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Name: amanda
Status: student
Grade: 6-8
Location: NM 
Country: N/A
Date: 10/25/2005
Question:
My question would be does sugar make you gain weight?

Replies:
Yes, sugar does make you gain weight. The reason for this is because your body will only take on the sugar that it needs. The rest will either be waste or be stored in your body as fat for times when you might need food. This is the body's way of making sure you do not starve.

Sugar is converted into energy by rather involved chemical processes in the body. Approximately, though not exactly, the body is like an engine. You input fuel (sugar) which powers the body to do physical activity. But the body has a storage mechanism built into this fuel-to-energy conversion. If there is not enough of the fuel "burned" by physical activity it is stored (for later use) as fat. However, the conversion from fat back into a form that can be used to do physical activity is chemically rather slow. This is why weight control is a long term life style, not a rapid process that some fad diets (and overweight individuals) would like it to be.

Vince Calder


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