It never pays to cut corners
If you’re like many people these days, you hit the ground running with too many things to do, and often don’t have time to sit down for breakfast – the most important meal of the day. BUT you do feel good about grabbing an energy, protein or vegetable drink, yogurt or breakfast bar, especially since your morning coffee already filled you up. Who could go wrong there?
Unfortunately, you can. Aspartame and Sucralose, synthetic sweeteners that can harm your body, are found in some of the so-called, healthy, supplemental drinks and foods mentioned above. Aspartame breaks down into two dangerous chemical compounds in the human body: formic acid and formaldehyde. Formic acid is an irritant – the same chemical produced by fire ants – and doesn’t belong in the bloodstream. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogenic (cancer causing) preservative. It causes allergies, contact dermatitis, headaches, and chronic fatigue. The noxious vapor is extremely irritating to the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose and throat.
What the research reveals
NaturalNews (NaturalNews.com) informs us that scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston have revealed results from a study outlining some of the effects of artificial sweeteners on the body. Conducted on a group of 3,000 women, the results indicated that those who drank two or more artificially-sweetened beverages a day doubled their risk of more-rapid-than-normal kidney function decline. The 11-year study evaluated the effects of all sweetened drinks on progressive kidney decline and discovered that two or more diet drinks leads to a two-fold increase in rapid kidney decline incidences.
When [the artificial sweetener] aspartame was first approved in the 1970s under the name “NutraSweet”, studies were submitted as supposed proof that the artificial chemical was safe. The FDA initially approved the chemical in 1974 for use in a limited number of foods based upon the studies submitted by G.D. Searle Co., the company that invented aspartame.
A discovery made shortly thereafter by a research psychiatrist found that aspartic acid, a primary ingredient in aspartame, caused holes to form in the brains of mice. Investigation revealed that aspartame had caused tumours, seizures, brain holes, and death in many of the studies. All negative findings had been altered or scrubbed from the final reports delivered to the FDA when aspartame was first reviewed.
A study published in the January, 2008 issue of the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health revealed that the newer artificial sweetener, sucralose, alters gut microflora and inhibits the assimilation of dietary nutrients.
The EU Food Commission, Canadian health officials, and the U.S. FDA all rejected the initial studies submitted by McNeil Nutritionals, the marketers of sucralose, because of the negative results. However they encouraged the company to continue researching until they “got it right”. McNeil simply lowered the levels of sucralose used in their studies until an acceptable limit was found. After several tries, sucralose was finally approved.
A sweet substitute
Stevia, a sweet herb from South America, has been proven to be a safe sugar substitute. Stevia is 330 times sweeter than sugar, so a little goes a long way. Claiming inadequate safety research, the FDA had long refused the herb from being included on the “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) list. Up until last year, all forms of stevia could only be sold as dietary supplements. Once the parent companies of both Pepsi and Coca-Cola discovered how to manipulate and patent stevia, however, it suddenly became safe to use as a sweetener and is now sold on grocery store shelves in packets similar to the artificial sweeteners. The FDA reluctantly added the natural stevia extract to the GRAS list as well.
Source: MiTimes012