Artificial Sweeteners

  I think most of us know that diet sodas are bad for us. So today I wanted to go over the reasons why you should put down your diet coke right now!


In the documentary, "Hungry For Change" they talk about artificial sweeteners and the damage it does to our body.  You can read about it here.  In the film it says artificial sweeteners are the worst thing you can put in your body.  Aspartame causes formaldehyde to build up in your brain, which results in all kinds of potentially serious medical problems, such as:

Frontal lobe inflammation	Visual disturbances	Migraines
A syndrome similar to multiple sclerosis	Seizures	Cognitive problems
Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia	Symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease	Symptoms similar to attention deficit disorder

The food industry says that aspartame is safe but what they are not telling us is that 90 percent of the studies were funded by the food and beverage industry.


I know what you're thinking...I will never stop drinking diet coke until I die!  I am coming up with a couple of healthy low calorie drinks that will help when you crave your soda!

Wow! Thats hilarious!  Drink diet coke to help women's heart health programs!  Are you kidding! How messed up is our food system.  Aspartame causes heart palpitations, anxiety attacks and much more.

Whenever I research something I never trust anything unless it is from a medical journal.  It definitely is faster to just type stuff into google but you can hardly trust anything you read.  I did a lot of reading about aspartame and in the Journal of the Diabetic Association of India in 1995 I found some interesting things.  You can read this article here


-Aspartame accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.


-There has been over 10,000 complaints about 92 different side effects to aspartame


-Many of these reactions are very serious and include seizures and death (reported in a 1994 Department of Health and Human Services report)


Not that many people report problems from aspartame to the FDA because...
Physicians have been told that aspartame is safe by the FDA and AMA
It is difficult for someone to link reactions to aspartame because the side effects are delayed and gradual from prolonged use.


Whats happening in your body
Aspartate acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain by aiding the transmission of information from neuron to neuron.  Aspartic acid is an amino acid and in its free form it raises the blood plasma level of aspartate.  Too much aspartate leads to high levels of this neurotransmitter in certain areas of the brain and kills certain neurons by allowing too much calcium into the cells.  This then triggers excessive amounts of free radicals that kill the cells.  Aspartate and glutamate are called "exocitoxins" because in excess they cause neural cell damage and "excite" or stimulate neural cells to death.


In my opinion both artificial sweeteners and sugar are bad for you but I would rather make my own drinks and add a small amount of sugar instead of drinking aritificial sweeteners.  Its best just to avoid both as much as possible.


Ok..I think I have read enough medical journals for one day.  I am such a nerd!  On my next post I will write about all the different drinks I am coming up with for those of you trying to get off your favorite kind of soda.  You can do it!!!