Monday, September 20, 2010

Too Sweet To Be True?

SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener is made from sugar, tastes like sugar but it’s not sugar. SPLENDA® is made with sucralose, so it does not contain aspartame. It has an outstanding safety profile and is an ideal sugar alternative for the whole family.” At least this is the claim made by the official Splenda website.

Upon further investigation, the Splenda website states that there are over 100 safety studies out there on their product, although they only have three of these 100 on their website.  Not one of these three studies are actually “safety studies”, but instead measure the glycemic index and the relation Splenda has to tooth decay.  As of 2006, only six human studies have ever been published on Splenda.  Of those six studies, only two had been reviewed by the FDA before they gave the “ok” to put this product on the market. Furthermore, of those two studies, there was a mere 36 people included and only 23 of those people were actually given Splenda for research.  Twenty three people might seem like an adequate number for some people, although you must consider that billions of people are consuming this toxic substance…is 23 people enough now?! Now, if those facts don’t alarm you, I will add one further detail.  Of these studies conducted, the longest trial was four days, and measured how Splenda relates to tooth decay.

Wait, what?!

I have never heard of anyone developing tooth decay in four days.  One thing that is clear now is that Splenda doesn’t actually “prove” anywhere that their product is safe.

Dr. Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician, reveals shocking evidence on the harmful effects of this very popular artificial sweetener. On his very informative website, Dr. Mercola states that there is overwhelming evidence that artificial sweeteners “wreck havoc” on your body- impairing appetite regulation, and leading to weight gain. It is also now proven that diet soda (which contains these very popular artificial sweeteners) increases your risk of metabolic syndrome, and ultimately, heart disease. 

WOW!

Look at our country, we are a diet Coke and diet Pepsi culture. And, we are also a culture that has skyrocketing levels of metabolic syndrome (which is a conglomeration of low HDL or good cholesterol, high fasting blood sugar, large waistline, and high triglycerides) and heart disease.
Ok, fine. So now we see that there is a link between artificial sweeteners and heart disease/metabolic syndrome. But, what other harmful effects are we seeing from these deceptive fake sugars? A study that was published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health found even more disturbing evidence.

They found that Splenda:
-reduces the amount of good bacteria in your gut by 50%
-increases the pH levels of your intestines (which isn’t a good thing)
-and effects a certain glycoprotein in your body that can lead to other serious complications
Contrary to popular belief, by consuming low-calorie or no-calorie foods, you are virtually doubling your risk for obesity.  The effects listed above aren’t even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to side-effects that people have reported from Splenda.  Some of these include: migraine headaches, seizures, dizziness, blurred vision, allergic reactions, blood sugar increases, pain, nausea, gas…and the list goes on and on.

What can you do to avoid this toxin?
Learn how to read labels to determine if the product contains artificial sweeteners, but beware, sucralose is in many more products than you think. Ten percent of sucralose is sold to drug companies, and many of those drug companies do not list it as an ingredient in their products.  You can also be sure that most products listed as low-calorie or no-calorie contains some sort of artificial sweetener.  Also, be familiar with the different names that these products go as: as an example, Splenda is also called sucralose; Aspartame is also called Equal, NutraSweet, and Canderel.  Be mindful.  Use more natural sweeteners like honey, pure maple syrup, and stevia. Finally, remember that you will not lose weight by eating products with artificial sweeteners… but instead you will double your risk of obesity.
Contact your Natural Health Practitioner to speak about alternatives and for further information! Also learn in a later blog about the health benefits of pure, raw honey!

No comments:

Post a Comment