Posted on 07/18/2009 7:54:31 AM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbn.com ...
Yep, that’s why I’m dead. So are my parents. (/s)
...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.Luckily, the body doesn't digest food using a scalding hot frying pan. :')
Oh, please.
I probably consume more bad chemicals through my skin and respiratory system from a day of plinking than I will from a lifetime of diet soda.
I probably get more exposure to nuclear radiation from a day at the beach than I would from a lifetime living nextdoor to a nuclear power plant.
After being obese for years and fighting to lose that weight, I’ll keep my splenda, barring any real (non-internet hyperbole) health scare that’s backed up by a serious peer-reviewed study. Being obese sucked. Sometimes I want my tea to be sweet. That means splenda.
I got cancer from saccharine use and died in 1977. Oh, wait a minute ...
The first part about the body expecting sugar, and therefore causing people to get fatter makes sense. The other “science” parts sound like the start of “educating” the public in preparation for lawsuits.
Cheers!
Don’t even say anything about Splenda, or...else! LOL
Last night, for the first time, I picked up a quart of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream made with Splenda. One half the fat, and 1/3 of the calories. Or something like that. (It was on sale. I’m cheap.)
It was AWESOME. Understand that I will be FReeping the rest of the week with a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone until it’s gone.
Never could I take Sweet-n-Low, Nutri-Sweet, or any of that crap. But Splenda.....
Ding
Ding
Ding
We have a winner!!!!
I have been drinking inhuman quantities of diet soda for close to 20 years. I am living proof that this is BS.
It’s an Undead thing.
Maybe it makes sense, but is it verified by experiment that drinking diet soda (or, presumably, consuming other artificially sweetened products) correlates with weight gain? Many things that "make sense" turn out not to match up with real-world experience.
yawn.... I don’t touch the stuff (equal, splenda, sweet and low), but this is simply another one of those “could possibly be harmful”, type articles.
Exactly. My husband is diabetic. We use Splenda.
Yes. As if we weren’t all going to die, anyway ;-).
Well. Some of us, anyway. :)
Good point. St. Paul observed, “We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed, in a twinkling, when the trumpet sounds” and so on.
I personally expect to die, but not right now. The little boys are expecting lunch!
I gave up diet soda when I got pregnant. I felt wonderful! After I had my son, I stayed away from it because it was still not recommended for nursing. All it took was one sip and I was addicted to it. Diet soda is the devil! I crave it, but feel so much better when I avoid it. After that little experiment, my husband and I have banned all fake sugar from our home. Especially Splenda. Splenda gives us both the poops. Anything that makes me feel like I’ve spent a week in Mexico can’t be good for me.
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.
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