This could be for any number of reasons, including a change in tastes and lifestyles, with the popularity of low-carb diets like keto growing in the last decade. A better understanding of the dangers of eating too much sugar on our health may also be driving this decline.
Reducing sugar intake has clear health benefits, including reducing calorie intake and improving dental health, which can aid weight loss. But people sometimes report experiencing negative side effects when they try to eat less sugar. Symptoms include headache, fatigue, or mood changes, which are usually temporary. The cause of these side effects is currently not fully understood. But these symptoms are likely to be related to how the brain responds to sugary foods and the biology of the “reward”.
Carbs come in a variety of forms, including sugars that can be found naturally in many foods, such as fructose in fruits and lactose in milk. The table sugar known as sucrose is found in cane sugar, beet sugar, and maple syrup, while glucose and fructose are the main components of honey.
As mass production of foods has become the norm, sucrose and other sugars are added to foods to make them more palatable. Beyond the enhanced taste and “mouthfeel” of foods with a high sugar content, sugar has profound biological effects on the brain. These effects are so significant that they have even sparked a debate about whether you can become “addicted” to sugar – this is still being researched.
It’s clear that sugar can have a powerful effect on us. So it’s not surprising to see negative effects when we consume less sugar or remove it from our diet altogether. During this early “sugar withdrawal” phase, both mental and physical symptoms have been reported, including headaches, fatigue, and dizziness, as well as depression, anxiety, brain fog, and cravings. This means that giving up sugar can be both mentally and physically uncomfortable, making it difficult for some to stick to a diet change.
A change in the chemical balance of the brain is almost certainly behind the symptoms reported in people who remove or reduce dietary sugar. In addition to its involvement in reward, dopamine also regulates hormonal control, nausea and vomiting, and anxiety. As sugar is removed from the diet, the rapid reduction in dopamine’s effects on the brain will likely interfere with the normal function of many different brain pathways, explaining why people report these symptoms.
