24 ways sugar is making you sick

New research from the University of Texas at Dallas shows a link between sugar and squamous cell carcinoma, which is hard to treat and accounts for a quarter of all lung cancers. The study also found that four other types of squamous cell cancer also consume a lot of sugar.

You age an additional 4.6 years if you drink a 591-millilitre sugary beverage every day. (The effect is comparable to that of being a regular smoker.)

A 2016 study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine shows eating more sugar (along with less fibre and more saturated fat) is associated with lighter, more disrupted and less restorative sleep.

Read on for the different types of insomnia that can keep you up at night.

Good news: we’re drinking less soft-drink than we were a decade ago. Bad news: we’ve replaced it with options that may be just as unhealthy, says dietitian Amanda Nash. A 2017 report from the University of Waterloo found sales of energy drinks increased by 638 per cent in the 12 years prior, while sales of specialty coffees increased by 579 per cent. Energy drinks contain 84 grams of sugar, sports drinks contain about 40 grams, and your average flavoured latte comes in at around 36 grams.

A 2010 study of 8495 Americans over 18 in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that as subjects added-sugar intake went up, their levels of HDL (good cholesterol) dropped, increasing their risk for cardiovascular disease. The study also found that women in particular who ate more added sugar had higher levels of LDL density (bad cholesterol).

Here’s what you need to know about cholesterol.

A Canadian Medical Association Journal study from 2016, which analysed more than 40,000 packaged foods on the shelves of one of the nation’s biggest retailers, found added sugar in 66 per cent of the items.

Researchers from the University of Reading, the University of Cambridge and Arizona State University studied the sugar intake of 1700 men and women aged 39 to 77 in Norfolk, UK. According to a study published in 2015, they found that those who ate the most sugar were 54 per cent more likely to be overweight (that is, have a BMI over 25) – and were also more likely to have underreported how much of the substance they consumed.

Here are 10 sneaky pseudonyms manufacturers use to fool you into thinking their food isn’t packed with the sweet stuff:

Amazake

Carob powder

Corn syrup

Dextrose

Evaporated cane juice

Fructose

Fruit juice concentrate

High-fructose corn syrup

Honey

Maltose

Scientists have long suspected a link between sugar-sweetened beverages and asthma.  After analysing data from 146,990 adults in the US, they found that, sure enough, adults who downed at least two of these drinks a day were more likely to have respiratory issues.

Check out these common items with hidden health risks.

Normal blood pressure falls between 90/60 and 120/80. According to a study in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology in 2010, a high-fructose diet can push your blood pressure over the threshold of 120/80, which is considered the upper end of normal. In a 2014 research review published in the BMJ Open Heart journal, medical experts argued that sugar intake may have the most dramatic effect on modulating blood pressure – and, in fact, could be more detrimental to heart health than sodium consumption.