Simple Health Secret: Choose a Sweetener

	Your Weekly "Simple Health Secrets" by Asia Moore
For Wednesday, August 27, 2003
Compliments of SolvingTheHealthPuzzle.com

TOPIC: "Choose a Sweetener - Not a Tumor"

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself what's in that can of soda you're about to drink, or what's really in that innocent-looking little package of sweetener you're about to add to your tea or coffee?

Here's some news.

Aspartame is used in thousands of diet foods and drinks such as Equal™ and NutraSweet™ as well as many other brands of low- calorie diet foods, gum, desserts and soft drinks and has been linked to more than 90 adverse reactions including brain tumors and blindness.

Here's some more health problems associated with the use of aspartame (and the effects are cumulative):

weight gain
hair loss
severe medical ailments
eating disorders
mental disorders
fatigue
destruction of female sexual response
induces male sexual dysfunction

Here's your diet Coke® and where would you like your brain tumor?

And there's more - Cyclamates are used as sweeteners - cyclamates can cause cancer.

Before cyclamate was banned, it was used to sweeten drinks such as Cool-Aid™ which contained 28.5% of this substance. It was discovered that 30% of humans converted as much as 40% of the cyclamates ingested into Cyclohexylamine which produces chromosome damage in animals, a high rate of still-born young, and birth defects.

It was then banned.

Lipton donated its artificially sweetened product to mental hospitals and prisons in Ohio where it was accepted without question.

It seems as if food companies will do just about anything to enhance the taste and textures of their products. The aim is to increase the pleasure of eating even if it means compromising nutritional value.

Saccharin is used as a sweetener in soft drinks and table sweeteners such as Sweet'n Low™. Saccharin can cause cancer.

Americans have been consuming saccharin for more than 100 years. It is - like so many other food additives - made from petroleum-based materials. Discovered by a Johns Hopkins University scientist in 1879, it was used initially as an antiseptic and food preservative.

Its use in foods developed gradually after the turn of the century, surging during World Wars I and II because of sugar shortages and rationing.

It was decided by the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, in the now-famous Delaney Clause, that no new food additive can be used if animal feeding studies or other appropriate tests show that it causes cancer.

Here's your coffee, there's the sweetener, and what type of cancer would you like today?

Natural sweeteners, naturally will not cause cancer or give you a tumor and the most nutritious one (blackstrap molasses) is also the lowest in calories.

Blackstrap molasses contain 43 calories per tablespoon and also contains small amounts of thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, calcium, iron, vitamin B6, phosphorus and copper.

Compare blackstrap molasses to white sugar, which has 46 calories per tablespoon and provides you with virtually no nutritional value.

Dark brown sugar contains 52 calories and provides small amounts of calcium, iron and magnesium.

Honey has 64 calories (the most of the natural sweeteners) and provides trace amounts of vitamin C, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, calcium, iron, phosphorus and copper.

Corn syrup contains 57 calories per tablespoon and provides small amounts of iron and copper.

Conclusion: Obviously do not use products containing aspartame, cyclamates or saccharin. Read the label the next time you are tempted to chug a diet soda or sweeten your coffee with something that comes out of a small envelope.

The best, readily available, natural sweeteners are blackstrap molasses, brown sugar and honey.

Go natural - get a little nutrition with your sweetener, not a tumor.

I hope you have enjoyed this simple health "secret", compliments of SolvingTheHealthPuzzle.com where you will learn simple "secrets" for a healthier life.

For other recommended reading, please visit our website for the latest health related information!

Thanks for visiting and remember that being healthy is really a simple matter once you know the "Simple Health Secrets".

Sincerely,

Asia Moore,
Publisher