The Sugars with the Potential to Prolong Human Life

*Tomoya Shintani, Laura Lema-Perez and Hideya Shintani*

## **Abstract**

Sugar is the main source of energy for all cells in the human body. On the other hand, cells can also obtain energy from fats and proteins depending on conditions, although this metabolic process is more difficult and less common in cells. Sugar intake has increased in recent decades and is included in most of our dietary products. However, many studies indicate that sugar intake increases the prevalence of suffering from various harmful health conditions such as obesity. As a consequence, obesity is related to several chronic diseases such as hypertension, insulin resistance, and diabetes mellitus in humans. This is due to an excessive intake of sugars and sedentary lifestyles, causing a deterioration in the organs of our body, and consequently, reducing life expectancy. In this chapter, sugars that both shorten and lengthen life expectancy are presented. The latter are recent options that have emerged in order to continue sweetening our food in a healthier way, and would be new geroprotectors.

**Keywords:** Lifespan, healthy life, sugar, glucose metabolism

#### **1. Introduction**

Sugar is the main source of energy for the cells of the human body and is a nutrient that is abundantly found in nature and is widely used in the food processing industry. In the 1970s and 1980s, a strong association was found between cardiovascular disease, the number 1 cause of death in the world, and fat intake. For this reason, the food industry began to create low-fat but high-sugar consumer products. Today there is evidence that the high consumption of sugars in the recent decades has triggered a lot of chronic diseases that were not previously known, as diabetes mellitus. The appearance of chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus has increased exponentially. Diabetes mellitus, e.g., is considered today a pandemic, due to it is one of the most prevalent not transmissible diseases in the world. The role sugar intake that is linked to aging is now relevant to the global chronic disease epidemic [1]. The global nonalcoholic fatty liver disease epidemic also has now become of major concern to diabetes [2].

Many scientific studies show that the increase in chronic diseases is due to excessive consumption of sugars and low-quality carbohydrates. This chapter presents in Section 2 the relationship between human life expectancy and sugar consumption, including a brief explanation of glucose metabolism in the human body. Later, Section 3 presents sugars as glucose, fructose, and galactose known as likely to shorten life with excessive intake. On the other hand, Section 4 presents sugar with potential to extend life expectancy like 2-deoxy-glucose, allulose, and glucosamine. Finally, the conclusions are presented.
