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When a 2008 study reported that refined sugar could be addicting, it sparked a slew of buzzy headlines and the infamous claim that “sugar is as addicting as cocaine.” This has since created a certain stigma around sugar and led to shifts in diet culture.
The claim itself is easy enough to believe. How often does someone only have one piece of candy? Or only indulge in one Oreo? We may not eat a lot of sweets at home, but when a box of donuts or a tray of cookies is left at the office, it almost feels like a primal instinct takes over, and a desire for sweets skyrockets.
After an abundance of in-office treat days, I felt a need to do a “sugar detox” because I felt that I was addicted to sugar. I was seeing health and detox ads scroll across my social media feeds anyway, so I thought, why not give a sugar detox a try?
However, through my research, I quickly found that claiming sugar is as addicting as hard drugs is actually a bit of a stretch. Sugar isn’t a complex carbohydrate, but understanding it is. Here’s what I learned during my sugar detox and why it might not be the best for your health.
How Different Types of Sugar Affect the Body
Before I began the detox, I reached out to several experts for more information on sugar. And while little white cubes or granules may be the first thing you think of when it comes to the sweet stuff, there are actually several types of sugars.
According to Srividya Kidambi, an endocrinologist with the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) health network and professor and chief with MCW, sugar comes in many different forms and is a major source of energy for your body.
“Sugar is just a term,” says Kidambi. There are different types of sugars, and our bodies process them in different ways.
These include monosaccharides (single-molecules) like:
Glucose – The sugar our bodies need
Fructose – Sugar found in some fruits and vegetables
And disaccharides (with two molecules) like:
Sucrose – Table sugar
Lactose – Sugar found in dairy. (Yep, milk has sugar!)
Maltose – Sugar in starchy grains and some produce
Necessary glucose can come from foods containing complex carbohydrates, says Kidambi — foods like dark, leafy greens and certain grains, like quinoa and brown rice.
“Glucose is the one that our body needs,” says Kidambi. “...[It] is the basic one that the body breaks down to create energy.”
Read More: 20 Things You Didn't Know About... Sugar
Everything in Moderation
Though your body needs certain sugars to help it function properly, you can overeat foods full of processed sugar like sucrose. You can even overeat the healthiest of foods. Because of this, Kidambi recommends consuming everything in moderation.
“We do need to eat calories, and in moderation. So sugar is not bad,” she says. “It's bad if it becomes excessive.”
Sucrose is the type of sugar labeled as bad or addicting. However, this is where we enter a sugar gray area.
Read More: 3 Benefits of Sugar You Probably Didn't Know About
Is Sugar Addictive?
That buzz-worthy headline claiming that sugar is as addicting as hard drugs is not exactly accurate — and most of the experts I spoke to agreed.
“The debate over whether sugar is genuinely addictive continues to evolve, but as of today, the evidence supporting the concept of sugar addiction is still very limited, particularly in humans,” says Jabe Brown, founder of Melbourne Functional Medicine. “The notion of sugar addiction stems from the idea that highly palatable foods, especially those high in sugar, can elicit similar neurobiological changes to those seen with drug addiction.”
Processed sugars, or sucrose, can trigger the reward pathways in the brain and release dopamine. Because our brains love dopamine, we want more of the trigger, leading us to consume more — whether it be drugs or sugar. When we don’t get enough of that trigger, we may experience withdrawals. When it comes to sugar, those withdrawals may cause mood swings, headaches, nausea, anxiety, and depression.
“While sugar activates reward pathways in the brain, the general scientific consensus is that sugar does not meet the criteria as an addictive substance. Our body needs some sugar to survive,” says Stephanie Albers, the clinical assessment program manager at Project HEAL.
According to Marissa Kai Miluk, a registered dietitian and founder of Behind the Binge, there can come a point where you don’t want a certain sweet, or your body knows that it doesn’t need this sugar.
“If I were to say, ‘go out and eat as much chocolate brownies as you want,'” says Miluk, “There's a capacity to which you're like, get me away from these brownies. I don't want them anymore. The opposite happens in addiction, where you want more. You need more. You start to rely on more.”
Kidambi also adds that it may be more accurate to refer to sugar addiction as a craving. These intense cravings could be for some sort of quick energy burst or even for nostalgic purposes.
Read More: Experts Are Moving Past the Disease Model of Addiction
The Role of Dopamine in Sugar Cravings
We often associate sugar with happy memories. Cake at a birthday party, ice cream on a hot summer’s day, eating your Trick-or-Treat candy. And sometimes, we can crave these treats as a sense of nostalgia. Depending on our moods or even the type of day you’re having, these sweet cravings can emerge because your brain is looking for that comfort, not because it’s addicting.
According to Karen Throsby, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Leeds and author of the book Sugar Rush, sugar or certain sweets can provide us with emotional comfort.
She explains how a certain candy reminds her of her childhood because her grandmother gave her one every single Friday when she was young. Now that she doesn’t have her grandmother anymore, that candy brings her warm, comforting feelings and sweet memories of her loved ones.
Read More: 5 Essential Neurotransmitters for Everyday Life
How to Manage Sugar Intake Without Guilt
When planning a week of being sugar-free, I did my best to prepare for the likely mood swings, irritability, cravings, and fatigue, and was already apologizing to my friends and family. To be as accurate as possible in my reporting, I decided to track my food intake with a calorie counter app for a normal week and do the same for a sugar detox week.
What I didn’t expect was the massive amount of food guilt I felt even before starting the detox. For example, I wanted to have a sweetened iced tea with dinner. When I checked the nutrition label, my heart nearly stopped. With 25 grams of added sugar, I slowly put the can back in the fridge.
However, Kidambi and a few of my other sources recommended that instead of trying a sugar-free detox, I should try a low-sugar diet, instead.
So I did. And it honestly went much better than I expected it to.
Read More: The Science Behind Your Inexplicable Food Cravings
What to Expect During a Sugar Detox
The U.K. guidelines on the daily sugar intake for adults is 30 grams, compared to 25 grams for American women. I decided to give myself a little wiggle room.
The first few days, I did feel a slight headache and agitation. But they were easily curbed by eating higher protein meals, adding more fruits and veggies to my diet, and drinking more water. I also didn’t completely cut out sweets.
I’d allow myself a piece of chocolate or a cookie if it remained within the 30-gram limit. I found that this would help curb any sugar or sweet cravings, and by the end of the week, the cravings lessened. I even found it easier to consume less processed sugar when I ate more nourishing foods.
Which really isn’t a surprise. Most nutritionists say that eating a well-balanced and nourishing diet improves your health. But most nutritionists also say that indulging once in a while is okay. It’s when you start restricting yourself that negative thoughts towards food and your body can arise.
“Is it the chicken, or is it the egg?” says Miluk, “Is it that I'm restricting it, that I feel obsessed with it? Or am I obsessed with it because sugar is a problem?”
Understanding our relationship with sugar is the best way to ensure that we don’t overindulge and that when we do indulge, we don’t feel guilty about it.
Overall, this is a long way of saying that no one should feel guilty about eating anything, even sugar. Are highly processed and sugary foods going to add valuable nutrition to your body? No. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have them from time to time.
Read More: 4 Science-Backed Diets to Improve Your Health
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews. Evidence for sugar addiction: Behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake
Endocrinologist with the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin. Srividya Kidambi
Harvard Health. Are certain types of sugars healthier than others?
Founder of Melbourne Functional Medicine. Jabe Brown
Journal of behavioral addictions. Sugar Habit Hacker: Initial evidence that a planning intervention reduces sugar intake
Clinical assessment program manager at Project HEAL. Stephanie Albers
Registered dietitian and founder of Behind the Binge. Marissa Kai Miluk
Professor of Sociology at the University of Leeds. Karen Throsby
National Health Service. UK. Sugar
American Heart Association. How Much Sugar Is Too Much?
A graduate of UW-Whitewater, Monica wrote for several organizations, including one that focused on bees and the natural world, before coming to Discover Magazine. Her current work also appears on her travel blog and Common State Magazine. Her love of science came from watching PBS shows as a kid with her mom and spending too much time bingeing Doctor Who.
