A Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine has reported that artificial sweeteners contribute to weight gain. The label of emotional eating seems to have missed the real cause of obesity. And, it’s not just about weight gain – our brain and nervous system are gradually impaired.
Two promoters of the link between artificial food chemicals that impact both neurological function and weight-gain include Dr Leonard Coldwell and Dr. Russell Blaylock. Imagine what Dr. Blaylock, now a retired neurosurgeon, has seen inside the brain to inspire writing a book on it. Wikipedia reports that “Blaylock has endorsed views that food additives such as aspartame and monosodium glutamate (MSG) are excitotoxic in normal doses and that H1N1 influenza (swine flue) vaccine carries more risk than swine flu itself.” Dr. Blaylock, author of ’Excitotoxins, The Taste That Kills’, lists MSG and aspartame within his lengthy list of excitotoxins that impair the brain’s neurons.
These are only two examples of many medical practitioners who are expanding public awareness about clinical findings of negative impact from artificial food chemicals. Studies have begun in various European research facilities exploring the same issue that apparently causes weight gain and increased body size in both the general populace and newborns.
Many synthesized chemicals are promoted to be ‘simply a natural amino acid’, or a form of a natural sugar, but the chemical changes after the lab makes a substance that’s far from natural. By adversely affecting our nervous system, these chemicals eventually impact many systemic functions, from the digestive process to brain health. Thousands of studies are showing that artificial sweeteners have these adverse effects. No wonder tranquillizers and antidepressants are commonplace today for anxiety. Billions of dollars are attached to chemical food additives. The implications are huge.
It’s difficult to pick any one food to avoid because use of artificial sweeteners alone is estimated to be in over 6,000 food products. The greatest offenders include diet beverages and similar low-calorie food because weight-gain is constantly targeted in today’s society. Meanwhile, there is no low-calorie food that doesn’t contain artificial chemicals for sweeteners.
The importance of reading the ingredient list on all packaged food is in our face again. Artificial sweeteners include aspartame, nutrasweet, saccharin, equal and sucralose, with some endorsed by well-known organizations for decades so that we almost think they’re natural food.
The options? Natural sweeteners. Your body recognizes natural, pure food. It can readily process it. Natural sweeteners include honey, maple syrup, unprocessed brown stevia, and cane sugar. Agave nectar is another natural sweetener, also recognized as the plant from which tequila is made. Natural sweeteners may be slightly more expensive, but using less and knowing our body is being fed healthier food makes it a worthwhile, superior choice.
Overuse of any sweetener, including natural sources, will enhance the craving for sweet foods and result in high calorie intake. Portion control is the only answer, both for sweets and for meal portions. There is no natural food that comes as low calorie except a vegetable. Eating wisely means variety, reliance on fresh produce instead of packaged and dried goods, with careful selection of sweets and beverages. No food group should be avoided because it’s deemed to be fattening. The portion size is the determining factor, and toppings or sauces.
When it comes to brown sugar, not all are an unprocessed product. The sugar termed Natural brown sugar is made by partially refining sugar cane extract, contrasting most brown sugar that results from the addition of molasses to a fully-refined sugar… and now often sourced from sugar beets. Sugar beets are an accepted genetically engineered crop in Canada and the USA, used widely in processed foods. Golden coloured natural brown sugar is produced by extracting the juice from sugar cane, heating it to evaporate water and crystallise the sugar, then spinning in a centrifuge to remove some impurities and dry the sugar. It’s also sold as demerara sugar, originally named after its source in Guyana. In the USA, a similar natural golden sugar is called turbinado sugar, after the turbines in which it is spun. Most turbinado sugar is produced in Hawaii and sometimes sold as an organic product. Natural sugars have mineral and vitamin content, which is processed out of the more refined or white versions that have no nutrient content left.
Aspartame and Weight Gain
‘A study conducted at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center reported a “41% increase in risk of being overweight for every can or bottle of diet soft drink a person consumes each day.” The findings come from eight years of collecting data by Sharon P. Fowler, MPH and colleagues. The results of the study were reported at the 65th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association on June 10-14, 2005 (Abstract 1058-P). While this study, by itself, does not prove that aspartame causes weight gain, it adds to the evidence seen in independent research.’
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