Which is worse sugar or alcohol? (2023)

Which is more harmful sugar or alcohol?

According to US health experts, sugar is as damaging and addictive as alcohol or tobacco and should be regulated.

Eating junk is worse. Globally, poor diets pose a greater risk to our health than alcohol, tobacco, drugs and unsafe sex combined, according to the report by the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition (Glopan).

Both cause problems from chronic toxicity, i.e., drinking/eating a lot of sugar over a long enough period of time. The only difference is that alcohol is also an acute toxi, meaning it is possible to overdose on ethanol.

Lisa Eberly, a dietician, told PopSugar that sweets are actually more addictive than alcohol, adding that a glass of wine has fewer calories and sugar than the average dessert: “First, a glass of wine, though it has calories and sugar, has less calories and sugar on average than a standard dessert…

Research shows that getting sugar in liquid form is much worse than getting it from solid food. This is why high sugar beverages like soda are among the worst things you can put into your body.

If you have diabetes, you may find that sugar alcohol is a good alternative to sugar. Positive health effects from sugar alcohol include the following: It has less impact on blood sugar levels. Insulin may not be needed at all, or only in small amounts, to metabolize sugar alcohol.

For many people, the possible benefits don't outweigh the risks and avoiding alcohol is the best course. On the other hand, if you're a light to moderate drinker and you're healthy, you can probably continue to drink alcohol as long as you do so responsibly.

With seven calories per gram, alcohol is an extremely concentrated source of calories. In fact, it's second only to pure fat, which has nine calories per gram. Protein and carbs, meanwhile, come in at four calories per gram.

It's a Weight Loss Myth that you can replace hunger with water. One of the oldest diet falsehoods in the book is that drinking water, particularly ice water, helps curb hunger and melt fat away. Let's be clear: drinking water does not dissolve fat. And drinking ice water does not burn calories.

So, on that score, alcohol is less damaging than soft drinks. However, cocktails – which are sugary alcoholic drinks, have the same effect on your body as soft drinks. So, drink responsibly in more ways than one. It's well known that both alcohol and soft drinks can be fattening.

Does your body treat alcohol like sugar?

Some sources claim that alcohol is converted into sugar by the liver. This is not true. Alcohol is converted to a number of intermediate substances (none of which is sugar), until it is eventually broken down to carbon dioxide and water.

Sugar alcohols are generally less sweet and contain fewer calories than sugars. They also affect blood sugar levels less significantly, making them a suitable alternative for people with diabetes. Additionally, they're not linked to tooth decay and may even help prevent it.

While drinking can be a threat to your health, smoking is certainly worse. Unlike alcohol at low or moderate levels, there is no benefit to tobacco use at any level. When you smoke, you inhale various chemicals that can injure cells, causing both cancer and artery damage (e.g. heart attacks and strokes).

If you are to compare alcohol and soft drinks from a nutrition point of view then alcohol is easily your winner as soft drinks have absolutely no nutritional value with processed sugar being one of the major components.

Worst: Soft Drinks

They have no nutrients, and they're loaded with sugar. People who drink one or two a day take in more calories and may have a higher body weight. You're also more likely to have type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems.

"The effects of added sugar intake — higher blood pressure, inflammation, weight gain, diabetes, and fatty liver disease — are all linked to an increased risk for heart attack and stroke," says Dr. Hu.

When you eat or drink too much sugar, the extra insulin in your bloodstream can affect your arteries all over your body. It causes their walls to get inflamed, grow thicker than normal and more stiff, this stresses your heart and damages it over time.

Stevia, monk fruit, certain sugar alcohols, and allulose are much lower in calories than table sugar and do not significantly affect blood sugar levels, making them a smart alternative to refined sugar.

Many Types of Alcohol Are High in Carbs

Many types of alcohol are high in carbohydrates — some packing in more carbs per serving than soft drinks, sweets and desserts. For example, beer typically has a high carb content, as starch is one of its primary ingredients.

Pure forms of alcohol like whiskey, gin, tequila, rum and vodka are all completely sugar-free whereas wines and light beer like Sapporo or Budvar have a minimal carb content.

Can diabetics safely drink alcohol?

Drink in Moderation

Most people with diabetes can enjoy some alcohol. Rules are the same as for everyone else: one drink per day for women; two for men. But you need to know how alcohol affects your blood sugar. A sugary drink might spike your blood sugar.

To reduce the risk of alcohol-related harms, the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that adults of legal drinking age can choose not to drink, or to drink in moderation by limiting intake to 2 drinks or less in a day for men or 1 drink or less in a day for women, on days when alcohol is consumed.

For men, consuming more than 4 drinks on any day or more than 14 drinks per week. For women, consuming more than 3 drinks on any day or more than 7 drinks per week.

Over time, excessive alcohol use can lead to the development of chronic diseases and other serious problems including: High blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, liver disease, and digestive problems. Cancer of the breast, mouth, throat, esophagus, voice box, liver, colon, and rectum.

Alcohol is generally made up of the same compounds, so beer and hard liquor both pose similar risks to a person's health. The only catch is that hard liquor comes with a higher threat because it contains a higher alcohol content than beer.

Alcohol can contribute to excess belly fat

Extra calories end up stored as fat in the body. Consuming foods and drinks high in sugar can quickly lead to weight gain. We can't choose where all that extra weight ends up. But the body tends to accumulate fat in the abdominal area.

After all, beer, wine and mixed drinks have all been known to cause liver damage and auto accidents when ingested in vast quantities. Whether a teen is wondering if beer is safer than liquor or a recovered alcoholic is pondering a safer option, it's important to understand that there is no difference.

With no food and no water, the maximum time the body can survive is thought to be about one week . With water only, but no food, survival time may extend up to 2 to 3 months. Over time, a severely restricted food intake can reduce the lifespan.

Not more than a few months, probably. That's when the worst effects of scurvy and protein deficiency would kick in. (Liver disease is a serious risk of chronic alcohol use, but it takes longer to arrive.)

These include green tea, black tea, oolong tea, yerba mate, and coffee. In fact, they may offer other benefits as well. For example, green tea is packed with antioxidants that may boost heart health and help lower blood sugar levels ( 10 , 11 ).

What's worse soda or beer?

Beer has zero grams of sugar while sodas could have forty or more in each can. If we are counting calories and sugar, I would say someone who drinks two beers a day is much less likely to get a beer belly at the same rate as someone who drinks two sodas a day.

Antioxidants in red wine called polyphenols may help protect the lining of blood vessels in the heart. A polyphenol called resveratrol is one substance in red wine that's received attention for its health benefits.

When you choose a sugary soda instead of alcohol every day, you may think you're doing your liver a favor. But that daily soft drink can be harmful, especially to your liver — as damaging as alcohol can be. Once it reaches the liver, the sugar in beverages can get converted into fat that's stored in liver cells.

Too much refined sugar and high-fructose corn syrup causes a fatty buildup that can lead to liver disease. Some studies show that sugar can be as damaging to the liver as alcohol, even if you're not overweight. It's one more reason to limit foods with added sugars, such as soda, pastries, and candy.

Alcohol and Blood Sugar: Does Quitting Help? Quitting drinking will result in a more typical blood glucose level. After a short period, blood sugar levels will stabilize, and you will experience several positive health changes. One way that the body eliminates excess sugar is by turning it into fat.

Alcohol and Low Blood Sugar

This is partially because alcohol can damage the pancreas, which controls blood sugar levels, and partially due to poor diet and malnutrition. Many heavy drinkers are hypoglycemic, or have low blood sugar, which can cause them to crave sweets.

Not One in the Same

Although they share a similar name, sugar alcohol and alcoholic beverages do not have the same chemical structure. Sugar alcohol does not contain ethanol, which is found in alcoholic beverages.

How much is too much? According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, people older than 2 years should keep sugars to less than 10% of their total daily calories [30.6MB] . For example, if an adult consumes 2,000 calories a day, no more than 200 calories should come from added sugars.

The second experiment also showed that sugar can attenuate alcohol intoxication in fasting humans without altering blood alcohol levels significantly.

A number of different motives for drinking alcohol have been examined, including drinking to enhance sociability, to increase power, to escape problems, to get drunk, for enjoyment, or for ritualistic reasons. Despite this diversity, most research has focused on two broad categories of motivation.

Is drinking wine like smoking cigarettes?

It increases your risk of many diseases, including heart disease, lung disease and many cancers. Research in the journal BMC Public Health reports that drinking one bottle of wine per week equals that of five cigarettes per week for men or 10 cigarettes per week for women. Dr.

The nutritional value of beer exceeds that of wine . The values of protein, fiber, B vitamins, folate, and niacin found in beer make it more like food. Studies in mice showed that hops may inhibit obesity. You can better socialize with hipsters.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture claims that the average six-ounce glass of red wine contains about 1.12 grams of sugar. That's hardly a large amount of sugar when you look at it. A glass of soda the same size would net you about 12 grams of sugar.

Soft drinks are just empty calories while alcohol not only contains calories but can also lead to unhealthy food choices, which in turn can lead to long-term weight gain.

Water is the best choice for quenching your thirst. Coffee and tea, without added sweeteners, are healthy choices, too. Some beverages should be limited or consumed in moderation, including fruit juice, milk, and those made with low-calorie sweeteners, like diet drinks.

The world's most dangerous alcoholic drinks include Absinthe, Bacardi 151, Changaa, Everclear, Death in the Afternoon, Four Lokos, Jungle Juice, Knockeen Hills, Moonshine, and Spirytus Rektyfikowany. Commonly referred to as the “green fairy,” absinthe was banned in the U.S. from 1915 to 2007.

“Sugary drinks are just as bad as smoking cigarettes,” said Assistant Speaker Felix W. Ortiz. “Both are harmful, resulting in poor health to those who take them. What more does it take to convince people that smoking can lead to cancer and that sugar calories bring on obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease?

Chronic Fructose Consumption

In reality the scientific literature shows that fructose may be far worse than ethanol in its wide-ranging negative impact on human health. There are at least 70 adverse health conditions that have been linked to fructose consumption beyond those eight listed above.

Because these sugar substitutes are not digested in the same way as sugar, they aren't fully absorbed by the body as they pass through. Instead, small intestine bacteria ferment these carbohydrates, causing indigestion. You can get gas, bloating and diarrhea from sugar alcohol sweeteners.

What happens when you stop eating sugar for a month?

Detoxing from sugar can help you lose weight quickly. “We had over 80 testers from all over the country, and they lost anywhere between 5 to 20 pounds during the 31 days, depending on their weight or sugar addiction,” Alpert said. “Many also noticed that a lot of the weight was lost from their midsection.

You'll Have Healthier Teeth

Your teeth will love you for it! Stop eating sugar and you'll lower your risk of heart disease dramatically because too much sugar in your diet heightens your risk of high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes — three primary risk factors for heart disease and cardiovascular decline.

Lustig says that sugar, which is made up of glucose and fructose molecules, is a poison because of the way our bodies break it down. “When you metabolize fructose in excess, your liver has no choice but to turn that energy into liver fat and that liver fat causes all of the downstream metabolic diseases.”

When you choose a sugary soda instead of alcohol every day, you may think you're doing your liver a favor. But that daily soft drink can be harmful, especially to your liver — as damaging as alcohol can be. Once it reaches the liver, the sugar in beverages can get converted into fat that's stored in liver cells.

It's safe to say that alcohol is both a tonic and a poison. The difference lies mostly in the dose. Moderate drinking seems to be good for the heart and circulatory system, and probably protects against type 2 diabetes and gallstones. Heavy drinking is a major cause of preventable death in most countries.

Some studies show that sugar can be as damaging to the liver as alcohol, even if you're not overweight. It's one more reason to limit foods with added sugars, such as soda, pastries, and candy.

Sugar and inflammation

If we eat sugar on a regular basis, the chemicals build up in our bodies affecting our liver and some other internal organs, which can eventually lead to liver damage. When the liver is damaged, fatty or inflamed, it can't work as efficiently as a healthy liver.

The Harmful Effects of Excess Fructose

Impair the composition of your blood lipids. Fructose may raise the levels of VLDL cholesterol, leading to fat accumulation around the organs and potentially heart disease ( 5 , 6 ). Increase blood levels of uric acid, leading to gout and high blood pressure ( 7 ).