Can Sugar Cause Alzheimer's?

Most of us like sweets. The problems is most of us eat way too much sugar. From sweetened breakfast cereals to sugary coffee drinks in the morning to cookies or energy bars in the afternoon to high-sugar desserts in the evenings—sugar makes up way to much of the average American diet.

And it turns out this takes a serious toll on your health.

High amounts of sugar may actually hurt your brain.

In a recent animal study, researchers looked at two groups of mice. One group received plain water in addition to a normal diet. The other received water that was 10 percent sucrose along with the same diet.

After 25 weeks, researchers put the mice through series of memory and learning tests. They found those receiving the sugar water scored far below those who drank just plain water. Blood tests revealed that the mice on the high-sugar diet had three times the levels of amyloid-beta proteins in their blood. These are the proteins associated with plaque formations in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

The researchers note that after adjusting for body weight, the amount of sugar water the mice were drinking was the equivalent of a person drinking five 12-ounce cans of soda each day. They also note that because the mice have a higher metabolism than people, people may experience similar effects at a lower exposure to sugar.

I'm not recommending that you cut sugar completely out of your diet, but I do think it's a good idea to keep your consumption of sweet treats low. A sweet indulgence two or three times a week—or even a small treat every day—is probably fine. More than that though, can start to cause problems.

Stay well,
Danny Wallace