Sugar: Sweet but Sneaky

By Missy Brandt' 20

I have an insatiable sweet tooth. I love sugar. Sugar, well actually glucose, fuels my body, but what does sugar do to our brains because those sugar highs hit hard?

Back when cavemen were running around, they scavenged for food, and sugary foods are a great source of energy, so we have evolved to like sugar.

Eating sweet foods activates our mesolimbic dopamine system, the brain’s reward system. Dopamine lets us know that something is good, making us more likely to carry out the same actions. Dopamine is released in the brain when one eats sugar, so one is more likely to want more sugar. While our brains are still similar to our ancestors’ brains, sugar is abundant and we do not have to forage for it. What happens when we have too much sugar?

Our brains are always changing, rewiring themselves through a process called neuroplasticity, which occurs in the reward systems as well. Repeated activation (eating sugar) of certain pathways causes the brain to adapt to the changes and develop a tolerance, so we need to eat more sugar to get the same effects. Also, eating lots of sugar can alter inhibitory neurons, preventing us from making prudent decisions about what to eat. In a study, sugar-fed rats had trouble controlling their behavior and making decisions, so regularly eating lots of sugar can increase cravings and change one’s persona.

High sugar diets also take their toll on the hippocampus, the memory center of the brain. Rats eating high sugar diets had trouble remembering where objects were.

While I LOVE sugar, it does have its downsides, so going into 2020, let’s be conscientious about our sugar intake!

“Here's What Sugar Does to Your Brain.” LiveScience, Purch, www.livescience.com/how-sugar-affects-body-brain.html.