Sugar and Inflammation

It’s pretty well-known that consuming too much sugar is unhealthy, but the focus has tended to be on weight gain and diabetes.

But sugar, particularly the fructose component of sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS – a popular sweetener in processed foods, soft drinks, etc.), is also a major player in inflammatory conditions such as IBS, arthritis, and allergies.

Fructose is found naturally in fruits, but because the relative amounts are small, and because the absorption is slowed by fiber and other nutrients, naturally-occurring fructose usually doesn’t provoke substantial inflammation.

But many people consume a considerable amount of sugar and HFCS, and this means an amount of fructose is hitting the gut that can damage the gut lining, adversely alter the balance of the microbiome (the normal bacteria and other microorganisms needed for a healthy GI tract), and lead to increased gut permeability (what’s often referred to as “leaky gut”).

In many cases, because they’re not directly adding sugar or seeing the volume of liquid HFCS, people may be unaware of just how much sugar and fructose they are taking in. For example, one of the biggest sources of fructose in many people’s diets is soft drinks, a 12 ounce serving of which typically contains in the neighborhood of 30 grams of sugar, about half of which is fructose. That’s about 7 to 8 teaspoons of sugar per serving!

Most people can still handle a serving of a soft drink without too much problem, but if you get up to a level of 3 or more servings per day and/or are consuming a substantial amount of sugar from other sources, you can easily overcome the integrity of the gut wall and kill off important components of the microbiome.

When you lose integrity of the gut wall and develop leaky gut, undigested food particles can breach the lining of the gut and initiate an immune response, which includes inflammation. Combined with the changes in the gut microbes, this can lead to chronic digestive problems that vary in intensity from indigestion and bloating to severe pain and irritable bowel syndrome.

Various medications are often prescribed at this stage, but they may not fully alleviate the inflammatory response in the gut and that ongoing inflammation tends to make the body more prone to inflammation in other areas. This may manifest in things like allergies and arthritis.

Because of this, reducing intake of sugar and HFCS is strongly recommended. For those who drink soft-drinks, simply reducing or eliminating them is a simple place to start. But there are other common sources of sugar that may not always be so obvious.

In many cases, foods that are marketed as being healthy are also big sugar culprits. One example of this is breads and other baked goods that proclaim themselves to be “whole grain” or “a great source of fiber.” All too often, a considerable amount of sugar is added to these products to make them taste good enough that people will actually be willing to eat them!

Another example is yogurt, which tends to be marketed as healthy due to its probiotic content. Again, it tends to contain a lot of sugar to make it taste good so people will buy more of it.

Then there’s protein bars and other meal replacements. While they may be high in protein, they often also contain a big hit of sugar. If it looks like a candy bar and tastes like a candy bar, it’s a candy bar – regardless of how much protein it has!

Now, eliminating refined sugar from the diet isn’t easy – it requires a lot of time reading food labels and some discipline to change habits. Unless you’re really motivated to do it, it probably won’t happen.

Fortunately, at last from the standpoint of inflammation, most people don’t need to eliminate it, just cut back to a level that the body can handle. Greatly reducing or eliminating the big offenders like soft drinks and heavily-sweetened baked goods will probably be sufficient for most people to bring down fructose-mediated inflammation substantially.

Reducing your consumption of sugar and HFCS may not completely eliminate your inflammation-related symptoms, but if you’ve been suffering with poor digestion, aches and pains, and/or allergies, I encourage you to try cutting back on sugar and see what happens. You can always go back to a higher intake if you lose too much weight!

Until next time…

George F. Best, D.C.