For
many people, caffeine isn’t the end of the dehydration issue because they put
sugar in their coffee and often have a sugar-laden snack or dessert (pudding)
with it, drink caffeinated soft drinks with lots of sugar, and/or eat chocolate
which has caffeine and sugar, etc, etc.
This article, therefore, will attempt to explain how the added sugar to
caffeinated products increases the dehydrating effect of caffeine, and indeed, how
sugar, by itself is dehydrating.
Excess
sugar in the blood is often a temporary thing, like the dehydration caused by
caffeine consumption. However, like
caffeine intake, having a Mars bar or other such thing, creates an unhealthy
condition that causes the body to work hard to re-establish homeostasis, including
normal hydration. For further
information of what I mean by sugar, please see my article called Why No Sugar or Starch, but
basically, I’m referring to the disaccharide called sucrose.
Sucrose needs lots of magnesium to be digested, it needs
water to be digested, and it causes the kidneys to excrete more water and
magnesium, when all the while, magnesium is the energy source for maintaining
cellular hydration. Let’s see how this
works.
Magnesium and Sucrase
Magnesium activates enzymes to digest food. Sucrose mainly uses the enzyme sucrase to
break it down so that it can be absorbed in the body. One molecule of sucrose is the combination of
one molecule of glucose and one molecule of fructose. Sucrase breaks the bond between the glucose and galactose molecules
in sucrose to make absorption possible. It
must take a lot of energy for sucrase to perform this feat because it takes about
56 molecules of magnesium to metabolise one molecule of sucrose.
Magnesium is technically an ion because it is electrically charged, but
the term molecule is often used casually such as in this case.
In
each molecule of sucrose, there are 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms, and 11
oxygen atoms. When the sucrose molecule
attaches to the sucrase enzyme, it attracts a water molecule (H2O) which
attaches to the sucrose molecule on an oxygen atom in the middle and splits
while creating two pairs of hydrogen and oxygen atoms. This assists the sucrose to break down into
the monosaccharide components. So each
molecule of sugar needs a molecule of water in order to be digested. Please see a very good short video showing
how this happens here (Animation: Enzyme Action and the
Hydrolysis of Sucrose).
Magnesium
is generally in short supply in modern man due to his general lack of regard
for the way he produces his food. Soils
are stripped of magnesium due to modern agricultural and foods are low in
nutrients due to high processing techniques.
This highlights the problem of substances such as sucrose that decrease
an already short supply of magnesium.
And the story continues.
A Dysfunctional
Gut Leads to Unabsorbed Sugar and Magnesium
Sucrase
is found in the small intestine in the brush border of the enterocyte cells of
the microvilli, the finger-like surface that aids absorption of nutrients into
the blood. I discussed this a bit more
in my article called Why No Sugar or Starch with
reference to the common problem of what is referred to as a leaky gut. This is when the microvilli are damaged. They become worn down for various reasons and
lose the capacity to digest foods, especially starches and disaccharide
sugars. This can lead to a host of
problems such as sugar being left behind to feed the yeast Candida.
The distinguished researcher and author
John Yudkin claimed that sucrose was a cause of diseases in the digestive tract
because it contributes to the creation of a high osmotic pressure, especially
when large amounts of sugar are consumed.
This, in turn, leads to chronic irritation of the gastric and duodenal
mucosa. If the
intestinal tract is inflamed or
diseased, the absorption of magnesium will be diminished.
Magnesium and
Cellular Hydration
In my last article, I discussed
how sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) ions are involved in
the dehydration process. I mentioned how
these ions are moved in and out of cells by means of a transporter called the
Na+/K+ ATPase in order to, among other things, maintain the
osmotic pressure on cell membranes. This
pressure keeps the cells in a proper state of hydration.
The Na+/K+
ATPase pump is reliant on energy from the hydrolysis of Adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP).
“ATP exists in
cells normally as a chelate of ATP and a magnesium ion.” So we see here a
direct connection between cellular hydration and magnesium. This is evidence that “many of the same factors that can result in a
magnesium deficiency can cause dehydration as well.” But as if that’s
not enough, the kidneys react negatively to excessive sugar consumption as
well.
Kidneys are triggered to
eliminate excess sugar in the blood
It is
well known that excessive intake of sugar in a short period of time will lead
to a dehydrating effect on the body due to the effect this has on the
kidneys. Here are a few quotes that make
this point:
“If
your kidneys start producing more urine to try to eliminate the sugar and you
lose enough fluid, dehydration can result.”
(Livestrong)
“Elevated
blood sugar causes osmotic diuresis, where the sugar
exits through your kidneys and carries water out with it into the urine. As a
result, your kidneys are unable to reabsorb the water.” (Body Ecology)
“Excess blood sugar, or hyperglycemia, is directly related to
dehydration; the body triggers the kidneys to allow extra urine to flow in
order to get rid of the sugar and normalize blood glucose levels. … This is
especially true for diabetics, but even people who have not been diagnosed with
diabetes can experience this reaction when eating or drinking more sugar than
the body can metabolize.” (Dr Martha Rich)
As if this wasn’t enough, sugar
causes the kidneys to excrete magnesium.
So, the body tries to get rid of the sugar by flushing water through the
kidneys with a little help from magnesium.
Looks like a clue to me that the body doesn’t like sugar because it
sacrifices an element that is vitally important to health (magnesium) as well
as upsetting the water balance in order to get rid of it.
Conclusion
1.
Digestion
of sugar uses up magnesium and water.
2.
Sugar
contributes to digestive problems that inhibit the absorption of sugar and magnesium.
3.
Excess
sugar may be urinated out along with magnesium.
These three strands all add up to magnesium
deficiency and dehydration.
While doing this research, I noticed that
there are lots of magnesium supplements on the market. I don’t think this is the solution. For one thing, it will probably just be
excreted due to what I’ve discussed above.
Please remember, readers, that everyone is
different. A healthy young male athlete
who eats organic whole foods will be much better able to digest sugar and even
caffeine than say a twelve year old overweight girl who eats junk foods, drinks lots of Coke and
sits in front of the computer most of the day.
Generally speaking though, sugar and caffeine are best used in
moderation, if at all. This is a far cry
from what the norm is today.
Image Credit with thanks: Wiki: Sugar
