Sweet Trap——“Healing Sweets” or “Sweet to Sadness”?

● It’s not good to eat sweets.

● Eating sweets can cause tooth decay, increase blood sugar, and make you fat, and is irresponsible towards your own health.

● As a nutritionist, I need to go to bed early and get up early, do exercise, eat more high-quality protein and less sugar and salt, and maintain an optimistic attitude...

Yes, yes, yes, I know.

As an ordinary person, I also know that having a Napoleon glutinous rice cake cream square chestnut cake black sesame Yuanxiao matcha ice cream happy fat boy water is never for filling the stomach. It is just for the full sense of happiness when the sweets enter the mouth.

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Sweet Foods—Bring Happiness or Sorrow?

Since ancient times, sweetness has represented the safety guarantee of ripe fruits, sufficient calories, and a high probability that the food is non-toxic.

Therefore, human beings’ love for sweetness is a survival code engraved in their genetic DNA.

However, in modern society with abundant material resources, a preference for sweet taste does not necessarily mean happiness and health.

It has been unanimously recognized by the medical community that excessive intake of refined sugar is associated with increased risk of dental caries, overweight, obesity, metabolic syndrome and gout.

But can eating sweets make people unhappy? Is this true?

Unfortunately, this may be true.

A follow-up study jointly conducted by the National Center for Health and Medicine of Japan and the University of Cambridge and published in the British Journal of Nutrition in 2021 included 911 workers without depression (812 men and 99 women; aged 19-68 years old), collected data on the participants' daily habits such as diet, exercise, work, and life, and conducted a 3-year follow-up survey1.

The results showed that 16% of the workers (153 people) had newly diagnosed depressive symptoms, and sweets intake was positively correlated with depressive symptoms1.

The researchers further pointed out that even after eliminating lifestyle factors (age, gender, region, etc.), dietary factors (total calorie intake, B vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, zinc, etc.) and baseline depression scores, people who drank more than four sugary drinks a day still had a 90% increased risk of developing depressive symptoms compared to those who drank less than one sugary drink a week1.

If we compare "depression scale score greater than 19" instead of "presence of depressive symptoms", the difference is even more significant:

Compared with the group that drank the most sugary drinks, the risk of depression increased by 162%1!

A study published in 2021 by the University of Alabama in the United States included adolescents aged 11-16 to study the relationship between sugary drinks and adolescent health2. The results also showed that frequent consumption of sugary drinks was associated with depressive symptoms in adolescents aged 11 and 13 years old; consuming sugary drinks may also increase adolescent aggression2.

The study with the longest time span and the largest sample size comes from the University of London in the UK. From 1988 to 2013, a large-sample observational study of 23,000 researchers recruited in 11 phases concluded that sweets and depression have a bidirectional impact3:

● Men who consumed the highest amount of sugar from sweets/sweetened drinks had a 23% increased risk of developing depression five years later.

● People who are prone to depression have significantly increased sugar intake.

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China’s “sweet party”, be careful not to get unhappy!

Foreigners' sweet tooth is depressing.

Will China’s “sweet party” also be troubled by this?

In 2015, a study published by Tianjin Medical University showed that increased intake of sugary drinks was associated with an increased incidence of depression in adults. This was also the first large-scale cross-sectional study on this topic in an Asian population4.

In 2019, Qingdao University published a meta-analysis of observational studies that included 10 studies with a total of 360,000 people.5 The results also showed that consuming sugary drinks may increase the risk of depression.

The only good news is: you are not completely off-limits to sweets.

Analysis shows that drinking more than 2 cups of cola a day will increase the risk of depression (about 5%); but if you drink 3 cans of cola a day, the risk of depression increases by 25%5.

Less sweetness brings joy, more sweetness brings sorrow

Feeling unhappy? Have afternoon tea!

After a cup of hot black tea and a piece of butterfly cake, I feel like the whole world is brighter!

How can sweets make people sad? This must be a mistake!

In fact, happiness or sadness is related to the amount of sweets consumed.

The hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis is the stress response system of mammals. Animal experiments have shown that feeding sucrose can reduce the stress response of rats. This may be the reason why humans tend to use sweet foods to relieve negative emotions and reduce stress6.

(Figure: Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis 6)

However, long-term, high-volume sugar intake becomes a “sweet trap” – high amounts of sugar can lead to dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, exacerbate insulin resistance, increase inflammatory responses, and further increase stress-related cortisol hormones6.

On the other hand, obesity caused by excessive sugar intake will not only reduce the body’s ability to regulate stress, but also lead to a decrease in people’s “self-control” over sweets6.

Sweet foods cause sugar metabolism disorders and persistent inflammatory responses caused by insulin resistance, which is also an important reason for increasing the risk of depression3.

In addition, the metabolism of refined sugars will consume B vitamins in the body, and the deficiency of vitamin B1, B6, and niacin will affect the function of the nervous system and the balance of neurotransmitters, increasing the risk of depression.

Sugar-controlled diet, balanced nutrition

In short, the effect of sweets on human emotions may be similar to that of drinking: a little drinking can make you happy, but excessive drunkenness can harm your body.

In the intervals of a self-disciplined and strict healthy diet consisting of whole grain staples, steamed cod, blanched kale, sugar-free yogurt and other healthy foods, there is no need to feel too much psychological burden to occasionally have a small piece of dessert.

But if you live a sweet life with a Swiss roll lava bun for breakfast, a cup of Orchid latte in the afternoon, and a cup of whipped coconut when you work overtime at night, then you really need to "control your sugar intake".

In daily diet, try to choose foods that can be seen in their "original form", such as corn cobs, steamed pumpkin, and brown rice as staple foods, then the sugar intake will be relatively low; on the contrary, if the original form of the food has been "completely changed", such as corn becoming fructose corn syrup and entering sweet drinks, pumpkin becoming pumpkin pie, and brown rice becoming white bread, the sugar intake will easily exceed the standard.

What should I do if I, a sweet lover who can’t control my hands and mouth, do?

In addition to "moving your legs", you should also pay special attention to the intake of foods that are naturally rich in B vitamins, such as whole grains and yeast, to ensure that the sugar you eat can be metabolized normally.

A day is short, a life is long.

Adults understand that life isn’t always rainbows and sunshine.

Although we already know many truths and hope to live a good life.

But at some point in the gloomy winter days, we may be able to lighten the burden on our shoulders just a little.

Take a bite of the chocolate mousse and wait for all the sweetness to melt in your heart and stomach.

Put on armor and get back on the road.

References

1. Shimmura N. Prospective association of confectionery intake with depressive symptoms among Japanese workers: the Furukawa Nutrition and Health Study. Br J Nutr. 2021 Aug 12:1-6.

2. Mrug S. Soft Drink Consumption and Mental Health in Adolescents: A Longitudinal Examination. J Adolesc Health. 2021 Jan;68(1):155-160.

3. Knüppel A. Sugar intake from sweet food and beverages, common mental disorder and depression: prospective findings from the Whitehall II study. Sci Rep. 2017 Jul 27;7(1):6287.

4. Yu B. Soft drink consumption is associated with depressive symptoms among adults in China. J Affect Disord. 2015 Feb 1;172:422-7.

5. Hu D. Sugar-sweetened beverages consumption and the risk of depression: A meta-analysis of observational studies. J Affect Disord. 2019 Feb 15;245:348-355.

6. Jacques A. The impact of sugar consumption on stress driven, emotional and addictive behaviors. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2019 Aug;103:178-199.

Author: Liu Youjiao | Registered dietitian and Chinese nutrition expert

Reviewer: Zhao Yong | Professor of Nutrition and Food Hygiene

Editor: Mia

Proofreading: Yunjie

Source: China Good Nutrition