Tuesday September 1st, 2020

The effects of sugar on our body

Dutch production company LifeHunters decided to conduct an experiment, in which a young man promised to eliminate sugar and alcohol from his diet for one month.

Sacha Harland followed this strict diet for 30 days, talking about the changes and moods he experienced each day, and the end result, by way of a mini-documentary.

To start, we see Sacha have a complete medical check-up, whose conclusion is that his health is good, although his cholesterol level is a little high. And even though in the beginning he is overcome by tiredness, due to low blood-sugar levels, as the days go by we can see both his mood and health improve: he loses weight, his blood pressure and cholesterol drop, and he has more energy.

However, specialists have said that the experiment is not rigorous or scientific and cannot be extrapolated to the entire population. They state that the initial apathy is due more to the reduction in calorie intake than to the lack of sugar, and believe that a change cannot be attributed to a single component.

Sugar is not beneficial to our health, but that does not mean that we can or should live without it. It is found naturally in many foods and, in moderation, has no reason to represent a danger.

We all know that we need to be aware of and have a healthy diet, reducing how much processed food we eat, as well as foods high in sugars and salt. But that doesn’t mean that this diet would benefit us all in the same way.