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Seeds for Change Wellness
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Sweet and Deadly
Article: Sweet And Deadly.. By Thomas Smith
July 21, 2006
Our Sweet Tooth
When my sugar walks down the street… this refrain from an old American ballad reminds us of the intense
preoccupation that we have with our sweet tooth. In one form or another we find sweeteners in almost
everything that we eat or drink. They are presented in a multitude of subtle forms and disguises as if to
appear harmless; however, many are far from harmless; few of them have any nutritional value at all. The
near universal presence of incredible amounts of sugars and artificial sweeteners throughout our entire
food supply makes a trip to the local supermarket a dangerous experience indeed, particularly for the
uninformed. Because this whole commercial arena changes quickly as more and more customers catch on,
it becomes essential that we become periodically updated about the sugar deception.
Sugar addiction is a complex process that starts with the stimulation of the sweet sensors in our mouth and
ends with a twisted whole body immune response and a severely malfunctioning endocrine system. Sugars
are known to cause massive dislocations in our endocrine system leading directly to a national obesity
epidemic and the eventual and certain loss of the body’s ability to metabolize any sugar. The result of an
out of control sugar addiction is often diabetes, obesity, kidney failure, blindness, amputation of the
extremities and an early and miserable death. The price of allowing ourselves to be deceived by fraudulent
labels and of failing to cope with sugar addiction is very high.
When the per capita consumption of sugar was on the order of twelve pounds per year, it posed little
danger because most people can handle that amount without adverse effects. Today’s per capita
consumption is approaching 150 pounds per year, with certain subgroups, teenagers for example,
consuming much more; and, the negative health consequences are devastating.
The damaging effects of sugar are worsened dramatically by two other dietary changes that were
introduced in the early 1970s. These changes act in synergy with sugar consumption to enhance the
damaging effect of sugar and to guarantee epidemic diabetes, overweight and obesity. One change was
the substitution of cheap junk oils for the highly beneficial coconut oil we once had in the American diet.
The awful health consequences of this substitution have been widely exposed by many students of these
issues. Another factor was the widespread addition of MSG to the food supply for the purpose of creating
food addictions. MSG is so well understood to reliably cause obesity, that a strain of lab rats noted for their
obesity and widely used by scientists in their obesity studies, is identified as MSG rats. It was when these
dietary changes were introduced that obesity began to assume epidemic proportions in the US.
The type of sugars in our food has changed over the years. Once sucrose, derived from sugar cane or
sugar beets was our leading dietary sugar. Today, cheaper sugars, such as high fructose corn syrup, are
widely used. High fructose corn syrup is derived from the chemical, biological and enzymatic manipulation
of corn syrup. At least two of the enzymes that are used in the manufacture of high fructose corn syrup
have been genetically modified to facilitate the process. Although there are hundreds of sugars and sugar
isomers in common use, it is only glucose, sometimes known as dextrose, that powers our cellular
metabolism. Contrary to widespread opinion, fructose is not a healthy sugar, especially for the overweight.
How Sugar Is Metabolized
Some crops, such as corn, sugar cane and sugar beets are processed to yield refined sugars. Glucose,
fructose and galactose are all monosaccharides, or simple sugars. There are numerous other
monosaccharides. They all have three to seven carbon atoms. Glucose, fructose and galactose are all
hexoses; that is they have six carbon atoms. They are all isomers of each other, i.e.: they all have the
same chemical formula but with differing arrangements of the constituent atoms. It is this differing isomeric
arrangement to which the body’s enzymes respond during their metabolism.
Often sugar molecules will connect up in chains. A chain of two molecules is called a disaccharide.
Common table sugar, called sucrose, is such a disaccharide; it is composed of one molecule of glucose
and one of fructose.
When the chain of sugar molecules exceeds two it is called a polysaccharide. Starch is a common
vegetable dietary polysaccharide. The widespread consumption of white potatoes, an important starch, is
a factor in our national obesity epidemic. On the glycemic index, white potatoes, a polysaccharide sugar, is
higher than ice cream; thus white potatoes are more difficult for our blood sugar controller to manage than
is ice cream.
In order for a molecule of glucose to be absorbed by the villi in our intestines, two molecules of sodium
must be there to facilitate the absorption. In the absence of sodium, glucose will not be absorbed. This
makes the consumption of white potatoes, such as French fries or baked potatoes liberally dosed with
table salt, sodium chloride, doubly damaging to the human metabolism.
Glycogen, manufactured by our liver, is a common animal polysaccharide composed of a long chain of
glucose molecules connected in a slightly different way than the starch. In between meals, it is this
glycogen that is secreted by the liver into the bloodstream that prevents our blood sugar from falling too
low. This is the system that fails with certain forms of hypoglycemia
In our intestines, disaccharides and polysaccharides are broken down into monosaccharide form by
enzymes in our brush border villi. The monosaccharides are then absorbed. Sucrose, table sugar is a
common disaccharide that is broken down into glucose and fructose before being absorbed. The glucose
goes into the bloodstream and then to the different cells of our body where it powers cellular activity and is
involved in other cellular processes. The fructose goes to the liver for the triglyceride transformation
needed before it can be stored as body fat.
Metabolic Consequences Of Chronic Sugar Consumption
The sweeping epidemic obesity in factor important an is fat body triglyceride into fructose of metabolism.
There are many, including this writer, that are convinced that the widespread over-consumption of high
fructose corn syrup is a key factor our national epidemic of obesity. The widespread popular belief that
fructose is a harmless sugar because it does not elevate blood sugar levels is not at all well founded.
Immediately after the ingestion of fructose, a rapid rise in blood triglycerides occurs. This reveals the newly
manufactured fat being transported from the liver to the adipose cells where it is stored.
Our digestive and metabolic systems work through the action of enzymes manufactured by the body.
Minerals are an important constituent of enzymes; enzymes cannot function without minerals. The chronic
consumption of sugar completely upsets all of our mineral balances. We then become enzyme deficient.
Among the early warning signs of this deficiency are multiple food allergies. When we lack the enzymes
needed to digest and metabolize our food, these processes work poorly, if at all. The next step in this
degenerative process is that we not only become allergic to the food that we eat, but also no longer digest
and metabolize properly.
When the Calcium-Phosphorous mineral balance becomes distorted by excess sugar, we suffer from
inability to properly metabolize calcium. Even if we have normal, even excess, calcium in the bloodstream,
it doesn’t do us any good. We excrete the excess calcium and then the body raids the supply of calcium in
the bones and we operate as calcium deficient. Osteoporosis is often the result.
Chronic elevated levels of blood sugar stimulate chronic elevated levels of insulin as the body attempts to
clear sugar from the bloodstream. Elevated levels of glucose cause the fine capillaries and veins
throughout the body to leak. If the capillaries are in the feet, neuropathy and eventual gangrene result. If
they are in the kidneys, irreversible loss of kidney function results. If they are in the eyes, retinopathy and
progressive loss of vision results. An elevated level of insulin is linked to atherosclerosis and eventual
stroke or heart failure.
Natural Sweeteners
If carbohydrates containing sugar are processed to the point where the isolated sugar molecules appear
to be the only, or major result of the refining process, the sugar is said to be refined. Ordinary table sugar,
sucrose, is a refined sugar.
However, if the refining process is started but not allowed to go to completion, a class of so-called
“unrefined sugars” result. There are hundreds of different unrefined sugars in relatively common usage.
Amongst these can be found: organic maple syrup, organic maple sugar, barley malt syrup, brown rice
syrup, honey, date sugar as well as several grades of partially refined brown sugars and syrups. These so
called unrefined sugar substitutes all contain sugar; usually sucrose, maltose galactose or fructose in
varying proportions.
Typically these unrefined sugars are, in terms of health, somewhat superior to the refined sugars because
they often still contain varying amounts of the mineral complexes, vitamins and other nutrients that were
once a part of the raw source product. Their presence may tend to prevent the body from raiding its stores
of these nutrients when the sugar is consumed. The sugar content, however, usually either sucrose or
fructose, remains as the sweetening agent. These unrefined sugars will elevate the blood sugar just as the
their more refined counterparts do. However, they may do it more slowly and also supply more of the
nutrients that have been removed from the more refined sugars.
Xylitol and Stevia are two natural sweeteners that are very useful to those who want to avoid the bad
consequences of sugar and the worse consequences of artificial sweeteners.
Xylitol is a sugar alcohol, not a true sugar. In taste and appearance it is much like the sucrose to which we’
ve all become habituated. Although it looks and tastes like sugar it has a greatly diminished effect upon
our blood sugar metabolism. The only side effect, for some, is that usage in very large quantities will
produce diarrhea. The other most noticeable characteristic is that it is somewhat expensive; currently it is
about $10.00 per pound in most health food stores. Xylitol is highly recommended for diabetics or those
who seek a healthy alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners.
Stevia is an herb and is, wrongly, reputed to be a cure for diabetes in some countries. While not a cure for
diabetes, it is a very good sweetener for the diabetic as well as those who want to escape the damage
done by sugar and artificial sweeteners. It is so effective as a competitor for the artificial sweetener
industry that the FDA refuses to allow it to be advertised as a sweetener in spite of the fact that being
sweet is its major identifying characteristic. Highly recommended as a sweetener to those who seek a
healthy alternative to the sugar and artificial sweetener industry.
Artificial Sweeteners
Because of the many widely recognized dangers inherent in the excess use of sugar, an important market
has developed in the use of artificial sweeteners, or so called sugar substitutes. Sadly, many of these
sugar substitutes have far worse health effects upon the body than does sugar itself. In theory, these
artificial sweeteners do not elevate blood sugar. However, the many other deadly effects of them are often
far worse than the effects of sugar. A good piece of advice is: Control your sweet tooth; if you cannot
control your sweet tooth, then use one of the two alternative sweeteners mentioned above or the unrefined
sweeteners available. If you cannot do either, then accept the bad effects of sugar, because as bad as
sugar is, it is far better than its artificial alternatives.
The principal artificial sweeteners are: Aspartame, Neotame, Acesulfame-K, Saccharin and Sucralose.
There are a few others, however, these are the ones most commonly found in our food and soft drinks.
Aspartame is a chemical that was once on the congressional list of biowarfare agents. It was refused a
place in our food supply for sixteen years by the FDA because it was and is a well-known toxic agent.
Aspartame was finally approved by a new FDA commissioner put in place by the political influence of
Donald Rumsfeld who, as president of the company that owned the patent on Aspartame, wanted to get it
approved. This event is a case study in criminal politics and an eye opening view of how corporate
America really works.
Currently aspartame appears in several thousand food products in our supermarkets and is regularly
consumed by at least 2/3rds of the US population. There are far too many serious side effects caused by
this chemical to list in this short article. However, just for the purpose of illustration, aspartame has been
linked to Alzheimer’s disease in thirty year olds, brain tumors, and Parkinson’s disease in young people.
When forced to do so under a freedom of information act request, the FDA produced a list of 92 symptoms
caused by this chemical food and drink additive. Over 10,000 victims reported these symptoms. By the
FDA’s own admission 75% of the complaints received by the agency were about Aspartame.
The medical text “Aspartame Disease: an Ignored Epidemic”, by Dr. H.J. Roberts, presents 1038 pages of
symptoms and diseases triggered by this neurotoxin.
It is indeed ironic that aspartame even fails in its role as a dietary supplement to promote weight loss. As
an excitotoxin it stimulates the body’s craving for carbohydrates and is known to promote obesity.
Multiple lawsuits have recently been filed in several California courts. If justice is finally served, the
settlements may run into the billions and this poison could be removed from the marketplace. It’s a shame
that political immunity will probably keep the people that merchandise this poison out of jail.
In the meantime, if you value your health, do not consume any product that contains Aspartame. The trade
names under which it is currently sold include NutraSweet, Canderal, Spoonful, Equal, and Benevia. These
constantly change as consumers catch on, so be aware. Even as the tradenames are changed to confuse
the unwary, remember that as required by law the label must contain a warning about PKU stating that the
product contains Phenylalanine (PKU).
Neotame is a new sweetener developed by Monsanto. It is very similar to the Aspartame discussed above.
There are no legitimate, independent, long-term studies to justify the rapid rubber stamp approval of this
substance by the FDA. The label for this product must also contain the PKU warning by law.
The FDA approved acesulfame-K in 1988. There have been few if any human studies. Animal studies
have indicated that it stimulates insulin production thereby precipitating hypoglycemic events. It is also
strongly suspected of causing lung tumors, breast tumors, several forms of Leukemia as well as multiple
rare organ cancers. Trade names this poison is sold under include Sunette and Sweet one.
Saccharin has been implicated in causing bladder cancer in lab rats. In the US, the National Cancer
Institute took the position that Saccharin is not a carcinogen. It is banned in Britain as a carcinogen.
France made it a prescription drug. It was deleted from the FDA’s GRAS (generally regarded as safe) list.
A warning label to indicate it is a potential carcinogen is now required in the US. Its most well known trade
name is Sweet’n Low. Fortunately it has a metallic after taste that limits its use for many applications; this
means it gets hidden in processed food.
Sucralose is the latest in the list of artificial sweeteners. One would hope that it would be the best;
unfortunately it is not. It is made by chlorinating sucrose – table sugar. It causes shrinkage of the thymus,
poor blood sugar control, enlarged liver and kidneys, decreased red blood cell count, abortions, extended
pregnancy and increases the Hba1C marker for diabetes, among many other symptoms. The Hba1C
marker is often associated with accelerated aging. The FDA itself, in its “final rules report”, indicated that
Sucralose was weakly mutagenic in a lymphoma mutation assay. Sucralose is not approved for most
European countries, but is in routine use in the US and Canada. This commercial junk science is on our
supermarket shelves and in our processed food under the trade name “Splenda”.
Again, it is interesting to note that Sucralose does not even meet its advertised purpose of being useful for
weight control. Although often sold under this misleading advertising, it actually functions as an appetite
stimulant and promotes the consumption of carbohydrates.
What To Do
Contemporary Americans are widely deceived by ads for food and drugs. Indeed, prior to this generation,
when people were still relatively healthy, the ability of the corporate food manufacturers to deceive and
swindle the population was limited. With the growth of marketing as a science, swindles and swindlers have
proliferated as never before.
It is important to realize that it is not the job of the FDA, nor indeed any government agency, to protect us
from harmful contaminants in our food and drugs. That agency is largely responsible to manage
competition between corporate suppliers of our food and drugs. Over the years, the FDA has become so
politicized and focused upon corporate need, that the consumer, having little political power, has become
little more than a victim. Indeed, the very term consumer implies his only role is to buy and consume to
support industry. He is useful mostly to determine the toxicity of the food and drugs that are promoted to
the consumer in America. History shows that even when something is found to be notably toxic, it
frequently remains in the marketplace for unexplainable lengths of time. Surprisingly, being toxic often
does not even mean that the label must reflect the toxicity.
Due to widespread corruption, the agencies that were originally chartered to protect the public health do
not do their job, and so we have been forced into the position of being the lab rats for the food and drug
industry. Short of another American revolution, we cannot escape our role as lab rats, thus behooving us,
as individuals, to do what we can to protect our health. At the very least we can become intelligent,
informed lab rats and refuse to knowingly buy addictive junk that can kill us.
Thomas Smith is a reluctant medical investigator having been forced into curing his own diabetes
because it was obvious that his doctor would not or could not cure it. He has published the results of his
successful diabetes investigation in his self-help manual entitled “Insulin: Our Silent Killer” written for the
layman but also widely valued by the medical practitioner. This manual details the steps required to
reverse Type II Diabetes and references the work being done with Type I Diabetes. In the US, the book
may be purchased by sending $25.00 US to him at PO Box 7685, Loveland, Colorado 80537. Outside of
the US, email us for the special payment and shipping information required for international transactions.
He has also posted a great deal of useful information about this disease on his web page at: www.
Healingmatters.com He can be reached by email at valley@healingmatters.com and, in the US, by
telephone at: 1 (970) 669-9176.
July 21, 2006
Our Sweet Tooth
When my sugar walks down the street… this refrain from an old American ballad reminds us of the intense
preoccupation that we have with our sweet tooth. In one form or another we find sweeteners in almost
everything that we eat or drink. They are presented in a multitude of subtle forms and disguises as if to
appear harmless; however, many are far from harmless; few of them have any nutritional value at all. The
near universal presence of incredible amounts of sugars and artificial sweeteners throughout our entire
food supply makes a trip to the local supermarket a dangerous experience indeed, particularly for the
uninformed. Because this whole commercial arena changes quickly as more and more customers catch on,
it becomes essential that we become periodically updated about the sugar deception.
Sugar addiction is a complex process that starts with the stimulation of the sweet sensors in our mouth and
ends with a twisted whole body immune response and a severely malfunctioning endocrine system. Sugars
are known to cause massive dislocations in our endocrine system leading directly to a national obesity
epidemic and the eventual and certain loss of the body’s ability to metabolize any sugar. The result of an
out of control sugar addiction is often diabetes, obesity, kidney failure, blindness, amputation of the
extremities and an early and miserable death. The price of allowing ourselves to be deceived by fraudulent
labels and of failing to cope with sugar addiction is very high.
When the per capita consumption of sugar was on the order of twelve pounds per year, it posed little
danger because most people can handle that amount without adverse effects. Today’s per capita
consumption is approaching 150 pounds per year, with certain subgroups, teenagers for example,
consuming much more; and, the negative health consequences are devastating.
The damaging effects of sugar are worsened dramatically by two other dietary changes that were
introduced in the early 1970s. These changes act in synergy with sugar consumption to enhance the
damaging effect of sugar and to guarantee epidemic diabetes, overweight and obesity. One change was
the substitution of cheap junk oils for the highly beneficial coconut oil we once had in the American diet.
The awful health consequences of this substitution have been widely exposed by many students of these
issues. Another factor was the widespread addition of MSG to the food supply for the purpose of creating
food addictions. MSG is so well understood to reliably cause obesity, that a strain of lab rats noted for their
obesity and widely used by scientists in their obesity studies, is identified as MSG rats. It was when these
dietary changes were introduced that obesity began to assume epidemic proportions in the US.
The type of sugars in our food has changed over the years. Once sucrose, derived from sugar cane or
sugar beets was our leading dietary sugar. Today, cheaper sugars, such as high fructose corn syrup, are
widely used. High fructose corn syrup is derived from the chemical, biological and enzymatic manipulation
of corn syrup. At least two of the enzymes that are used in the manufacture of high fructose corn syrup
have been genetically modified to facilitate the process. Although there are hundreds of sugars and sugar
isomers in common use, it is only glucose, sometimes known as dextrose, that powers our cellular
metabolism. Contrary to widespread opinion, fructose is not a healthy sugar, especially for the overweight.
How Sugar Is Metabolized
Some crops, such as corn, sugar cane and sugar beets are processed to yield refined sugars. Glucose,
fructose and galactose are all monosaccharides, or simple sugars. There are numerous other
monosaccharides. They all have three to seven carbon atoms. Glucose, fructose and galactose are all
hexoses; that is they have six carbon atoms. They are all isomers of each other, i.e.: they all have the
same chemical formula but with differing arrangements of the constituent atoms. It is this differing isomeric
arrangement to which the body’s enzymes respond during their metabolism.
Often sugar molecules will connect up in chains. A chain of two molecules is called a disaccharide.
Common table sugar, called sucrose, is such a disaccharide; it is composed of one molecule of glucose
and one of fructose.
When the chain of sugar molecules exceeds two it is called a polysaccharide. Starch is a common
vegetable dietary polysaccharide. The widespread consumption of white potatoes, an important starch, is
a factor in our national obesity epidemic. On the glycemic index, white potatoes, a polysaccharide sugar, is
higher than ice cream; thus white potatoes are more difficult for our blood sugar controller to manage than
is ice cream.
In order for a molecule of glucose to be absorbed by the villi in our intestines, two molecules of sodium
must be there to facilitate the absorption. In the absence of sodium, glucose will not be absorbed. This
makes the consumption of white potatoes, such as French fries or baked potatoes liberally dosed with
table salt, sodium chloride, doubly damaging to the human metabolism.
Glycogen, manufactured by our liver, is a common animal polysaccharide composed of a long chain of
glucose molecules connected in a slightly different way than the starch. In between meals, it is this
glycogen that is secreted by the liver into the bloodstream that prevents our blood sugar from falling too
low. This is the system that fails with certain forms of hypoglycemia
In our intestines, disaccharides and polysaccharides are broken down into monosaccharide form by
enzymes in our brush border villi. The monosaccharides are then absorbed. Sucrose, table sugar is a
common disaccharide that is broken down into glucose and fructose before being absorbed. The glucose
goes into the bloodstream and then to the different cells of our body where it powers cellular activity and is
involved in other cellular processes. The fructose goes to the liver for the triglyceride transformation
needed before it can be stored as body fat.
Metabolic Consequences Of Chronic Sugar Consumption
The sweeping epidemic obesity in factor important an is fat body triglyceride into fructose of metabolism.
There are many, including this writer, that are convinced that the widespread over-consumption of high
fructose corn syrup is a key factor our national epidemic of obesity. The widespread popular belief that
fructose is a harmless sugar because it does not elevate blood sugar levels is not at all well founded.
Immediately after the ingestion of fructose, a rapid rise in blood triglycerides occurs. This reveals the newly
manufactured fat being transported from the liver to the adipose cells where it is stored.
Our digestive and metabolic systems work through the action of enzymes manufactured by the body.
Minerals are an important constituent of enzymes; enzymes cannot function without minerals. The chronic
consumption of sugar completely upsets all of our mineral balances. We then become enzyme deficient.
Among the early warning signs of this deficiency are multiple food allergies. When we lack the enzymes
needed to digest and metabolize our food, these processes work poorly, if at all. The next step in this
degenerative process is that we not only become allergic to the food that we eat, but also no longer digest
and metabolize properly.
When the Calcium-Phosphorous mineral balance becomes distorted by excess sugar, we suffer from
inability to properly metabolize calcium. Even if we have normal, even excess, calcium in the bloodstream,
it doesn’t do us any good. We excrete the excess calcium and then the body raids the supply of calcium in
the bones and we operate as calcium deficient. Osteoporosis is often the result.
Chronic elevated levels of blood sugar stimulate chronic elevated levels of insulin as the body attempts to
clear sugar from the bloodstream. Elevated levels of glucose cause the fine capillaries and veins
throughout the body to leak. If the capillaries are in the feet, neuropathy and eventual gangrene result. If
they are in the kidneys, irreversible loss of kidney function results. If they are in the eyes, retinopathy and
progressive loss of vision results. An elevated level of insulin is linked to atherosclerosis and eventual
stroke or heart failure.
Natural Sweeteners
If carbohydrates containing sugar are processed to the point where the isolated sugar molecules appear
to be the only, or major result of the refining process, the sugar is said to be refined. Ordinary table sugar,
sucrose, is a refined sugar.
However, if the refining process is started but not allowed to go to completion, a class of so-called
“unrefined sugars” result. There are hundreds of different unrefined sugars in relatively common usage.
Amongst these can be found: organic maple syrup, organic maple sugar, barley malt syrup, brown rice
syrup, honey, date sugar as well as several grades of partially refined brown sugars and syrups. These so
called unrefined sugar substitutes all contain sugar; usually sucrose, maltose galactose or fructose in
varying proportions.
Typically these unrefined sugars are, in terms of health, somewhat superior to the refined sugars because
they often still contain varying amounts of the mineral complexes, vitamins and other nutrients that were
once a part of the raw source product. Their presence may tend to prevent the body from raiding its stores
of these nutrients when the sugar is consumed. The sugar content, however, usually either sucrose or
fructose, remains as the sweetening agent. These unrefined sugars will elevate the blood sugar just as the
their more refined counterparts do. However, they may do it more slowly and also supply more of the
nutrients that have been removed from the more refined sugars.
Xylitol and Stevia are two natural sweeteners that are very useful to those who want to avoid the bad
consequences of sugar and the worse consequences of artificial sweeteners.
Xylitol is a sugar alcohol, not a true sugar. In taste and appearance it is much like the sucrose to which we’
ve all become habituated. Although it looks and tastes like sugar it has a greatly diminished effect upon
our blood sugar metabolism. The only side effect, for some, is that usage in very large quantities will
produce diarrhea. The other most noticeable characteristic is that it is somewhat expensive; currently it is
about $10.00 per pound in most health food stores. Xylitol is highly recommended for diabetics or those
who seek a healthy alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners.
Stevia is an herb and is, wrongly, reputed to be a cure for diabetes in some countries. While not a cure for
diabetes, it is a very good sweetener for the diabetic as well as those who want to escape the damage
done by sugar and artificial sweeteners. It is so effective as a competitor for the artificial sweetener
industry that the FDA refuses to allow it to be advertised as a sweetener in spite of the fact that being
sweet is its major identifying characteristic. Highly recommended as a sweetener to those who seek a
healthy alternative to the sugar and artificial sweetener industry.
Artificial Sweeteners
Because of the many widely recognized dangers inherent in the excess use of sugar, an important market
has developed in the use of artificial sweeteners, or so called sugar substitutes. Sadly, many of these
sugar substitutes have far worse health effects upon the body than does sugar itself. In theory, these
artificial sweeteners do not elevate blood sugar. However, the many other deadly effects of them are often
far worse than the effects of sugar. A good piece of advice is: Control your sweet tooth; if you cannot
control your sweet tooth, then use one of the two alternative sweeteners mentioned above or the unrefined
sweeteners available. If you cannot do either, then accept the bad effects of sugar, because as bad as
sugar is, it is far better than its artificial alternatives.
The principal artificial sweeteners are: Aspartame, Neotame, Acesulfame-K, Saccharin and Sucralose.
There are a few others, however, these are the ones most commonly found in our food and soft drinks.
Aspartame is a chemical that was once on the congressional list of biowarfare agents. It was refused a
place in our food supply for sixteen years by the FDA because it was and is a well-known toxic agent.
Aspartame was finally approved by a new FDA commissioner put in place by the political influence of
Donald Rumsfeld who, as president of the company that owned the patent on Aspartame, wanted to get it
approved. This event is a case study in criminal politics and an eye opening view of how corporate
America really works.
Currently aspartame appears in several thousand food products in our supermarkets and is regularly
consumed by at least 2/3rds of the US population. There are far too many serious side effects caused by
this chemical to list in this short article. However, just for the purpose of illustration, aspartame has been
linked to Alzheimer’s disease in thirty year olds, brain tumors, and Parkinson’s disease in young people.
When forced to do so under a freedom of information act request, the FDA produced a list of 92 symptoms
caused by this chemical food and drink additive. Over 10,000 victims reported these symptoms. By the
FDA’s own admission 75% of the complaints received by the agency were about Aspartame.
The medical text “Aspartame Disease: an Ignored Epidemic”, by Dr. H.J. Roberts, presents 1038 pages of
symptoms and diseases triggered by this neurotoxin.
It is indeed ironic that aspartame even fails in its role as a dietary supplement to promote weight loss. As
an excitotoxin it stimulates the body’s craving for carbohydrates and is known to promote obesity.
Multiple lawsuits have recently been filed in several California courts. If justice is finally served, the
settlements may run into the billions and this poison could be removed from the marketplace. It’s a shame
that political immunity will probably keep the people that merchandise this poison out of jail.
In the meantime, if you value your health, do not consume any product that contains Aspartame. The trade
names under which it is currently sold include NutraSweet, Canderal, Spoonful, Equal, and Benevia. These
constantly change as consumers catch on, so be aware. Even as the tradenames are changed to confuse
the unwary, remember that as required by law the label must contain a warning about PKU stating that the
product contains Phenylalanine (PKU).
Neotame is a new sweetener developed by Monsanto. It is very similar to the Aspartame discussed above.
There are no legitimate, independent, long-term studies to justify the rapid rubber stamp approval of this
substance by the FDA. The label for this product must also contain the PKU warning by law.
The FDA approved acesulfame-K in 1988. There have been few if any human studies. Animal studies
have indicated that it stimulates insulin production thereby precipitating hypoglycemic events. It is also
strongly suspected of causing lung tumors, breast tumors, several forms of Leukemia as well as multiple
rare organ cancers. Trade names this poison is sold under include Sunette and Sweet one.
Saccharin has been implicated in causing bladder cancer in lab rats. In the US, the National Cancer
Institute took the position that Saccharin is not a carcinogen. It is banned in Britain as a carcinogen.
France made it a prescription drug. It was deleted from the FDA’s GRAS (generally regarded as safe) list.
A warning label to indicate it is a potential carcinogen is now required in the US. Its most well known trade
name is Sweet’n Low. Fortunately it has a metallic after taste that limits its use for many applications; this
means it gets hidden in processed food.
Sucralose is the latest in the list of artificial sweeteners. One would hope that it would be the best;
unfortunately it is not. It is made by chlorinating sucrose – table sugar. It causes shrinkage of the thymus,
poor blood sugar control, enlarged liver and kidneys, decreased red blood cell count, abortions, extended
pregnancy and increases the Hba1C marker for diabetes, among many other symptoms. The Hba1C
marker is often associated with accelerated aging. The FDA itself, in its “final rules report”, indicated that
Sucralose was weakly mutagenic in a lymphoma mutation assay. Sucralose is not approved for most
European countries, but is in routine use in the US and Canada. This commercial junk science is on our
supermarket shelves and in our processed food under the trade name “Splenda”.
Again, it is interesting to note that Sucralose does not even meet its advertised purpose of being useful for
weight control. Although often sold under this misleading advertising, it actually functions as an appetite
stimulant and promotes the consumption of carbohydrates.
What To Do
Contemporary Americans are widely deceived by ads for food and drugs. Indeed, prior to this generation,
when people were still relatively healthy, the ability of the corporate food manufacturers to deceive and
swindle the population was limited. With the growth of marketing as a science, swindles and swindlers have
proliferated as never before.
It is important to realize that it is not the job of the FDA, nor indeed any government agency, to protect us
from harmful contaminants in our food and drugs. That agency is largely responsible to manage
competition between corporate suppliers of our food and drugs. Over the years, the FDA has become so
politicized and focused upon corporate need, that the consumer, having little political power, has become
little more than a victim. Indeed, the very term consumer implies his only role is to buy and consume to
support industry. He is useful mostly to determine the toxicity of the food and drugs that are promoted to
the consumer in America. History shows that even when something is found to be notably toxic, it
frequently remains in the marketplace for unexplainable lengths of time. Surprisingly, being toxic often
does not even mean that the label must reflect the toxicity.
Due to widespread corruption, the agencies that were originally chartered to protect the public health do
not do their job, and so we have been forced into the position of being the lab rats for the food and drug
industry. Short of another American revolution, we cannot escape our role as lab rats, thus behooving us,
as individuals, to do what we can to protect our health. At the very least we can become intelligent,
informed lab rats and refuse to knowingly buy addictive junk that can kill us.
Thomas Smith is a reluctant medical investigator having been forced into curing his own diabetes
because it was obvious that his doctor would not or could not cure it. He has published the results of his
successful diabetes investigation in his self-help manual entitled “Insulin: Our Silent Killer” written for the
layman but also widely valued by the medical practitioner. This manual details the steps required to
reverse Type II Diabetes and references the work being done with Type I Diabetes. In the US, the book
may be purchased by sending $25.00 US to him at PO Box 7685, Loveland, Colorado 80537. Outside of
the US, email us for the special payment and shipping information required for international transactions.
He has also posted a great deal of useful information about this disease on his web page at: www.
Healingmatters.com He can be reached by email at valley@healingmatters.com and, in the US, by
telephone at: 1 (970) 669-9176.