Anything labeled “sugar-free” sounds great, does it not?
That little phrase means that the product does not have sugar from sugar cane in it. Yay! Great! It sounds healthier because it does not have sugar. It might seem like a better choice for your family, you, and your friends. You might even think that by purchasing “sugar-free” products you increase you chances of losing weight.
Well…you have been sorely misinformed. It is not your fault; large-scale companies and expensive commercial have tricked you to think that “sugar-free” means healthy.
As the second article in “Beauty=Health” series, I will do my best to explain the dangers and detriments of artificial sweeteners.
Have you ever heard of aspartame? Read the back of your gum package, any can of diet soda, most toothpastes, or many products labeled “naturally sweetened.” “Natural” is a tricky term in and of itself, fancy language that has no actual delineation of health. However, that is a topic for another day. Anyway, a great multitude of everyday items and even items considered by many to be healthy, i.e. diet soda, are far, far worse for you than drinking regular soda. Of course, as established in last week’s blog, sugar is incredibly toxic to your body and can overwork you liver leading to consequences as mild as pimples and blackheads or a severe as diabetes. So, when I tell you that artificial sweeteners are even MORE dangerous than sugar, I hope that it catches your attention!
Let’s take aspartame, advertised as NutraSweet and Equal, as our example. This is an artificial saccharide, a complex of synthetic chemicals created in a lab. Basically, it is not real food and our bodies do not recognize it as food either. We are lead to believe that artificial sweeteners in “zero-calorie” beverages are healthy and promote weight lose. Actually, these sweeteners can have quite the opposite effect.
“…studies have repeatedly shown that artificial sweeteners cause greater weight gain than regular sugar.4 Studies have also repeatedly linked artificial sweeteners with increased hunger. For example, one study published in the journal Physiology & Behavior in 19885 found that intense (no- or low-calorie) sweeteners can produce significant changes in appetite. Of the three sweeteners tested, aspartame produced the most pronounced effects.”
While weight gain is just a small example of the effects of aspartame, this synthetic complex is also associated with cancerous brain tumors, vision issues, and even birth defects. Ironically, it is also quite dangerous for diabetic individuals. Furthermore, it can wreak havoc on our endocrine system and the production of hormones that act as communication pathways throughout our body.
I know this sounds excessive, and clearly people are not dropping dead after drinking a diet soda, but just keep this in mind the next time you see “artificially sweetened” or “all-natural.” Take a closer look and try to figure our exactly what you are putting into your body. Man-made products that our bodies do not recognize as food easily disrupt the fantastic balance within the human body of delicacy and strength.
Also, if you choose to do your own research about this topic and you come across many articles claiming that artificially sweeteners are not harmful, just think about who is providing the money for the “scientific” research done to approve these products as safe.
http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/5-reason…
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/10/07/sugar-subs…