Toxic Sweetener

Did you know that aspartame was listed by the Pentagon as a biochemical warfare agent? Aspartame has the reputation as being the most contested food additive in FDA history.

Originally the FDA refused to approve Aspartame until President Reagan fired the FDA Commissioner who wouldn’t approve it and appointed Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes. A Board of Inquiry was set up as there was a great deal of opposition to approving the additive, however, Dr. Hayes overruled his own Board of Inquiry, and aspartame was approved in 1981.

This little white powder has been wreaking havoc on people’s health for more than 30 years. Aspartame is sold under the following names: NutraSweet, Equal, Canderel, and AminoSweet and can be found in over 6,000 products.

Aspartame is found in soft drinks, chewing gum, diet and diabetic foods, breakfast cereals, jams, candies, vitamins, prescriptions, and over-the-counter drugs.

The aspartame producer has just recently rebranded it to AminoSweet as a way to get people to believe it’s made from amino acids which are the building block of protein.

The idea is to get you to believe that it delivers the benefit of sugar without all the calories and other drawbacks.

To read more on Aspartame Click Here.

Over the years the FDA has received more than 10,000 complaints against aspartame however the FDA admits that less than 1% of people who have problems actually report it to them.

There are many types of symptoms that people get from eating aspartame with most being neurological and behavioral problems such as headaches, mood alterations, and hallucinations. The rest complain of gastrointestinal problems.

The following is a list of scary side effects and health problems that have been attributed to consuming aspartame: multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, fibromyalgia, arthritis, multiple chemical sensitivity, chronic fatigue syndrome, attention deficit disorder, panic disorder, depression, lupus, diabetes and its complications, birth defects, lymphoma, Lyme disease, and hypothyroidism.

Most people use aspartame to help maintain a healthy weight or to avoid gaining weight. Unfortunately, the opposite is true.

Researchers have discovered that drinking diet soda actually increased your risk of metabolic syndrome and can double your risk of getting obese. Aspartame actually ruins your body’s ability to count calories and stimulates your appetite because it is considered an excitotoxin.

Glutamate and aspartate, amino acids in excitotoxins, can cause brain cells to become overly excited to the point that they actually die.

The other problem with aspartame is its ability to increase dopamine levels in your brain which can actually lead to symptoms of depression.

Here’s something that is even scarier. Evidently, the ester bond in aspartame can break down to formaldehyde and methanol, which is so toxic that aspartame has been found to be the cause of some cancers.

There has been a lot of research on this fact including one experience done with 108 subjects over a 2-year period. They were fed the equivalent to the bodyweight of eight ounces of diet soda on a daily basis. Evidently, 37% of the females developed tumors.

What other alternatives are there if you don’t want to consume sugar? Why not try stevia which comes from a plant and it is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar and has no calories. Lo han, an African sweet herb, is also another good choice.

There are a number of natural sweeteners on the market. One of those is Agave Nectar. It comes from a plant; which by the way is the same plant used to make tequila!

It has a few more calories than table sugar but because it is 25% less sweet you will need to use less of it. One important note: agave nectar has dietary fiber which will help to nourish intestinal bacteria.

One of my favorite natural sweeteners is Stevia. It comes from a South American plant and has no calories making it a perfect substitute for sugar. It is also 200+ times sweeter than regular sugar!

The reason to use this natural sweetener, especially if you are diabetic, is that it doesn’t spike blood glucose levels.

Honey is another natural sweetener and a great antioxidant. There is even a study showing that eating honey every day can reduce your cholesterol. Use raw honey for the best results since the natural properties will still be available.