Over half of America now uses a no calorie sweetener. And it shows around the waist.Most of the foods you eat have artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohol, or sugar in them. It may well be the reason you continue to gain weight? These chemicals are more addictive than alcohol and nicotine and is the reason you can’t only eat one potato chip and put the rest away.
SUGAR
Why does all food taste so good now? Sweet foods play a big role in your life. Unfortunately, fake sugar, and even real sugar, will not satisfy your body needs nor make you thin and happy. Sweet treats are the comfort food of your choice. After all, you call your dear ones: Honey, Sugar, and Sweetie. As you eat these empty calories you are actually starving your cells. Some calories have a long lasting affect on what you eat later on.
You eat over 140 pounds of caloric sweetener per year, (43 teaspoons a day). Drinking more than one pop a day raises your risk of obesity by 80%. No wonder you are gaining weight.
Sugar satisfies a craving for energy and gives your brain a serotonin mood boost. Sugar is cheap, adds bulk and texture, gives you empty calories, and takes the place of real nutrients.
The sugar in the past came from complex natural sources as fruit, honey, molasses, barley and maple sugars that had other nutritional qualities. Since sweet foods are seasonal, it was grown only in the summer, and exclusively in warm climates Only after 1900, did we refine sugar from sugar cane. We got smart and refined pure sugar from its food source: thus it became a rare empty calorie, without protein, fat, nor fiber. Sugar now comes in many forms, from simple carbohydrates, like white bread, to complex forms like dextrose, fruit juice concentrate, malto-dextrose, and corn syrup with high fructose.
HOW SUGAR WORKS!
Sugar, sucrose, is a carbohydrate that directly burns into glucose, fueling your brain and muscle. The purer the source, the faster it bypasses digestion and enters your blood stream. Refined sugar and carbohydrates is just as addictive as tobacco and alcohol. It raises your blood sugar, causing more insulin to be released; this in turn, drops your blood sugar to very low levels, causing you be become hungry again. This insulin spike also blocks leptin, a hormone that your fat cells secrete, that normally tells you to stop eating. Fat people have lots of leptin, but the brain can’t respond to it.
Eating sugar shoots up your sugar, and triggers insulin hormone, to prepare your cells to absorb this sugar. It stimulates serotonin, a mood elevator, giving you pleasure. Special taste buds trigger enzymes, making you anticipate that extra boost. Foods with high sugar and fat content promote a resistance to fullness. These foods block the hormonal messages your body sends to the brain to stop you from eating and cause you to feel even hungrier.
ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS
To date, the FDA approves five artificial sweeteners: aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame-k, neotame, and sucralose. These are considered food additives by the agency and are not foods.
Artificial sweeteners are chemical body toxins that must be detoxified. They don’t nourish your body in any way and have zero calories. They are meant to confuse and momentarily distract your brain, priming the brain for an insulin surge. You feel cheated when the surge doesn’t come. Soon you seek carbohydrates to satisfy your craving. To give you a needed jolt, caffeine is added to most diet pops.
ASPARTAME
Approve in 1981, it was found as a tabletop sweetener, and in gum and breakfast cereal. Use was expanded to pops in 1983, and to all foods and drinks in 1996. Today, aspartame is found in a staggering number of grocery products. Many health bloggers are linking it to neurological diseases.
A researcher raised concern about brain cancer in 1995, and the European Ramazzini Foundation in 2005. They were concerned it caused leukemia and lymphomas. The FDA say there is no human proof to stop its use.
Equal and NutraSweet are the trade names for aspartame; in the body, it converts into methanol and two amino acids—aspartic and phenylalanine acids. People with phenylketonuria find this very dangerous. This methanol accumulates in your body as formaldehyde, and can alter your nervous and immune systems. It has a blue package and is used with another artificial sweetener, Ace K, to make Coke Zero. It is mixed with sugar and now also sold as Nutra Sweet Cane. Under heat it falls apart and turns into formaldehyde and methyl alcohol. Think of our troops, who get palates of this in 100 degree temperatures, drinking this when the aspartame has" fallen apart." It is now being mixed with Stevia in many products.
Harvard researchers found people who consume diet drinks, gain a lot of weight. The more you drink, the fatter you get! How can that be since it has no calories? Your body is fooled into thinking that food that doesn’t taste good is delicious. Empty sweetness makes your body expect food, and when it doesn’t come, you get hungrier.
A TEST TO PROVE MY POINT
Put some diet pop in a pan and heat it. It will break down into formaldehyde and you might get a migraine. The aspartame molecule is a precursor of formaldehyde and methyl alcohol. An enzyme in your brain and eye tissues turns this alcohol into formaldehyde. Methyl alcohol, also called wood alcohol, and methanol was the major cause of death and blindness in prohibition days. You don’t want to fool around with nature. Studies show it can damage your short-term memory, cause breast cancer, genetic damages, birth defects, thyroid disease, and multiple sclerosis.
SPLENDA (SUCRALOSE)
It is the trade name for Splenda, a synthetic compound found in 1976. It is 600 times sweeter than sugar and has no calories. In 1999 it was approve for all foods. Being made from sugar it is advertised to be natural, has a yellow package, and has captured 60% of the market. Diet authors for the South Beach Diet and Atkins diet push Splenda. Under heat, unlike aspartame, it does not fall apart and keeps it s flavor.
Indeed, It is made from regular sugar, but has chlorine atoms added. British scientists, looking for a new pesticide, added three OH (hydroxyl ions, and replaced them with chlorine atoms. Take a lot of this and your body will become a well-chlorinated swimming pool. Once sucralose gets into your bowels, it can't be easily processed, and all these unrecognized chlorine molecules must be excreted. Rodents were found to have shrunken thymus glands, and enlarged livers and kidneys. Since there are no human studies on this, the FDA approved it. We are the guinea pigs.
Side effects of Splenda include rashes, agitation, diarrhea, muscle aches, headaches, bowel cramping, asthma, breathing difficulties, and sinus, bladder, and kidney problems. These same side effects are found from using aspartame.
SACCHARIN
Saccharin is 70 times sweeter than sugar, and also has no calories. Brand names are Sweet and Low, Necta Sweet, and Sweet Twin. It is used in tabletop sweeteners, baked goods, pops, jams, and gum. This was discovered in 1879, and was the first chemical sweetener. The FDA, who felt there was no need for safety research, grandfathered it in. Remember when it was added to coke and sold as TAB? It comes in a pink package and called Sweet N Low.
In 1977, it was banned because of bladder cancers found in rats. Congress issued a moratorium on the ban until more safety studies were done, and a label warning was required. In 2000, the warning label was removed. . Today it is considered generally recognized as safe (GRAS), and is in OTC medicines and some gums. End of story.
STEVIA
The new kid on the block is Stevia. It was approved only as a dietary supplement, under the names Truvia and PureVia. This December, the FDA approved it for all foods. Since it comes form a plant leaf, it is pushed as a natural sweetener. It is mixed with bulking agents to get rid of its menthol and licorice taste. It is being packaged in a green color. It costs 5 times as much as SweetN Low which is the oldest and cheapest artificial sweetener.
Stevia is mixed with sugar and is selling as suncrystals. Pepsi has introduced it in its orange juice as Trop50( half water and half orange juice, with a splash of stevia). It is now in what is called Sprite Green.
NATURAL ALTERNATIVES: POLYALCOHOL
Diabetic foods have for many years have polyalcohol sugars added: sorbitol, xylitol, malitol, and mannitol. They have half the calories of sugar and are not digested by the small bowel. The FDA as a food supplement and not a food additive approves it.
These sugar alcohols are found in fruits and vegetables and made commercially from dextrose, and are found in many processed foods. If the label reads ‘sugar free’ the chance are you have a sugar alcohol in the food. Polyalcohol adds texture to foods; keep food moist, and keeps food from browning on the shelf. Foods, containing polyalcohol, can’t be sweetened without adding dietary sugar. Despite the sugar free label, the foods contain carbohydrates and give you calories,
ACESULFAME-K (potassium)
This sweetener is 200 times sweeter than sugar and has zero calories. Brand names are Sunett and Sweet One. It was approved in 1988 as a tabletop sweetener. In 1998 it was approve also for pops, and in 2003 it was approved for all food, except meat and poultry. It is present in cough drops, mints, pops, candies, frozen desserts, and baked goods.
NEOTAME
This sweetener is 13,000 times sweeter than sugar and has no calories. It was approved in 2002 for everything except meat and poultry. It is structurally similar to aspartame, and also has potential for release of phenylalanine, but the FDA deems no warning labels are necessary.
XYLITOL
Comes naturally in fruits and vegetables as lettuce, carrots, strawberries, corncobs, and mushrooms. It is a sugar alcohol from birch trees, and is made today from dextrose. It is in your chewing gum, candies, frozen dairy deserts, mouthwash, jellies, and even your toothpaste. Dogs eating this product get liver disease and clotting problems.
MALITOL
Found in chicory and roasted malt. It gives a creamy consistency to foods. It is found in sugar free candies, as a candy coater, in gum, chocolate flavored deserts, baked goods, and ice cream.
SORBITOL
Is naturally found in fruits and berries. Sorbitol is added to shredded coconut, diet drinks and foods, and chewing gum. It also has a laxative effect.
MANNITOL
Mannitol is found in pineapples, olives, asparagus, sweet potatoes and carrots. It is a bulking agent for powdered foods, and is found in nutrition bars and candy. And chewing gum to keep the gum moist and non-sticky. It is a carbohydrate and only 2 calories per gram of carbohydrate are absorbed (sugar has 4 calories per gram). It has virtually the same glycemic index as table sugar (52 versus 60 for sugar). It is an expensive sugar and causes gas, diarrhea, and cramping. The only thing good is that your teeth will not get cavities, since bacteria can’t grow in the alcohol.
CONCLUSION
Our FDA has not adequately done a good enough job ensuring our long-term safety with the addition of artificial sweeteners and polyalcohols. Being used in minute but powerful amounts, it requires no labels and no safety testing, and these chemicals are marketed to you as nutrients. Many now are being mixed with regular sugar to mask their bitter after tastes. None have required any research safety studies to get approval. Whatever you ingest must be somehow excreted from your body. You hope your kidneys and livers can adapt and excrete these chemicals, which are not nutrients nor natural food supplements.
There is no free lunch. How do you know how much artificial sweetener and sugar alcohol your body tolerate? Could this be why you can’t lose weight, are nervous, and why you have an ever expanding waistline? Is our new epidemic obesity problem related? You tell me!
Visit www.drneedles.com for more information on controversial medical subjects. Your comments are always appreciated.
Sources: CMN news, 11.13.2008
University Pittsburgh Nutrition Center, April, 2003
Medical Hypothesis, April 209, Aronne
Packaged Facts, 2007
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