Here’s how your brain functions when you eat something sweet 

People often say that there is always room for dessert after a meal. And it is true, right? You will never turn down an ice cream or a Gulab jamun, no matter how full you are! But have you ever questioned what it is about sweet foods that you can’t resist? Well, it might be that you are not just hungry but your brain is also tricking you in other ways. Let us discover how your brain keeps making you want more sugar!  

What is sugar, actually? 
The cute, cube-like white crystals that we recognise as sugar is basically sucrose, a molecule made up of 12 atoms of carbon, 22 atoms of hydrogen, and 11 atoms of oxygen. The combination of these three elements makes sugar a carbohydrate. To put it simply, sucrose is fructose and glucose tucked together. These are simple sugars. It occurs naturally in most plants, but especially in sugarcane and sugar beets.  

Sugar is everywhere!  
Some of you may think sugar is only present in sweets and desserts. That is not at all true! Sugar is found in foods and beverages such as chocolates, candies, tomato sauce, yoghurt, dried fruit, flavoured drinks and cereal bars and even your favourite sauces. Most of your favourite soft drinks contain high amount of sugar.  

How does your brain function when you eat sweets? 
When you eat something sugary, your brain releases a chemical substance called dopamine, which is neurotransmitter that transmits information between neurons (nerve cells). And dopamine makes you feel wonderful! So, your brain plays a little trick on you. It starts a reward cycle, by rewarding you with dopamine every time you eat something sweet. You then want more of this reward by consuming more sugar. That’s how you keep wanting more. 

 Why too much sugar is bad for you? 
How our brain rewards us every time we consume sugar-rich food is similar to how our bodies react to addictive substances. And so, sugar behaves like a drug! Now you know why some people are addicted to sweet foods. A PubMed Central Research from 2018 (database from the National Institutes of Health, U.S) found that foods with a high content of added sugar or fat are most frequently linked to symptoms of addiction. And if you consume sugar regularly, the next time you eat sugar, you will need more of it than before in order to achieve the same effect (of feeling good). This is because your brain’s tolerance to sugar keeps increasing with each consumption, eventually leading to over consumption. 

There are different types of sugar. Each one is different, but any type of sugar you consume, it will start off a chain reaction in your brain that makes you feel good. Eating high amounts of sugar can also harm health by causing increasing the risks of obesity and diabetes. But you need not worry yet, and you can still have your favourite sweet! The key is to control how much and how often you eat sugar. A piece of cake now and then won’t hurt, but excessive sugar consumption can have negative effects on health for sure!