Sugar and the Crucial Nutrient it Depletes
The human body’s regenerative capabilities are nothing short of extraordinary. Its complex interconnected systems were designed to work together for optimal performance. Sometimes we get in the way of our body’s ability to do its job. With ANY kind of viral or bacterial pathogen, it is important to keep your immune system strong. A strong immune system can protect you from the constant barrage of invaders that are present in our every day lives.
While researching what makes our beneficial microbes thrive I also wanted to know what harms them as that is equally important to know. We all know processed/refined sugar is bad for us but when we understand why it becomes much easier to stop. This is something that really surprised me and I wanted to share this with you because knowing this will change your eating habits especially during outbreaks of bacterial and viral infections.
One thing I discovered was that sugar encourages the growth of harmful pathogens. For me, that was all I needed to know because I need to be building my army of good bacteria constantly due to my immune deficiency. If the bad to good bacterial ratio becomes unbalanced and the bad guys take over, this can lead to serious health problems. But if that is not enough, here is another reason to avoid sugar, especially during flu season.
The easiest thing you can do that can make a difference today to boost your immune system would be to stop eating processed sugar and add lots of whole foods that contain vitamin C.
I believe the health of the immune system which you help to create, to be the best determinant of whether or not you can fight off pathogens. When your body is running optimally this is exactly what it is designed to do. The one vitamin that your body depends on for many bodily functions and even more so during the cold and flu season is vitamin C. Our bodies do not make or store this vital nutrient so we have to get it from our food or in supplement form. That doesn’t mean you should run out and grab a bottle of synthetic vitamin C from the grocery store. Since many of the foods that contain adequate amounts of vitamin C have many more benefits than just this nutrient, it is best to consume this vitamin in whole food form. Besides being able to boost immune function, vitamin C is important for things like cardiovascular health, i fighting fatigue, is beneficial for proper eye and brain function and is an integral component in the formation of collagen. Without enough collagen the elasticity of the skin starts to diminish which is why some people look older than their age and also your joints will suffer because collagen makes up the connective tissue between them. During the day you need a lot of this vitamin especially if you are experiencing any kind of stress. So I think you understand that getting enough vitamin C is necessary for good overall health. But here is what happens to your body’s ability to process vitamin C if you consume too much sugar in the form of processed foods and drinks.
Sugar, or glucose, and vitamin C are absorbed into your white blood cells by the same pathway. Surprisingly they also have similar chemical structures. When glucose is present in the body the cells take it in thinking it is vitamin C. The white blood cells want to keep the concentration of vitamin C at a level of about 50%. When you eat sugar, this lowers the vitamin C concentration and exchanges it for glucose. Your immune response will be dramatically lowered and could last 4-6 hours for you to get back to a normal concentration. As you can see this is not permanent damage right away, unless you are constantly consuming processed sugar. This is where problems begin when a series of overlapping doses of sugar occur. Dr. John Ely is credited with discovering this while conducting research in the 1970’s. Also, recently on the news I was watching coverage on the coronavirus and Dr. Stephen Smith, founder of the Smith Center for Infectious Disease & Urban Health came on the program as a guest. He said there is more diabetes associated with this disease than with any other respiratory viral infection. He went on to say he is (at the time) seeing 23 confirmed hospitalized covid patients, 13 are known diabetics, 9 are pre-diabetic and only 1 is not diabetic. With what we now know about the effects sugar has just on vitamin C it starts to make sense. With so much hidden sugar added to our processed foods, it is important to read labels. If you are an occasional sugar eater then you will bounce back. But if you are worried whether or not you will be able to withstand current pathogens, then take the extra precaution and stop all processed sugars during this time. Be very strict about this. This little change can make a BIG difference in helping your immune system. Get your sugar intake from real whole fruits. Natural sugar is fine because it is accompanied by fiber and other nutrients which your body knows how to handle and vitamin C is abundant in so many whole fruits and vegetables.
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