Atlantic Coast Chiropractic

There is much controversy today surrounding sweeteners. Of all the subjects we would like to shed some light on, we believe sugar substitutes are a topic of significant importance.

What are artificial sweeteners, and why are they harmful? Artificial sweeteners are a laboratory mixture of unnatural chemicals that the body can’t process. These chemicals accumulate in your vital organs, pollute your blood stream, or create eventual mutations of your cells. Our bodies are like machines, only natural, that operate today just as they did thousands of years ago. They don’t understand man-made chemicals and cannot fully process them. Forcing foreign materials in to your body is like putting sugar in your car’s gas tank: it wasn’t meant to process it, so the engine stalls, and stops working.

Over the past 25 years, a plethora of information has crossed our path concerning sweeteners. Much of the information regarding sugar substitutes is misleading. Sugar substitutes have been surrounded by controversy over the years, starting with saccharin. Despite the misleading tests over 20 years ago, saccharin (the pink packet) remains the “safest” of all artificial sweeteners though we still believe there is risk.

Aspartame (the blue packet) was the most widely consumed artificial sweetener in America. In “The Lark Letter”, April 2004, Dr. Lark states “I suggest that everyone avoid aspartame, especially those with chronic headaches, PMS, depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, environmental sensitivities, and seizures. Additionally, I strongly recommend that children avoid any intake of this artificial sweetener.” Over the past ten years, there has been a 400% increase in ADD, ADHD, Autism Spectrum Syndrome. This phenomenon may be related to the use of artificial sweeteners prior to, in both male and female, and during pregnancy for the female.

In today’s fast-paced society, prepackaged, man-made foods are often the first foods introduced into children’s daily diet. Needless to say, children are being over saturated with foods their bodies cannot process, leading to chemical poisoning.

Splenda – (the yellow packet) is now found in nearly 4000 food products, and amazingly not all these products list Splenda as an ingredient. What is it? Sugar (sucrose) chemically combined with chlorine. Its “made from sugar” slogan is technically true, but misleading. The manufacturer of this chlorinated compound named it sucralose. The name creates the illusion that sucralose is natural like sucrose which is the precise name for table sugar.

People don’t want to hear that sucralose may be just as dangerous as aspartame, and that this sweetener is no improvement. Aspartame has methanol in it, while sucralose has chlorine, this is the only difference.  We must realize that these chemicals are toxic, and none of them belong in the human diet. New chemical sweeteners and the blending of sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose and acesulfame K combined in one product) may be causing consumers to show signs of weight gain, disruption of sleep patterns, sexual dysfunction, increases in cancer, MS, lupus, diabetes, and a list of epidemic degenerative diseases.

Below is a list of artificial sweeteners that should be avoided when reading product labels.

  • Sucralose (Splenda)
  • Aspartame (NutraSweet/Equal)
  • Saccharin (Sweet-n-Low)
  • Acesulfame-K

Below is a list of sweeteners which are natural and safe for consumption. Certainly with the rise of obesity, one would benefit from using sugar in any form in moderation.

  • Stevia
  • Brown Rice Syrup
  • Honey
  • Pure Maple Syrup
  • Molasses

I hope this sheds some light on a subject that remains controversial.

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