Topic > Which is worse for your health: an artificial sweetener or a natural sugar

Sugar is bad for you, right? Sugar is very caloric and makes you fat! This Thanksgiving and holiday season, millions of Americans will cut back on cakes, cookies, ice cream, etc. to avoid sugar. Desperate to avoid this excessive sugar consumption, many Americans will instead eat foods containing artificial sweeteners. They have found a sweet taste that will not make them gain weight. This is the scary thought that supports the widespread use of artificial sweeteners. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay “About 69 million Americans age 18 and older now consume products containing aspartame, saccharin or a combination of the two, according to the Calorie Control Council, a trade group of diet food and beverage makers.” (Mullarkey 4) These "compounds" are usually sold under the traditional names of Equal (Nutrasweet) and Sweet n' Low. These chemical ingredients are found in all types of diet foods, diet drinks, and even toothpaste! It is sprinkled in small packets in coffee and tea. It is sold all over the world. “According to a 1998 survey by the Calorie Control Council, 144 million American adults regularly consume low-calorie, sugar-free products, such as artificially sweetened sodas and desserts.” (Mullarkey, 6) Approved in 1981, aspartame is considered about 200 times sweeter than sugar. It is commonly used in products such as breakfast cereals, chewing gum, beverages, yogurt, wine coolers, and multivitamins. “It is calorie-free and when ingested and metabolized it breaks down into three substances: phenylalanine (50%), aspartic acid (40%) and methanol (10%).” (http://www.freediettips.com/diet_artificial_sweeteners.html) These ingredients may seem harmless, but they are not at all." Phenylanine is one of the amino acids necessary for the production of neurotransmitters essential for the functioning of the brain. People with " PKU' also known as phenylketonuria lacks the enzymes to break down this amino acid and can cause rare forms of brain damage. Phenylalanine is an essential nutrient for humans, however, when it increases to very high levels in body fluids, those who cannot metabolize it normally may suffer brain damage and mental retardation. For sensitive people, phenylalanine will become "neurotoxic" and may cause seizures. (Remington & Higa 29) “The second main ingredient in aspartame, 'aspartic acid,' is known to cause brain damage at very high doses. Early studies in the 1970s showed that aspartic acid caused holes in the brains of Mice fed aspartame died or had "sick seizures." The third ingredient, "Methanol," is an alcohol that turns into formaldehyde, a known toxic substance used, among other things, as a fluid. embalming." (Roberts 23) According to researchers and doctors studying the adverse effects of aspartame, the following diseases can be triggered or worsened by ingestion of aspartame: brain tumors, sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndromes, Parkinson's disease, metal retardation in Alzheimer's, birth defects, diabetes, and the list goes on. From the early 1980s to the present, consumer complaints regarding the use of aspartame have been pouring in at the FDA. "Among the symptoms reported are the following: headache, mood swings, anxiety attacks, insomnia, blindness, muscle cramps, memory loss, violent episodes, mild to suicidal depression, increased appetite, brain diseases skin, blurred vision, etc." (Remington and Higa, 31 years old) In the United States today therethere are five aspartame detox centers. Betty Martini, founder of Mission Possibile, an organization dedicated to spreading information about aspartame-related problems, found that methanol toxicity causes "metabolic acidosis" that mimics multiple sclerosis. (MS) You list the following symptoms as aspartame illness: slurred speech, joint pain, and depression. According to his research, aspartame can trigger or mimic Epstein-Bar, hypothyroidism, ADD, and post-polio syndrome. Fortunately, most of these symptoms are reversible and disappear once artificial sweeteners are discontinued. Another common artificial sweetener, saccharin, is known as the "grandfather" of all sugar substitutes. "It was used during both world wars to sweeten foods, helping to make up for sugar shortages. It is 300 times sweeter than sugar." (http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1999/699_sugar.html) “Because saccharin has a good shelf life, it is widely used in carbonated soft drinks, and its stability at high temperatures makes it an option to sweeten baked goods, unlike aspartame, which degrades when heated." (http://www.freediettips.com/diet_artificial_sweeteners.html) Saccharin is also favored economically because it can be produced cheaply, unlike aspartame. Saccharin is an organic compound derived from petroleum. It was founded accidentally in 1879 by a chemical research assistant named Constantine Fahlberg. Fahlberg was working on new food preservatives when he accidentally spilled some of the compound he had "synthesized" on his hands. When he returned home that evening and ate dinner, he noticed the intense sweetness of the mixture from what was left on his hand. He named the compound Saccharin after the Latin word "saccharum" meaning sugar. He returned to the laboratory, retracing his steps until he was able to synthesize saccharin in large quantities. Since the early 1900s, there have been numerous questions about saccharin's role in causing cancer in rats. Numerous studies have been conducted on this topic for over half a century. “In a letter to the NTP (National Toxicology Program) several scientists described numerous studies with rats and mice that found that saccharin caused cancer in the uterus, skin and many other organs. This research team also cited six studies in humans, including a large study by the National Cancer Institute, which found an association between consumption of artificial sweeteners and bladder cancer, especially in heavy consumers of diet foods" (Robert, 36) Artificial sweeteners increase l 'appetite because when the sweet taste arrives in the mouth, a message. it is sent into the body that carbohydrates are entering to be digested. Then the pancreas kicks in and sends insulin into the bloodstream. Since there are no actual carbohydrates, insulin lowers blood sugar and increases appetite. In this way, artificial sweeteners can contribute to hypoglycemia. While artificial sweeteners are a boon for overweight people and people who want to monitor their sugar intake, the dangers of consistently using these sweeteners are too harmful to actually be beneficial. For diabetics and other people who can't have sugar, that's a different story. Anyone who must use artificial sweeteners, however, should definitely minimize their intake. They are dangerous! Artificial sweeteners are commonly advertised as if they are actually a good choice for the general public. What a joke! After all this research, the investigator feels really bad and will never use,