It is a well-known fact that excess consumption of sugar, which abnormally increases blood glucose level, can cause insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus. One of the complications of diabetes is kidney disease.
Another problem with excess sugar consumption is the increase in a type of fat called triglycerides. Circulating in the blood, it can contribute to the thickening of blood vessels, thus preventing efficient blood flow. Elevating blood pressure, it increases the risk for formation of blood clots. This occurs because excess sugar is converted to fat in the body.
Sugar isn’t all that bad as we have been led to believe. Glucose or the simplest form of sugar is still the preferred energy source of the brain and all the cells in the body. Unfortunately, our eating habits and food choices abuse glucose intake to the point that it makes us sick! Glucose, similar to other forms of sugar like fructose and lactose, comes from carbohydrates. Fruits contain fructose while milk contains lactose.
It is important to obtain our sugar consumption from whole foods, mainly fresh fruits, starchy vegetables like potatoes and sweet potatoes, and whole grains that are rich in fiber, such as colored rice varieties, oats, adlai, and quinoa. Sadly, we live in an obesogenic society, one that favors us to not only gain weight and body fat but also make us ill. Sugar sources come from sugary beverages, refined grains, table sugar and syrups, ice cream, pastries, cookies, sweets, and the like. The lack of fiber in these food items wreaks havoc with our blood glucose regulation.
Let us delve deeper into how our consumption of excess sugar can make us sick. On Aug. 4, researchers have shown for the first time that a greater intake of added sugars is associated with a greater risk of kidney stones. The observational study entitled “Association between added sugars and kidney stones in US adults: data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007–2018” was conducted by Dr. Shan Yin and colleagues.
“Ours is the first study to report an association between added sugar consumption and kidney stones. It suggests that limiting added sugar intake may help to prevent the formation of kidney stones,” said lead author Dr. Shan Yin, a researcher at the Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China.
Dr. Yin and fellow researchers analyzed epidemiological data on 28,303 adult women and men, collected since 2017 to 2018 from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The participants self-reported history of kidney stones. Their daily intake of added sugars was estimated twice based on their recall of most recent consumption of food and drinks. A face-to-face interview and telephone interview were conducted three to 10 days apart. Participants were asked if they had eaten syrups, honey, dextrose, fructose, or pure sugar during the past 24 hours.
Each participant also received a healthy eating index score (HEI-2015). This summarized their diet in terms of the adequacy of beneficial diet components, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and moderation of potentially harmful food items like refined grains, sodium, and saturated fats.
After the researchers adjusted the odds of developing kidney stones per year during the trial for a range of explanatory factors, including gender, age, race or ethnicity, relative income, BMI, HEI-2015 score, smoking status, and history of diabetes, their observational study concluded that the percentage of energy intake from added sugars was positively and consistently correlated with kidney stones. They also found out that other ethnicities like Asians and Native Americans had higher odds of developing kidney stones when exposed to greater-than-average amounts of added sugars compared to Mexican American, other Hispanic, non-Hispanic White, and non-Hispanic Black people.
There are between seven percent and 15 percent of people in North America, five percent to nine percent of people in Europe, and one percent and five percent of people in Asia suffering from kidney stones. Common symptoms are severe pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, chills, and bloody urine. Kidney stones may lead to infections, swollen kidneys (hydronephrosis), renal insufficiency, and end-stage renal disease.
If you are at risk of developing kidney stones, you might want to look into your intake of sodium from salty food, your water intake, which should be adequate (urine color must be light yellow or clear), and add sugar intake to your list.
Increased sugar intake decreases the volume of urine thereby increasing calcium concentration in the urine, which is the perfect recipe for kidney stone formation. To make matters worse, calcium is drawn from the bones. Sugar depletes the bones of this important mineral and makes them fragile.
The next time you are tempted to grab a can of soda or indulge in candy, think about how this will affect your kidneys, your bones, and other organs in the body.