Can sugar cause overweight and obesity?

Sugar is very dangerous for many people because it does have addictive qualities. Your brain responds to the taste of sugar with a release of endorphins, the body’s own natural morphine.

Eating foods with a lot of sugar or starch and little fat, fiber, or protein tends to raise your blood sugar very rapidly, causing the release of lots of insulin. Over time, your body cells develop a resistance to that insulin, so you have high blood sugar and high insulin at the same time, which is Type 2 diabetes. In susceptible individuals, this is associated with abdominal obesity, elevated cholesterol, HDL, and triglycerides, and hypertension, which together are known as Metabolic Syndrome. All people with Metabolic Syndrome are obese; not all obese people have Metabolic Syndrome.

Unfortunately, in the US and Europe, fat was singled out as the cause of heart disease and obesity in the 1980s due to misinterpretation of early research (and, some say, political maneuvering by the sugar industry). Many people still believe that a low-fat diet is the key to general health, whereas research has shown that total dietary sugar intake, and especially sugar-sweetened beverage intake, are much more harmful. As a consequence, packaged and prepared foods were marketed as more healthful if they had less fat; this raised their glycemic index, as the starches and sugars are absorbed more quickly in the absence of fat. In addition, to make the lower-fat foods taste better, sugar was frequently added, and starches were added as thickeners to improve “mouth feel.” Low-fat foods are less filling than foods with fat, so portion sizes grew. People also began to drink sugar-sweetened beverages in high quantities, partly in an attempt to raise their frequent “crashing” blood sugar levels. The consequence was an epidemic of Metabolic Syndrome, and of obesity in general.

Eating foods with protein and fat in addition to a small amount of sugar, or eating foods like fresh fruit which contain natural sugars but also a good bit of fiber, resulting in slower absorption and lower peak glucose, is different from eating foods with lots of added sugar and no protein or fat. Sugar-sweetened beverages in particular raise the blood sugar very quickly, and are more likely to be consumed on an empty stomach, causing blood sugar to spike and then crash.

So, yes, sugar does cause the health problems you mentioned. Small amounts of sugar consumed at the same time as healthy fats, proteins, and/or fibers are generally okay. Fresh fruit, which contains fiber, is fine in moderation. Desserts, pastries, candies, sodas, fruit drinks, breads, biscuits, and cookies are generally harmful, especially when consumed on an empty stomach.z

Reference :Peri Dwyer Worrell, Chiropractic Physician, BS in Biology, Anatomy and Physiology instructor @ Quora.com