“The more we have, the more we want –  and so continues the vicious cycle.”

We can all agree that sugar is bad for us. No doctor will recommend an increase in daily Snickers bars and Pepsi. And none of us are surprised they wouldn’t.

But why is sugar bad for you? Do you know the physiologic reason?

And what’s with the sugar in fruit? Is it bad too?

When I had a patient ask me why sugar is bad for you, I realized I didn’t really have a good answer. I knew it was high in calories and has little to no nutritional value, and I knew having too much could cause diseases, but I couldn’t tell him exactly why.

So I turned to old college textbooks and resources online I knew I could trust, places like the Cleveland Clinic and ChooseMyPlate.