Health/Nutrition: Three Popular Sweeteners May Do More Harm Than Good

Commonly used artificial sweeteners may be doing more harm than good. Offered as lean, healthy alternatives to sugar, a dizzying array of artificial sweeteners has infiltrated our food supply - often masquerading as health food.

Shane "The Peoples Chemist" Ellison is offering a "Take Action Report" entitled Great Sex Starts in the Kitchen. It offers simple tips for avoiding sweet sabotage while teaching simple and tasty recipes courtesy of Wellness Bakeries. He insists that the general public must be more aware of the risks associated with commonly used sweeteners. Here is some information from the "Take Action Report" on these common sweeteners:

Discovered to be 300 times sweeter than sugar, Saccharin was the first drug used as an artificial sweetener. As early as 1911, a board of federal scientists warned against its use in food by insisting that it was, "an adulterant." The biggest fear was cancer. Early studies showed bladder cancer among mice. This was later proven not to translate into humans due to stark bladder differences. However, skin and lung cancer have begun to surface. Studies have not been able to confirm definitively if these threats translate into human risk. The US government's National Toxicology Program lists saccharin as an "anticipated carcinogen." Given its wild-card cancer status, saccharin is hardly a safe alternative to sugar. Yet, it remains a common food and supplement additive.

Discovered to be 180 times sweeter than sugar, the drug aspartame is found in thousands of foods and beverages as an artificial sweetener. Initially touted as an anti-ulcer drug, it failed approval due to its carcinogenic properties. With little fanfare and a scourge of conflicts of interest, the drug was later approved as an artificial sweetener. Teaching organic chemistry, Shane taught his students how to identify aspartame's carcinogenic byproducts using a technique known as TLC (Thin Layer Chromatography). Extracting the ingredients from their favorite diet soda, the simple technique elucidated methanol, formaldehyde and aspartic acid. A new version of aspartame, known as neotame, carries similar risks.

Discovered to be 600 times sweeter than sugar, the drug sucralose originated as an insecticide but was later used as an artificial sweetener. The molecule contains a historically deadly "organochlorine" or simply: a Really-Nasty Form of Chlorine (RNFOC). Unlike the harmless ionic bond in table salt, The RNFOC in sucralose is a covalent bond. When used, the RNFOC yields such poisons as insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides. A RNFOC can invade every nook and cranny of the body. Cell walls and DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) - the genetic map of human life - become potential casualties of war. This may result in weakened immune function, irregular heartbeat, agitation, shortness of breath, skin rashes, headaches, liver and kidney damage, birth defects, and cancer. Hiding its origin, sucralose pushers assert that it is "made from sugar." Sucralose is as close to sugar as glass cleaner is to purified water. France has recently banned such false advertising statements. Burying their head in the sand, the deceit has been ignored by health officials within the USA; sucralose is the most widely used artificial sweetener today.

Most artificial sweeteners are promoted as preventing weight gain. Yet, studies show that they lead to obesity and even pre-diabetes. Scientists writing for Behavioral Neuroscience and The American Heart Association's journal Circulation, discovered that fake sugar molecules disarm our body's defense against obesity - calorie counting. The studies showed that "mouth feel" plays a crucial role in the body's ability to sense the number of calories that are being consumed - and that artificial sweeteners disrupt the natural calorie calculator. This puts users at much higher risk for gaining fat and becoming insulin resistant due to subsequent binge eating.

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