Artificial sweeteners are not a healthy substitute for sugar and they often cause people to eat more food and gain weight. When the body detects a sweet taste, it expects carbohydrates that contain nutrition, and when the gut finds no nutrition, the message is sent to the brain to eat more in order to get the nutrition needed.

The FDA has had more complaints about Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal, Canderel, NatraSweet, Spoonfuls, DiabetiSweet) than any other food additive, and yet it is still on the GRAS list (Generally Regarded As Safe) despite its strong association with brain tumours and seizures. It is a synthetic compound made up of Phenylalanine and Aspartic Acid held in a chemical bond by Methanol, which breaks down into Formic Acid, Formaldehyde and Diketopiperazine (DKP). It is the DKP that is associated with brain tumours. Aspartame breaks down more quickly with heat, and as such, is worse in hot drinks, or in soda pop that may have been in the sun at some point in its journey to our fridges. If you have ever tasted a diet drink that didn't taste sweet, you know the aspartame in it broke down into the above mentioned neurotoxins (nerve poisons). Some symptoms of aspartame toxicity include migraines, depression, seizures, attention deficit disorder, angry rages, joint pain, muscle spasm, and it can mimic diseases like MS, chronic fatigue syndrome, and fibromyalgia. Symptoms like migraines may appear quickly in some people, while in others there may be no symptoms for some time. Once again, biochemical individuality plays a role in how quickly and severely people are affected. If you or someone you care about has any of these symptoms, remove aspartame from the diet for four to six weeks before medical testing to see if the symptoms resolve, and so that the artificial sweetener won't cloud the diagnosis.

Once again, read labels, because aspartame is everywhere, including children's vitamins, cool aid type fruit drinks, diet soda pop, sugar free chewing gum, gelatin desserts, frozen desserts, fillings and toppings for baked goods, hot chocolate mixes, breath mints, yogurt, wine coolers, tea beverages, some flavoured bottled waters, some fibre cereals, cold remedies and other medications. Mary Nash Stoddard compiled the research on Aspartame into a report that she titled Deadly Deception: Story of Aspartame : Shocking Expose of the World's Most Controversial Sweetener, if you are interested in looking into this subject further.

Sucralose, under the brand name of Splenda, is gaining in popularity as a substitute for sugar. Because this product is newer there is less research to look at, but what is there should give pause for thought. It is advertised as being made from sugar, but that does not mean it is anything like sugar, just as water in no way resembles the oxygen and hydrogen from which it is made. To make sucralose, three chlorine atoms are substituted for three oxygen-hydrogen groups on the sugar molecule turning it into a chlorocarbon. Chlorocarbons have been known to cause genetic, organ, immune and reproductive damage for some time, and they cause swelling of the liver as well as swelling and calcification of the kidneys. If you get any mid-back pain in the kidney area or bladder irritation after consuming Splenda, take it out of your diet immediately.

Choose healthful sweeteners like raw (unpasteurized) honey, organic maple syrup, Rapadura or stevia to sweeten your food if necessary.

Related Tips: Sugar - The Disease Generator

Chek, Paul; How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy! Chek Institute, San Diego, CA, 2004.

Stoddard, Mary Nash; Deadly Deception: Story of Aspartame : Shocking Expose of the World's Most Controversial Sweetener Odenwald Press, Dallas, TX, 1998

Brackett, C. Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World DVD. Online at www.mercola.com

Roberts, HJ. Does Aspartame cause human brain cancer? Journal of Advances in Medicine Vol 4., No. 4, Winter 1991

Monte, WC Aspartame, Methanol and public health Journal of Applied Nutrition Vol 36, No. 1, 1984

Shaw, PJ Excitatory amino acid receptors, excitotoxicity and the human nervous system Current Opinion in Neurology and Neurosurgery 6:414-422, 1993, UK

Maher TJ and Wurtman RJ Possible neurological effects of Aspartame, a widely used food additive Environmental Health Perspectives Vol. 75, p.53-57, 1987

Drake ME Panic attacks and excessive Aspartame ingestion The Lancet p. 631, Sept. 13, 1986.

Ishu II Incidence of brain tumours in rats fed Aspartame Toxicol Letters 7:433-437, 1981

Walton RG Seizure and Mania after high intake of Aspartame Psychomatics 27:218-220, 1986

Wurtman, RJ and Walker ER, Dietary Phenylalanine and Brain Function MIT Press, May 1988.

Lord GH, Newberne PM Renal mineralization - a ubiquitous lesion in chronic rat studies Food Chemical Toxicology 28:449-455, June 1990.

Labare MP, Alexander M. Microbial cometabolism of Sucralose, a chlorinated disaccharide, in environmental samples Applied Microbiol. Biotechnology 42:173-178, Oct. 1994.

Hunter BT, Sucralose Consumers' Research Magazine Vol 73 Issue 10, p.8-10., Oct. 1990.

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