artificial sweeteners shock horror

Artificial Sweeteners

Most artificial sweeteners are artificially produced chemicals whose metabolism strains the liver, the most important organ for detoxification. Artificial sweeteners also confuse the brain. The enzymes in your mouth begin a cascade that primes your cell receptors for an insulin surge, and when it doesn’t arrive the brain feels cheated and craves more sweets.

Almost all of the independent research on artificial sweeteners, from saccharine to aspartame, show toxicity in animal studies.

Sucralose (Splenda) is simply chlorinated sugar; a chlorocarbon, a group of substances known to be poisonous. In test animals Splenda produced a myriad of toxic effects including enlarged, damaged livers and calcification of the kidneys.

The most controversial of the lot is Aspartame, sold by the Searle pharmaceutical company under the name Nutrasweet. It has a long history of toxicity in animal studies and was repeatedly denied approval by the FDA since the 1960s. A 1980 FDA Board of Inquiry, comprised of three independent scientists, confirmed that it "might induce brain tumors." The substance was only allowed on the market in 1981 after political interference in the FDA on behalf of Searle. Aspartame contains the excitotoxin aspartate as 40% of its molecular structure, and many health activists have proposed a link to early onset Parkinson's disease. Its metabolism produces methanol (wood alcohol), a toxin to the liver and nervous system. The methanol is further metabolized to produce formaldehyde, a neurotoxin which causes brain damage.

Since aspartame came on the market in l981, it has accounted for more than 75 percent of the complaints reported to the FDA's Adverse Reaction Monitoring system. The most common adverse reactions attributed to aspartame include headaches, dizziness, attention difficulties, memory loss, slurred speech and vision problems, a cluster of neurological symptoms which have become so common they are actually referred to as "aspartame disease".

An attempt to ban Aspartame in New Mexico failed in 2006.
If you can't wean yourself off sweet-tasting foods, use Stevia, a completely natural substance derived from a South American herb, stevia rebuadiana. First published accounts of this herb go as far back as 1576 by Spanish physician Francisco Hernandez in his book, "Natural History of Plants of the New Spain" after Spanish conquistadors arrived on the shores of South America. Today stevia is widely used in Japan, South America, China, Germany, Korea and Israel, and others. Stevias' safety has been repeatedly proven through extensive scientific testing and hundreds of years of use. Stevia actually balances blood sugar levels, and is safe for use by both diabetics. Unlike aspartame, stevia reduces the craving for sweets.