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Dear Doctor,
I know that sugar is bad for me and I am trying to avoid it as much
as possible. I have been using Splenda© as a replacement because I have heard that
this is the healthiest artificial sweetener available. Is that true?
Avoiding
sugar is a great way to improve your health and prevent disease. Diets high in sugar predispose us to a
host of diseases including type-2-diabetes, obesity and cancer, along with
many others. Using artificial
sweeteners is only one of many tactics you can use to reduce sugar in your
diet. Before deciding to use one, it is important to realize that each
artificial sweetener has its own way of sweetening your lips without ever
landing on your hips, and consequently, each has its own set of risks and
benefits. Splenda© (Sucralose) and NutraSweet/Equal© (Aspartame) are
two widely available artificial sweeteners available in grocery
stores. Much of the research
concludes that they are both safe for consumption, but the studies provide
detailed information about how the sweeteners are processed by our bodies
and the potential side-effects that they may cause.
SPLENDA© (Sucralose)
Sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sugar, and it can
be used for baking because it is heat stable. It is touted as more ‘natural’ than the
other artificial sweeteners because it is made from a molecule of sucrose
(table sugar). This is likely the
reason for the common perception that it is the best of all the artificial
sweeteners. The addition of chlorine
atoms gives sucrose the ability to pass through our bodies
with-out being absorbed or contributing calories. This means that the molecule stays in our
gastrointestinal tract longer than any other food that we eat. A study looking at commonly consumed food
additives was published in a journal called Mutation Research. The
study found that Splenda©,
along with other dyes and fungicides, induced DNA damage of GI organs. The implications of the DNA damage was
not part of the study, but it is clear that Splenda© has an impact on the
body, albeit a different impact than that of a high sugar diet.
Food and Chemical Toxicology is an
international journal published for the British Industrial Biological
Research Association. It has
published many studies about Splenda©, including one designed to measure the
potential it has to cause birth defects.
The study was done with rabbits and found that Splenda© is safe to consume
during pregnancy, although they found that the rabbits experienced marked
gastrointestinal disturbance severe enough to cause two maternal deaths and
four abortions. The same journal
published another study in 2000, which found that Splenda© consumption in rats
over 4-8 weeks resulted in weight gain, and changes in spleen and thymus
tissue. The spleen is an organ that
circulates all the blood in our body and the thymus is part of our immune
system. These findings suggest that
despite the claims that Splenda© is not systemically absorbed, it still affects
organs other than our intestines.
In
fact, it was found in another study done on mice, that there may be some
systemic absorption. A similar study
was performed on dogs and found that Splenda© was excreted linked
to glucuronic acid. Linking glucuronic
acid to things is the body’s way of getting rid of it. We often find glucuronic
acid linked to toxins in attempt to allow the toxin to be excreted. The implication is that Splenda© is
recognized as a toxin.
Finally,
it is important to recognize that keeping Splenda© contained with-in
our intestines is only possible if the GI tract is healthy. If we have increased intestinal
permeability (ie…leakage), Splenda© will be absorbed
into our circulation in greater amounts.
In fact, Sucralose is used as a tool to
evaluate intestinal leakage for that reason. People who have increased intestinal
permeability will have increased absorption and are more likely to
experience adverse effects related to Splenda© consumption.
In
summary, the benefits of Splenda© include that it is 600 times sweeter than sugar
and it is heat stable. The risks are
that it is treated as a toxin and may cause gastrointestinal distress, DNA
damage and tissue changes in some organs.
EQUAL© / NUTRASWEET©
(Aspartame)
Equal© is a made of two amino acids; L-phenylalanine and L-aspartic acid. It contributes 4 calories for every gram
consumed and it is 200 times as sweet as sugar. After consumption, Equal© is broken down into methanol, aspartic acid and
phenylalanine.
Approximately
10% is metabolized into methanol, which is then further broken down into formate and formaldehyde. Formate and
formaldehyde are commonly used to embalm human bodies, preserve biological
specimens as well as to disinfect.
Needless to say, formaldehyde is toxic to the human body. It can cause metabolic acidosis and
blindness, when consumed in very high doses.
About
40% of Equal© is broken down to
aspartic acid, a well-known excitatory neurotoxin. Excitatory neurotoxins cause neurons to
initiate their own death and essentially kill themselves which will result
in brain damage. It has been used in
many studies to cause excitotoxic brain injuries
in attempt to test the effectiveness of other agents to reverse or prevent
the damage. Again, it is quite
needless to say, aspartic acid is not good for us.
The
remaining 50% of Equal© is
metabolized into phenylalanine. In
people born with phenylketonuria (PKU), dietary
consumption of phenylalanine results in severe, irreversible mental
retardation because they are missing the enzyme needed to break it
down. PKU is generally diagnosed at
birth, and people with the diagnosis need to practice strict avoidance of Equal© as well as other sources of
phenylalanine.
It
is estimated that 50% of today’s population use Equal© or NutraSweet©. With-in that population, there have been
complaints of behavioral disturbances thought to be linked to dietary
intake. In a study designed to
explore these complaints, rats were fed NutraSweet©
in varying doses and then changes in neurochemicals
were noted. The findings showed
increases in all the neurotransmitters that are formed from the metabolites
of NutraSweet©, including
dopamine and norepinephrine. Disturbances in behavior can occur as a
result of increases in these neurotransmitters.
In
summary, Equal© is 200 times
sweeter than sugar and provides only 4 calories per gram. It can be broken down into metabolites
that individually can either preserve biological specimens or can cause an
increase in dopamine and norepinepherine resulting
in behavior disturbances. It is
considered safe for human consumption because of the high amount necessary
to cause adverse effects. The
Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) is set at 50 mg per kilogram of body
weight. One packet of Equal© is 37 mg of aspartame and one
12 ounce, NutraSweet© sweetened
soda is 225 mg.
Practicing
a healthy diet can be overwhelming with all the new products available
claiming to be healthy alternatives.
As things become more processed and chemically altered, it becomes
increasingly important that we make informed decisions about what to
include in our diets. There are many other sugar alternatives in addition to the two
mentioned here, and each has its own story.
There is also information on healthy sugar substitutes at www.yncnaturally.com under
the newspaper articles link. There
is a sea of information available on this topic and it can be overwhelming
try to sort through it all. I hope
that this article helps to narrow down the best way for you to stay healthy
and still manage to keep your sweet tooth happily in your mouth.
Dr. Christina Amicone is a resident physician in naturopathic
medicine at Yellowstone Naturopathic Clinic, and Saint Vincent’s Cancer Care. She can be reached at
259-5096. Send future naturopathic health questions to ync@180com.net.
Yellowstone Naturopathic
Clinic
720 N. 30th St.
Billings, MT 59101
PHONE 406·259·5096/FAX 406·248·5655
ync@180com.net
Dispensary
406·254·9682
dispensary@yncnaturally.com
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