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Are you a real sweetie? The media has vilified sugar so much that people are loading up with synthetic sweeteners like aspartame, says Jane Hersey, director of the Feingold Association, an organization that researches and provides information about food additives. But there's a dark side. “We don't know enough about these synthetic sweeteners," she cautions, "and what we do know is very disturbing.”
Health concerns about artificial sweeteners abound. Aspartame (Nutrasweet®) has been associated with migraine headaches, hyperactivity, irritability, aggression, concentration problems and brain tumors. Neotame, a more potent version of aspartame used in processed foods, is approved in the United States but not in Europe. Splenda is under scrutiny for causing shrunken thymus glands and enlarged livers and kidneys in animal studies. Saccharin was associated with attempted FDA bans and health warnings for years. High fructose corn syrup, the latest media bad boy, is linked with loss of iron, magnesium and zinc, as well as interference with the heart’s use of magnesium, copper and chromium—and new reports link it with mercury poisoning, childhood diabetes and obesity.
Controlling your intake of artificial sweeteners can be tricky. “The scariest thing is that it’s not clear if aspartame will need to be identified (in product ingredient lists), because the small amount needed might allow it to get in under the radar,” Hersey says.
So what are your alternatives? Dietitian Karen Prior recommends naturally sweet foods. “Natural sweeteners often contain nutritive value, enzymes, vitamins and minerals. Good options include agave nectar, fruit juice, rice syrup, date sugar, maple syrup and Sucanat (natural sugar cane with the water removed).” Or you could stick with plain old sugar, and cut down on sweetened foods altogether in favor of less processed alternatives—a sweet deal, indeed.
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Good post.
I've been reading a USDA study on US food consumption that compares the 1950's to year 2000.
Total caloric sweeteners (including cane and beet sugar, corn syrup, glucose, dextrose) increased 43 lbs or 39%. In 2000, each American consumed an average of 152 lbs of sweeteners. This study reports that sugar is the number one food additive. It turns up in pizza, bread, hot dogs, boxed mixed rice, soup, spaghetti sauce, lunch meat, canned vegetables, fruit drinks, flavored yogurt, salad dressing. Carbonated sodas provided more than a fifth (22 %) of the refined and added sugars in the 2000 American food supply. And THAT is just the "real" sugar. The study does not include the artificial sweeteners.
Now, of course, Monsanto has spread it's GMO products to sugar beets so that Hershey bar might well be GMO.
We grow Sweet Stevia - it's an easy to grow herb - a leaf or two mixed with lemon basil or spearmint for tea adds a nice little sweet touch.
It seems we became so afraid of a little fat in our diet, that we changed everything to be low fat but intensely and artificially super sweet. No wonder our kids can't concentrate and are coming up with diabetes at an earlier and earlier rate.
I think cutting back on sweets in general is a good idea, and if you're going to have something sweet, you should probably have the real thing. I recently read on the news about a study that found that artificial sweeteners cause the person to take in more calories than if they had just used real sugar. They theorize that because you ate something sweet, your body is counting on receiving a certain amount of calories, and when it doesn't get it, it compensates by making you eat more.