Artificial Sweeteners – Do You Really Want to Put These Chemicals in Your Body?

By request we’re taking a look at artificial sweeteners, their pros and cons. Then you can decide whether you really want to put these chemicals in your body.

Thought that you would be interested in a list of the FDA approved artificial sweeteners with their generic and trade names:

Saccharin (SugarTwin, Sweet’N Low)
Acesulfame potassium (Sunett, Sweet One)
Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet)
Neotame
Sucralose (Splenda)

Saccharin (SugarTwin, Sweet’N Low)

Saccharin has been around the longest and went through a period of intense controversy in 1977 because it caused bladder tumors in rats. Although the FDA proposed banning it from the food supply, the public uproar against the ban prevailed. It was the only non-caloric sweetener available at the time and people didn’t want to lose it.

Subsequently 30 or more human studies on the effects of saccharin did not reveal any bladder tumors so the FDA considers safe for human consumption.

Pros:
Because it does not contain any calories, it does not raise blood sugar. Although it’s 200 to 700 times sweeter than sugar, it has a bitter aftertaste.

Cons:
Some groups like the Center for Science in the Public Interest continued to question the safetly of saccharin in relationship to its propensity to cause bladder tumors in rats. This agency thinks any risk to humans is not acceptable.

Saccharin belongs to the sulfonamide group of compounds. Anyone allergic to sulfonamide drugs may also react to saccharin.

Because of some indications that Saccharin in infant formulas may cause irritability and muscle dysfunction, it may be advisable to avoid saccharin ingestion for infants, children and pregnant women.

Acesulfame potassium (Sunett, Sweet One)

Have you even heard of Acesulfame?

Maybe not but you may be eating it in processes foods. You will find it in the ingredients list under a number of aliases:

acesulfame K
acesulfame potassium
Ace-K
Sunett.
Pros
It’s 200 times sweeter than table sugar and helps preserve the sweetness of sweet foods and acts as a flavor enhancer.

Cons
Like the other artificial sweeteners, it has not been tested for the long term health or adverse effects on the human body. Unfortunately it contains a known carcinogen, methylene chloride. Long-term exposure to methylene chloride has been linked to these symptoms in humans:
• headaches
• liver effects
• kidney effects
• depression
• nausea
• visual disturbances
• cancer
• mental confusion

Neotame

Neotame, now that’s an artificial sweetener that I was not aware of – maybe because I simply so not trust chemicals and don’t put them in my body.

Come to find out, Neotame is a new version of aspartame with the phenylalanine removed to avoid the dangers for folks who have PKU.

It’s a lot sweeter than aspartame too, like 7,000 to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar.

If it’s a relative of aspartame – beware! Even though the FDA still approves both of these “cousins” there’s been a lot of controversy over the possible health endangering effects of aspartame (Nutrasweet). Dr. Blaylock calls it an Excitotoxin that excites brain cells so profoundly that they die.

So why would we want to expose ourselves to excitotoxins. More about aspartame and Splenda (Sucralose) in future articles.

Blessings,
Dr. Jo