Feeling sick? The answer may lie in the amount of sugar you're eating

A study from a group of researchers at the University of California in San Francisco is showing a connection between consumption of large amounts of sugar and chronic diseases that have begun to affect a good deal of the American population.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The team poured over more than 8,000 scientific papers, and have found a strong link between excess sugar consumption and illnesses. They are also launching a program which will educate the population about added sugar in food and drink in an attempt to help deal with these new sugar-linked epidemics.

Join Pope Francis in 'Prayer and Action' to eradicate world hunger, your action makes a difference!

Excessive sugar intake was predominantly believed to just lead to weight gain and obesity, but the study shows that there is a direct link between it and illnesses.

For example, the rise of fatty-liver disease, the emergence of Type 2 diabetes in children and the massive increase in metabolic disorders can all be tied to increased sugar consumption.

Laura Schmidt, the lead researcher in the project and a professor at the UCSF School of Medicine, said that added sugars-those that don't naturally occur in foods-are the lead cause of the numerous health issues affecting Americans.

These sugars are found in about 74 percent of all packaged foods, go under 61 different names, and often are difficult to find on food labels. In fact, the difference between added and naturally occurring sugars is not evident on the packaging.

A new proposal to the FDA would require food manufacturers to list information on sugars in the same manner as fats, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates and protein are listed, which could go some way to stopping the massive intake of sugars.

A great New Year's resolution would be getting your life back on a healthy track, spiritually and physically.

Terrifyingly, a child's breakfast cereal usually contains more sugar than a person should consume daily, and many health foods still contain unhealthy levels of added sugars.

The results of the study can be found at SugarScience.org.

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'