
When you eat excess sugar, your liver metabolizes the fructose compound and converts it to fat, which accumulates in the liver. You gain weight when your liver stores excess fat instead of burning it off as energy. Fat accumulation can lead to higher cholesterol, insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease.
3. Hampers your nutritional status
As we get older, our need for calories declines, so to maintain the same body weight we need to eat less, says Alice H. Lichtenstein, senior scientist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. “Consuming a diet high in sugar makes it challenging to also include enough healthy foods so that we balance calorie needs and meet our nutrient needs.”
4. Damages your liver
High sugar intake, especially fructose, can lead to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, which is an excessive amount of fat in the liver that is associated with an increased risk of developing liver cancer.
5. Increases your risk of heart disease and stroke
Added sugar can elevate your blood pressure, promote chronic inflammation and increase levels of triglycerides, a type of fat that builds up in the bloodstream and increases your risk of heart disease. Excessive sugar intake damages the arteries and puts stress on the heart.
6. Increases your diabetes risk
Sugar causes rapid spikes in blood sugar levels, which can contribute to insulin resistance, a precursor to type 2 diabetes, and drives other major chronic diseases in older adults. In addition to aging and stress, sugar “can wreak havoc on insulin sensitivity and through various pathways accelerate aging in the body’s systems,” says UCSF’s Epel. “This is one of the most important metrics of health and aging.”
7. Worsens menopause symptoms
Postmenopausal women are more vulnerable to the effects of sugar because they have lower levels of estrogen and progesterone and become more insulin resistant. Some studies show that high sugar levels are also associated with more hot flashes in menopausal women. It may be because they cause spikes in blood sugar and dramatic drops. “It’s reasonable to conclude that reducing sugar may help reduce hot flashes for some individuals, but it has not been tested,” Epel adds.
8. Promotes tooth loss
Sugar can foster bacterial growth in the mouth, which, in turn, can produce acid that erodes the enamel on your teeth, causing cavities. Excess sugar can also lead to inflammation of the gums, leading to gum recession and tooth loss.
The Good…
Phew, you did it! You got through the Ulgy and the Bad, now let’s revel in the Good!
It’s all about balance and a balanced diet. Go back to the basics of eating whole, unprocessed foods. Stay away from the aisles in the center of the grocery store, shop the perimeter. There are fresh, whole food services available now that come directly to your door, it’s never been easier to eat a healthy diet even if you hate cooking!
When you fuel your body properly on a low-glycemic or low sugar/no added sugar diet, things that used to be an issue no longer are. For example, if you start feeding your body healthy fats such as olives, avocado and coconut oil, your sweet cravings will begin to decline because your body is running off healthy fat as well as immediate glucose use. I’ve listed some other systemic benefits of eating lower sugar that cover many of the issues that people are concerned about or find worrisome:
- Improved cognition and a decrease in neurodegenerative disease due to stable energy levels, reduced inflammation, and dopamine regulation. Reducing sugar intake helps memory and gives you a better ability to focus as it helps stabilize energy levels and reduce inflammation in the brain. A diet lower in sugar promotes a more consistent release of energy and reduces the negative impacts.
- Stable energy all day long, in addition to better sleep. Lower sugar intake allows for more stable energy release throughout the day and lowers the risk of blood sugar spiking and dropping throughout the day. This results in a more even output of energy allowing you to partake in the activities that you enjoy, which in turn creates a natural hormone balance of cortisol and melatonin that allows for a better nights rest. Your body is naturally tired from positive activity during the day and is ready for rest come nightfall. A natural decrease in cortisol throughout the day lends to a natural spike in melatonin when night falls and you’re ready for bed.
- As with improved cognition, adding healthy fats such as olive oil, avocado and coconut oils to your diet will give your body the option of a quick fuel such as glucose, or a longer burning fuel such as healthy fats. Aim to eat healthy fat, fiber (in your natural carbohydrates such as vegetables, fruits, beans and legume) and protein in every meal and you’ll stay fuller longer with a longer sustainable “burn” for your energy release throughout the day.
- Read your labels. Whenever you see “added sugars”, put the product back on the shelf. There are always healthier alternatives these days for most any product worth using as fuel for your body! Look for natural sweeteners such as stevia, monk fruit and RebM. These natural sweeteners are VERY different from their chemical counterparts artificial sweeteners!
- Understand how much sugar you’re really eating in a gram of sugar! When we see the label states “5 grams of sugar”, it may not sound like much. But consider this, for every 4 grams of sugar you’re eating 1 teaspoon of sugar! So if you consumer an average can of soda that has about 40 grams of sugar, you are consuming 10 teaspoons of sugar…yikes! If you start to build yourself a pile of white sugar to represent the grams of sugar you eat you’d be amazed at how big that pile gets in a given day. So remember, 4 grams=1 teaspoon…read your labels, pass on any “added sugar” and visualize your sugar pile as you go forward on your decreased sugar consumption.
- Your digestive and immune systems also benefit directly from decreasing sugar. Not only are you allowing your digestive systems microbiome (the bacteria in your gut) to be diverse and strong in regards to beneficial bacteria, you’re helping support a strong and properly reactive immune system as well. Since 70% of the immune system is in your gut, and you have neurons in your gut which directly interact with your brain effecting your mood and neurotransmitters, you want to keep your gut as clear from added sugars as possible. It’s important to note that the gut has a complex network of neurons known as the enteric nervous system (ENS). This network plays a vital role in controlling digestion, regulating appetite, and producing neurotransmitters that can influence mood and behavior.
- Your sugar cravings will naturally reduce the less sugar you eat. Going “cold turkey” is more beneficial and easier to cut out the excess added sugar because you’re “starving” any bacterial or yeast overgrowth that may be contributors to your sugar cravings. Your lifestyle is a big factor; if you’re not energetic enough to do the physical things you wish to do, you can have a propensity for lowered mood as well as physical capability. Both of these things will cause you to eat more sugar out of boredom or lowered mood, which perpetuates the cycle. There’s so much to be said about craving sugar, but in a healthy walnut nutshell, having too much sugar on board upsets both the gut and brain balance enough to make reducing sugar a nightmare or in the least harder than it has to be.
Bottom line: The occasional sugar indulgence isn’t harmful, but “be selective and only indulge when the option is your favorite,” Lichtenstein says. So yes, have the slice of birthday cake. But don’t have a party every day. Plus, after a while you’ll no longer want the added sugar, it will become too sweet for you. And that, my friend, is a sweet treat indeed!