Sugars and Gastrointestinal Health

Sugar overconsumption is linked to a rise in the incidence of noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. This increased incidence is becoming a real public health problem that is more severe than infectious diseases, contributing to 35 million deaths annually. Excessive intake of free sugars can cause many of the same health problems as excessive alcohol consumption. Many recent international recommendations have expressed concerns about sugar consumption in Westernized societies, as current consumption levels represent quantities with no precedent during hominin evolution. In both adults and children, the World Health Organization strongly recommends reducing free sugar intake to <10% of total energy intake and suggests a further reduction to below 5%. Most studies have focused on the deleterious effects of Western dietary patterns on global health and the intestine. Whereas excessive dietary fat consumption is well studied, the specific impact of sugar is poorly described, while refined sugars represent up to 40% of caloric intake within industrialized countries. However, high sugar intake is associated with multiple tissue and organ dysfunctions. Both hyperglycemia and excessive sugar intake disrupt the intestinal barrier, thus increasing gut permeability and causing profound gut microbiota dysbiosis, which results in a disturbance in mucosal immunity that enhances infection susceptibility. This review aims to highlight the roles of different types of dietary carbohydrates and the consequences of their excessive intake for intestinal homeostasis.