Sugar Substitutes: Healthy or Deadly?

www.cbn.com ^ | July 17, 2009 | Gailon Totheroh

[Publius804]

Sugar Substitutes: Healthy or Deadly?

"Why do things taste so good? I'm telling you why, NutraSweet is why…" So went the song in a 1990 television advertisement.

The video backed it up with images of family fun, male bonding, and cute kids - all consuming or presumably on the verge of drinking a diet soda. Sweeteners like aspartame would usher in an era of thin and happy.

Barry Sears, the biochemist who came up with the Zone diet, says it's not that simple.

"We now know data from Harvard Medical School in children who consume diet sodas gain weight," Sears told CBN News. "Well, how can that be? There are you know, no calories."

Increase Obesity?

Sears is far from alone in noting that more and more research shows that this empty sweetness makes the body expect food. When it doesn't arrive, you actually get hungrier. He explains in simple terms that the more sugar-free soft drinks you drink, the fatter you become.

And not only may artificial sweeteners - found in a staggering number of grocery products - increase obesity, but many experts say they're bad for you in other ways. That could be demonstrated in your own kitchen by pouring an aspartame-based diet soda into a hot pan.

The heat simulates what your body does when you consume aspartame - breaking it down into toxic formaldehyde. But don't try this as it could give you a migraine.

[trisham]

Fireflies are poisonous? I had no idea.

[Tax-chick]

To dragons. Eat one, and they drop dead. I don’t know if they’d kill humans, though: I’ve never been that hungry.

[trisham]

We don’t have dragons in my yard. The dogs keep them away.

[DustyMoment]

OMG, what a boatload of crapola!!! We went through this BS with saccharine, (Sweet and Low), aspartane (Equal) and pretty much every other artificial sweetener that is made.

When study “results” like this are released, you ALWAYS have to look at who commissioned the “study”. Usually the “results” support the position of the group or comapny that paid for them.

Every single study with these “results” have been proven to be flawed or manipulated to obtain the desired results. Nothing to see here, folks, move along.

[TruthConquers]

Stevia. I have used it for a loooong time. I have not cooked with it either. Always have some on me for ice tea in restaurants.

It comes from a South American tree that means “honey leaves”. It is all natural. NO worries. I have been using it since I had gestational diabetes with my now 16 year old daughter. The rest of my family uses real sugar.

[anonsquared]

Aspartame - History of fraud and deception
by Dr. Joseph Mercola
http://www.hiddenmysteries.org/health/conspiracy/aspartamefraud.html

Aspartame & Flying
The Incredible Untold Story
http://www.aspartamesafety.com/Article4.htm

Google: Aspartame and Pilots (over 50,000 hits)

[Tax-chick]

It is all natural.

So are hemlock, belladonna, and digitalis. (And fireflies.)

[Tax-chick]

Our dog can’t be bothered.

[trisham]

And dragons?

[Tax-chick]

You don’t want to eat dragons - too spiky.

[Desdemona]

I heard all this about aspartame 25 years ago from the daughter of one of the scientists that developed it. Haven't touched the stuff since. It's incredibly bad. I won't do any artificial sweeteners as things cooked up in lab...yeah, I just know too many scientists.

About a year and a half ago I got into using strictly all natural foods and it does make a difference. It's not hard to cut out the crap and stick to fruits, veggies, decent bread (it does freeze nicely), real milk cheese, bone-in chicken, etc. You really do feel much better.

[trisham]

Our dogs are extremely curious and rather territorial. Chunga caught a chipmunk once, but he didn't know what to do with it, and was simply holding it in his mouth. My husband held out his hand and told him to drop it, which he did, and Mr. T put it outside the fence. Chunga appeared to be relieved.

[trisham]

I’ve heard they’re hot. :)

[Ev Reeman]

Real sugar is a natural product. It is grown and harvested just like other natural products and that is why I prefer it to all sugar substitutes. Although I do use real sugar very sparingly in whatever I eat and drink.

But as I said before I certainly see the need for sugar substitutes of some kind for those who suffer from diabetes.

[aruanan]

OK, so you’re a scientist who takes every word literally and I’m not. Got me there - hahahahahaha!

Failing to take words literally when talking about real things is what gets people doing such things as believing that eating loads of asparagus will cure cancer (1) or believing that bovine growth hormones could have have a hormonal effect on their children's bodies and buying ridiculously expensive milk to avoid a non-existent problem (2) or believing that "organic" fertilizers are "better" than inorganic ones and buying more expensive foods that are no more nutritious and no safer than others (3). But taking advantage of others' ignorance and appealing to their fear and pride have always been good means of acquiring revenue and power (look no farther than global warming/CO2 regulation to see the most successful of all such scams).

1. A long circulating anonymous email touting the amazing discovery by someone supposed to be a dentist.

2. Quadruped mammalian growth hormones cannot dock with primate growth hormone receptors, though primate growth hormones can stimulate growth in other mammals.

3. Plants absorb only inorganic fertilizers; the crap or other 'organic fertilizer' have to be broken down by bacteria in the soil into their inorganic constituents before the plants can use them. It's better to directly control the amounts and relative proportions of the inorganics from the start.

[Mase]

...but Sears is a legitimate PhD biochemist.

There are loads of PhD biochemists who regularly support nonsense like this to protect the flow of grant money. Sears has a bad habit of making claims and then not bothering to support them. IIRC, Michael Jacobson at CSPI is also a PhD. They belong together.

[Mase]

If you check out the American Diabetic Assoc., their studies have found that fake sugar makes people gain weight. And they used to push the fake stuff all the time.

These sweeteners were first developed for diabetics. The Claim that artificial sweeteners cause weight gain must be made by people who don't understand the complex chemistry of satiation. They suggest that the taste function can control or influence the amount of calories that go into our bodies. This is not how the body is set up and contradicts what we've learned about hunger and satiation. These people seem to believe that the body's genetic structure can be overridden.

These kinds of claims may be good for obtaining grant money but they don't make a lot of sense to people that believe research should be concerned with finding the truth rather than funding.

[Mase]

But it is my belief that the chemicals in sugar substitutes may cause cancer and other health problems. I much prefer natural foods whenever possible

Natural foods don't contain the same compounds found in aspartame? You sure about that?

[Mase]

I heard all this about aspartame 25 years ago from the daughter of one of the scientists that developed it. Haven't touched the stuff since. It's incredibly bad.

Aspartame is made up of three components that are bound together: Phenylalanine, aspartic acid and methanol. Phenylalanine is found in most protein rich foods. Aspartic acid is found in fruits and vegetables. Methanol is common in fruit juice and red wine. So, according to you, consuming a steak with a baked potato and green beans, and downing it with a glass of red wine, is akin to poisoning yourself.

Doesn't make much sense to me.

[bert]

.......Methanol is common in fruit juice and red wine......

You are in error. First, methanol is a liquid, not a solid. It is not found in red wine, that is ethanol.

Methanol is commonly known as wood alcohol and is sometimes used denature or make ethanol undrinkable.