Here’s How Eating Sugar Affects Your Body

Sugar puts you at risk for diabetes

If you have high blood sugar, you could be on the road to diabetes already. “Insulin resistance requires the pancreas to produce more insulin since tissues are not as sensitive to it,” Ed Saltzman, MD, a scientist in the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University says. “Over time, the pancreas can become fatigued by this excess production and stop being able to secrete adequate insulin. When this occurs, type 2 diabetes may develop.”

Sugar makes you gain weight

Your body needs some sugar for energy, but the rest is stored as fat. Sugar’s relationship to weight gain affects your health. “In several studies, added sugars have been associated with weight gain and obesity, which leads to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes,” Dr. Saltzman says. Why this happens is complicated but may have to do with low-grade inflammation caused by obesity as well as insulin resistance, he says. In addition, “consumption of added sugar has also been linked to increased waist circumference, an independent risk factor for heart disease,” Dr. Malik says.