How is Excessive Candy Consumption Linked to Premature Aging?

Candies are the go-to sugar rush for adults and kids alike. Whether you see it in a candy shop or find it lying in a bowl at home, you may not mind having a candy every once. If reading this reminds you of the leftover candy from last night, you may want to hold on before you go and get it. Did you know excessive candy consumption can lead to premature aging?

There is no debate on how hard it is to avoid eating candies. We have all been there. While this may be correct, the excessive amounts of sugar in candy can affect your overall body health. You would be among the lucky ones if you grew up in a household where your parents hid the candy jars. Here, we will examine why overeating candy is not a good idea.

Sugar Concentration In Candy

You may have heard that candies have high sugar levels. If you wonder how high, we have a few common examples to give you an idea. A single Snickers bar contains about 8 grams of sugar, 16% more than the daily recommended value. Two snack-size Almond Joys have about 12 grams of sugar, making it 23% more than the daily recommended value.

Similarly, if you eat three Tootsie Rolls, you consume about 15 grams of sugar. For the die-hard lovers of Hershey’s milk chocolates, there are about 15 grams of sugar in four miniature bars. The sugar concentration in these candies can give you an idea of your daily sugar consumption. Consuming more than the described quantities can further increase the sugar levels in your body.   

Let’s look at some of the reasons why excessive candy consumption can lead to premature aging.

Reasons Why Candy Consumption Causes Early Aging

Risk of Type-2 Diabetes

Many factors influence the possibility of Type-2 diabetes. Your diet plays a crucial role in increasing or decreasing the sugar levels in your body. Excessive sugars enter your bloodstream if you overeat candy, increasing the risk of several health problems. The high sugar levels cause resistance to insulin production, disrupting the optimum sugar levels.

The insulin imbalance leads to poor diabetic health, causing adverse effects on the healthy functioning of organs. It is one of the factors why diabetic patients look older and weaker than those who are not.

Increases Depression

Eating candies may excite you. However, prolonged consumption of candies can increase the risk of depression. Excessive sugars in the body can lead to poor functioning of some core organ functions. Research has shown that prolonged sugar consumption can cause neurotransmitter dysregulation, leading to poor mental health.

A depressed patient is more likely to follow an unhealthy diet routine. In many cases, depressed individuals eat excessively. On the other hand, many patients diagnosed with clinical depression do not meet their optimum daily intake values. The described scenarios lead to poor overall health, increasing the chances of early aging.

Early Cellular Aging

Eating too much candy can lead to early cellular aging. As you grow older, the average life of a cell reduces due to the shortening of telomeres. Telomeres are compound structures of repetitive DNA sequences at the end of chromosomes. They protect chromosomes from deterioration.

As you age, the telomeres shorten and lead to cell malfunction. While this is a natural process, eating too much candy can accelerate the process, leading to early cellular aging. As a result, people with early cellular aging grow old sooner than those who consume moderate amounts of sugars.

Damages Collagen

Collagen and elastin are two protein-rich compounds responsible for maintaining healthy skin. They serve as the building blocks, keeping your skin cells healthy and young. Consuming candies excessively makes you more likely to damage your collagen and elastin.

High sugar levels can increase the chances of Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs). These compounds come from reactions between protein and sugars present in your body. The more the sugar concentration, the more the chances of AGEs acting to damage collagen and elastin. The damaged skin cells can lead to early aging.

Damages Liver

Consuming fructose in high quantities can increase the risk of fatty liver. There are several types of sugars in the human body. While the body cells consume most of them (including glucose), the liver plays a dominant role in breaking down fructose. During the breakdown process, fructose converts into energy and deposits as glycogen.

When you consume large quantities of candies, excessive fructose can surpass the average values and deposit as fats in the liver. The declined function of the liver can lead to reduced daily intake and digestion problems, causing early aging.

The Takeaway

Eating too much candy can be fun. However, it may only last for a few days. To avoid premature aging, you may need to stop consuming excessive amounts of candy. You can consult your doctor to determine a proper daily sugar intake to maintain a healthy balance. Moreover, you can find sugar concentration values in different candy bars online.