ot: Different Chemicals in Sweetners Have Different Risks

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Different Chemicals in Sweetners Have Different Risks

Dec 29th - 8:41am

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=106 & sid=1017702

(U-WIRE) NEW YORK -- There are a lot of pies and cookies to be baked and

eaten this holiday season, and a lot of warm beverages waiting to be

sipped with them. It is not just the candy canes and sugar plums that

dance in our heads, but the sweetness accompanied with the treats.

Yet, at 25 calories per tablespoon, sugar is often avoided by most dieters

due to its empty calories, and sometimes replaced with a calorie-free

sweetener.

" Calorie-free " may have a nice ring to it, but unless it's describing

water, it does not necessarily mean " healthy. " If you think you are doing

your body a favor by opting for a non-nutritive sweetener, cue the Price

is Right " you just lost all of your money, grandma " music and think again.

Those blue, yellow, and pink packets may have a hazardous effect on your

long-term health.

The yellow packet, Splenda, or Sucralose is " made from sugar, so it tastes

like sugar " according to manufacturers Tate and Lyle. Indeed, part of

Splenda comes from the sugar compound, but bonded to the sugar is a

chlorine atom.

Since chlorine is difficult for the human body to digest, the sugar

molecule bonded to the chlorine is not absorbed into the blood stream as

easily. If the sugar cannot be absorbed, neither can the calories.

However, over exposure to chlorine can cause side-effects that range in

extremities from hives to cancer.

Aspartame is the main ingredient in diabetic products and diet soda

because it is calorie free and sugar free, and is what Equal and

NutraSweet are composed of. The compound, first manufactured by the

chemical company Searle, resembles arsenic more so than sugar.

Although it may not pack on the pounds or raise blood sugar, it may cause

long-term effects such as neurological disorders and brain tumors. Because

of this, the sweetener was first denied the right to be commercially sold

by the FDA in 1980. However, the product was later approved by the FDA in

1981 after lobbying from then-Searle Chairman Rumsfeld.

The oldest non-nutritive sweetener, Saccharin, is the main ingredient in

the pink packets: Sweet n' Low. Discovered in 1878, this sweetener was

once listed as a carcinogen because some lab rats developed cancer after

prolonged exposure to Saccharin. However, on the sweetener's 125th

birthday, the FDA took saccharin off of their list of carcinogens,

claiming the tests done in the past represented misleading information.

Most countries, including Canada, still ban the dietary use of saccharin,

and still claim the chemical is hazardous to human health.

Even though it has empty calories, compared to the potentially

cancer-causing sweeteners, sugar is probably still your best bet. A large

portion of refined sugar is actually produced from sugar beets rather than

sugar cane and most granulated table sugar is a combination of both

glucose and fructose. It will definitely raise blood sugar levels, but

there is no bitter after-taste or swimming pool chemicals accompanied with

it. If possible, the best form of packet sugar is Sugar in the Raw, which

can be found in the brown packets.

(Copyright 2006 The Pace Press via U-WIRE. All Rights Reserved.)

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