Excessive intake of artificial sugar can negatively impact your brain as proven by several scientific studies. However, you don’t have to worry about curbing your cravings as a neuroscientist shares three healthy substitutes.
While sugar isn’t among the things that serve the brain well, there is a superfood that’s believed to significantly improve your mental health. Now let’s learn more about the “safe” sugar alternatives.
3 ‘healthy’ sugar substitutes
Dr. Robert Love is a neuroscientist, researcher, and educator with over 2.1 million followers on TikTok.
He “specializes in helping people prevent Alzheimer’s disease with science” and he’s the ” most watched neuroscientist on the planet,” according to his LinkedIn bio.
Dr. Robert Love and his work has been featured on television networks and magazines, while he’s leading a research team investigating a new FDA drug to help reverse Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
From his expertise and knowledge, the doctor has revealed three safe substitutes for artificial sugar that aren’t harmful to your brain and they are:
- Allulose – According to the doctor, it’s a natural and rare sugar found in dates, figs, and raisins. This will reportedly not spike your blood sugar and can be used as a one-to-one substitute for artificial sugar.
- Monk Fruit – Monk Fruit sugar is the next best option available in liquid form. You can mix it with any of your beverages, from coffee to drinks as it’s said to be a zero-calorie sweetener. However, you need to always use pure monk fruit sugar that’s not mixed with erythritol.
- Stevia – Stevia is the next safest natural sugar substitute, which can be had by mixing one drop with two drops of monk fruit sugar.
Not only does it lack calories, but the doctor says, it wouldn’t spike your glucose and sugar level.
How sugar affects your brain
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, high blood sugar can stress the brain.
High level of blood sugar is believed to damage blood vessels in the brain that carry oxygen-rich blood and the cells in the organ can die when they receive too little blood for a prolonged period.
This condition is defined as “brain atrophy”, resulting in issues pertaining to memory, ability to think and can eventually lead to vascular dementia.
Therefore, maintaining blood sugar levels is important for your brain health, and hypoglycemia, which happens when blood sugar levels drop below 70 mg/dL, can be dangerous too if left untreated.
