Does eating sugar cause diabetes?
It's a common misconception, but there is no proven direct link between sugar consumption and diabetesBy Marianne Wait
No, sugar doesn't cause diabetes. But candy and other sugary foods contribute plenty of calories, which can lead to weight gain, and being overweight greatly increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Studies have failed to produce consistent evidence that links a sweet tooth with type 2 diabetes. A study of more than 39,000 women, for instance, found that those who ate the most sugar did not have an increased risk for the disease.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when blood levels of glucose, or blood sugar, become chronically elevated. Consuming sugar makes blood sugar levels rise, so it seems logical that eating candy, cakes, and cookies would cause diabetes. But it doesn't—at least not directly.
In recent years, many experts (though not all) have pointed their fingers at diets with a high glycemic index (GI) as a main culprit behind the obesity epidemic as well as an epidemic of insulin resistance, a core problem in type 2 diabetes. The GI is a measure of how much the carbohydrate in a food raises blood sugar. When you eat foods that cause a steep rise in blood sugar, your body churns out of lot of insulin to "process" that blood sugar and get it out of the bloodstream and into cells. Over time, repeated floods of insulin make the body less sensitive to the hormone, leading to a condition called insulin resistance—and so the path to diabetes begins.
Refined grains (like white bread) and starches (like potatoes) actually have a higher glycemic index value than sugar does. Still, certain sugar sources may not be entirely off the hook. An emerging theory suggested by a handful of experts holds that fructose, a component of table sugar, may cause insulin resistance. Fructose, in the form of high-fructose corn syrup, is abundant in many sodas and commercially processed foods.
Insulin resistance aside, eating too many sweets—or potatoes, pork chops, or peanut butter sandwiches—can make you gain weight, and well-established science indicates that becoming overweight or obese raises the odds of developing type 2 diabetes.
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Adapted from What Works What Doesn't, Reader's Digest