Since I believe sugar is the top level culprit in inflammation, getting sugar cravings under control is critical to reducing inflammation that is involved in almost all diseases and aging processes.
By the end of this article, you’ll know what to do to stop sugar cravings and end sugar addictions but before we go there, let’s talk about sugar and inflammation.
Inflammation causes heart disease, it causes cancer and it causes diabetes. Controlling inflammation, not cholesterol levels is critical if we are to reduce and even cure heart disease and those diseases of aging.
Investigators have been pleading with the medical community to pay more attention to managing inflammation. We now know that inflammation may be initiated by our own immune systems in response to inciting events and sugar, more specifically fructose plays a critical role in this process.
Sugar is the top of the list of foods that can create and fuel the fires of inflammation. Sucrose, with the chemical formula C12H22O11, is an equal combination of fructose, C6H12O6, and glucose, also C6H12O6, is the most common of the sugars involved in this inflammatory process.
More recently in North America there has been a rapid increase in the use of fructose syrup, from corn, in food manufacturing. This high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is significantly sweeter than sucrose, much cheaper process for manufacturers, but significantly more toxic to our liver, and cardiovascular system.
So actively avoiding sugar and high-glycemic (simple) carbohydrates, which the body will rapidly convert to sugar, is a primary focus in reducing inflammation. A marker of inflammation, C-reactive protein (CPR), plays a major role in heart disease.
Elevated CRP
A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine identified people with elevated CRP levels had four fold increases in having a heart attack. Not only is elevated CRP more accurate than cholesterol in predicting heart attack risk, but high CRP levels have turned up in people with diabetes and pre-diabetes and in people who are overweight.( Ridker PM, Hennekens CH, Buring JE, et al “C-reactive protein and other markers of inflammation in the prediction of cardiovascular disease in women.” New England Journal of Medicine, 2000;342:836-843.) The CRP molecule is not found in foods. However, its levels in the body are strongly influenced by diet, more specifically the increased amount of sucrose and fructose, not fat.
Recently a study by Dr. Liu, M.D., Ph.D., of the Harvard Medical School, revealed that women who ate large amounts of high-glycemic (or diabetes promoting) carbohydrates which included potatoes, breakfast cereals, white breads, muffins, and white rice, had very high CRP levels.
If a woman ate those high-glycemic carbohydrates and was overweight, she had the highest and most dangerous CRP levels. [Simin Liu, Harvard Medical Journal 2000 Oct 19; 343 (16): 1139- 47.] So the link of elevated CRP, heart disease and sugar consumption becomes clearer.
Following high carbohydrate consumption, our body makes CRP from interleukin-6 (IL-6), a powerful inflammatory chemical. IL-6 is a key cell communication molecule, and it activates our immune system to release CRP and many other inflammation-causing substances.
Inflammation & Weight
Being overweight increases inflammation because adipose cells, particularly visceral fat cells around our abdominal organs, makes large amounts of cytokines and CRP. These cytokines cause elevated sugar levels because of insulin resistance, and thus they result in more abdominal fat, and increasing IL-6 and CRP levels.
This rapidly deteriorating cycle worsens by increasing obesity and higher blood sugar levels even more and thus increases the risk of heart disease, which is induced by the burning embers of inflammation.( Manson JE, Buring HE, et al. Relation between a diet with a high glycemic load and plasma concentrations of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein in middle-aged women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2002;75:492-498.)
When there is excess glucose in the blood stream, our pancreas responds by pumping out large amounts of insulin. Unfortunately the body develops a resistance to these persistently elevated insulin levels. This process of excess blood sugar results in glycosylation, or the process when sugar can attach itself to collagen inside of blood vessels, organs, and muscles.
This material has the consistency of the outer coating of the dessert Crème Brulee, and results in inflexible blood vessels with inflammation and blockage, organ deterioration, and systemic inflammation.
Stop Sugar Cravings
High insulin levels, in the face of persistently elevated blood sugar levels, results in our body creating long chain fatty acids that are stored inside of our belly as visceral fat. Fortunately, when we are young, this process is blocked by progesterone, unfortunately though in both men and women, progesterone falls to immeasurable levels in our forties, and thus the belly fat battle begins.
The best way to deal with cravings is to control blood sugar and insulin by staying away from the simple carbohydrates and eating more protein. That sounds so much easier than it is, especially when sweets have the addictive qualities of crack cocaine, and opium.
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