Artificial Sweeteners: A History of Lies and Poison
Don’t have time to read this? Want the bottom line, the take away? Artificial sweeteners are extemely toxic and should be one of the foods you never, ever eat. Stay away from artificial sweeteners like you would a drunk driver waving a gun out the window. Yes, they’re that bad for you. Aspartame and sucralose are the ultimate slow poison, toxic, disease-food.

Our world is filled with deception, to be sure. From our presidents’ lying to us to sophisticated advertising about food (such as ‘Milk does a body good’ – the best advertising campaign AND biggest food scam in the past 50 years), it’s become difficult at any given moment to sort out truth. When it comes to filtering out accurate information regarding health, the waters become even murkier.

In the world of sweeteners, the misinformation is not only standard operating procedure within the food manufacturing industry, it is further obscured by the power of lobbying and advertising that is harnessed by the food and chemical industries. For example, I’m sure you’ve seen the commercials today touting how high fructose corn syrup is safe and natural ‘if eaten in moderation; this is patently false - high fructose corn syrup should be called ‘a pipeline to diabetes’.

Another major area of food/health deception is the perceived harmlessness of artificial sweeteners. To the vast majority of people, a Diet Coke^® is a relatively “healthy” beverage choice they think because it has no sugar or calories. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Artificial Sweeteners - A Storied Past Artificial sweeteners have a checkered past dating back to the discovery of saccharin in 1879 which, like nearly all artificial sweeteners, was discovered by accident and later banned, and later again restored. According to Dr. Joseph Mercola in his book Sweet Deception¹, chemical giant Monsanto was formed in 1901 “… for the sole purpose of producing saccharin.” The two big players in the artificial sweetener field today are aspartame (brand names Nutrasweet^® and Equal^®) and sucralose (brand name Splenda^®).

Aspartame - The Perfect Chemical Villain Aspartame, the most widely used artificial sweetener (found in over 6,000 products consumed by more than 250 million people in soda pop, sugarless gum, "sugar-free" foods) has come under scientific scrutiny in journal articles reporting the following neurophysiologic effects following digestion and metabolism of aspartame into the bloodstream²:

• Neurological and behavioral disturbances  
• Headaches, insomnia and seizures
• Compromised learning and emotional functioning
• Neurodegeneration leading to senile dementia (i.e. Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease)
• Inhibition of normal brain chemistry function

VIDEO: "Sweet Misery - A Poisoned World"

If you watch this video, and I encourage you to do so, you'll never be the same again - you'll become an anti-artificial sweetener evangelist:

Aspartame’s Deadly Trio
Aspartame (1-aspartyl 1-phenylalanine methyl ester) is broken down into three toxic components upon digestion: phenylalanine (50%), aspartic acid (40%) and methyl ester (10%) - they all enter the bloodstream.

• Phenylalanine, a common amino acid found naturally in foods in small amounts, does not normally pose a risk (except in individuals with phenylketonuria (PKU), the genetic disease marked by the inability to breakdown phenylalanine). However, in normal people, Nutrasweet produces an abnormally high 50% ratio of phenylalanine; this is something not found in nature and when it enters the human body, it causes changes in the ratio of neurotransmitters and interrupts brain function resulting in excessive brain neuron firing and potential cell death. As phenylalanine levels increase, this change in the ratio of neurotransmitters has been shown to cause seizures. Additionally, when exposed to elevated temperatures (think trucks driving pallets of diet soda across the country during spring and summer; all year round in the west), phenylalanine is broken down into diketopiperazine (DKP), a known tumor-forming carcinogen.
  
• Aspartic acid, is known as a neuroexcitotoxin, a term given to molecules that excite and hyper-stimulate nerve cells, particularly in the brain. This over-stimulation of brain nerve cells eventually causes them to burn out and die.  Due to its neurodegenerative effects, aspartame consumption is now being considered as a contributing cause to the increasing rates of senile dementia such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease seen today.
  
• Methyl ester, once digested is converted into methyl alcohol, a toxin found in paint remover and wood alcohol. Methyl alcohol is highly toxic to the body and is broken down by the liver into formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, which ultimately can lead to methanol poisoning resulting in fatal kidney damage, organ system failure, blindness, and death. Methanol is classified as a narcotic. Making matters worse is that because phenylalanine and methanol increase dopamine release within the brain, it can become addictive due to the “dopamine high” it produces. 

People who swear off diet sodas often experience withdrawal symptoms such as:

• Depression  
• Nausea
• Tremors
• Irritability
• Anxiety

UPDATE - Nov 2009: Aspartame Found To Cause Kidney Damage
Research by Dr. Julie Lin and Dr. Gary Curhan of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston presented at the American Society of Nephrology's annual meeting in San Diego reported "a significant two-fold increased odds, between two or more servings per day of artificially sweetened soda and faster kidney function decline; no relation between sugar-sweetened beverages and kidney decline was noted." [read more]

SPLENDA - The Newest Poison
As the toxic physiologic effects of aspartame are becoming more widely known, a newcomer has emerged - sucralose or Splenda^®, its brand name.  It is the sweetener used today in many “sugar-free” foods.  It’s found in nearly 5,000 food products as well as pharmaceutical drugs and chewing gum.  The makers of Splenda claim sucralose is made from sugar and is therefore 'natural'.  Yes, Splenda is made from sugar, but contrary to these claims, it is not natural.  It seems obvious when the final product is five to six hundred times sweeter than sugar, that it couldn't be 'natural' or healthy. Chemically, Splenda is a chlorinated artificial sugar.  Sucralose is made by switching out three naturally occurring hydrogen-oxygen groups with three chlorine atoms on a sucrose molecule, forming a chlorocarbon – when this is done, it is no longer natural or healthy.

 “…chlorocarbons are never nutritionally compatible with our metabolic processes and are wholly incompatible with normal human metabolic functioning.” - James Bowden, MD³

Just like common table salt (sodium chloride), does not contain the same form of sodium that is found naturally in dark green vegetables, similarly, the chlorine chemically created in laboratories and processed into the creation of sucralose is not the same whatsoever to the chlorine found naturally in soil, water and food. Furthermore, the chlorine found naturally in foods is not the same as man-made chlorine put into our swimming pools and foods. (Chlorine added to municipal water supplies has long been questioned as a cause of cancer; according to the FDA, chlorine is classified as a ‘class-one carcinogen’ in humans.) [If you’re as old as I am, you may recall that organochlorines include the now-banned chemical insecticides, pesticides and solvents such as DDT, Aldrin and Dieldrin, Chlordane, Dioxins, chloroform, Mustard gas, dichloroethane, dichloromethane, trichloroethane, etc.]

Scientific animal studies have shown Splenda to cause the following^1:   

• Genetic mutation/damaged DNA (a precursor to cancer)  
• Decreased fertility
• Chronic toxicity (red blood cells, thymus, thyroid, colon, liver, brain, ovaries, kidneys, cataracts)
• Growth retardation
• Damaged immune system

Reported side effects in people using Splenda include the following:¹ 

• Skin irritation (redness, itching, swelling, blistering, eruptions, rashes)  
• Lung irritation (wheezing, tightness, cough or shortness of breath)
• Head: dry mouth and sinuses; swelling or inflammation of the face, eyelids, lips, tongue or throat
• Headaches and migraines
• Nose: congestion, runny nose, sneezing
• Eyes: bloodshot, itchy, swollen or watery
• Stomach: bloating, gas, pain, constipation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
• Heart: chest pains, palpitations or fluttering
• Joints: joint pains or aches
• Neurological: seizures, anxiety, anger, panic, insomnia, dizziness, mood swings, depression
• Other: blood in urine, menstrual irregularity, night sweats, numbness of the limbs

“Sugar-Free” – The Final Lie
Finally, Splenda is advertised as a “No Calorie Sweetener”. However, to make it taste better and easier to handle and bake with, ninety-nine percent of a packet of Splenda is bulking agents such as dextrose and maldodextrin which are corn-derived sugars which elevate blood glucose levels, leading to diabetes and obesity. The manufacturers of Splenda can get away with calling it "sugar-free" due to food labeling laws which allow a product to be called “sugar-free” if it contains less than .5 grams of sugar per serving, and “calorie-free” if it contains less than 5 calories per serving.

Artificial sweeteners are one of the FIVE FOODS I NEVER PUT IN MY BODY; the other four are deep fried foods, hydrogenated oils, cured meats, and MSG (monosodium glutamate, also labeled as hydrolyzed yeast and hydrolyzed vegetable protein).

¹Mercola J, Pearsall KD, Sweet Deception: Why Splenda, Nutrasweet and the FDA May Be Hazardous to Your Health, Nelson Books, Nashville, TN, 2006 

²Humphries P, et al. Direct and indirect cellular effects of aspartame on the brain. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2008; 62:451–462 [view abstract][view full article pdf]

³James Bowen, MD The Lethal Science of Splenda, A Poisonous Chlorocarbon, 2005. [view article]

Did you know that eating things like Cheerios, pasta, bread (yes, your beloved bread), crackers, cakes and candy are more likely to raise your cholesterol and disrupt your HDL/LDL ratios than eating steak? (PS. Did you notice I called those things ‘things’ and not food?  Just seeing if you’re paying attention.)

Why do so many meat eaters along with so many vegetarians struggle with their weight?  One eats saturated animal fat while the other doesn’t and yet they both are often overweight.  Is it possible that eating fat isn't what's making people fat today?

The answer lies in what is now being referred to as the ‘master hormone’ – its name is insulin and, it’s way more important as a biomarker for health than cholesterol, HDL/LDL, or bone density.

As a matter of fact, insulin is being called the ‘longevity biomarker’ – meaning a good predictor of how long you’ll live is your insulin levels on an ongoing, daily basis.

Did you get that?  That means you can live longer (and live well) by managing your insulin production in a healthy manner.

Too much of a good thing
Insulin is an anabolic hormone, meaning it’s responsible for growth and repair – that’s a good thing … up to a point.  When there’s too much insulin produced and circulating throughout the body, the cells of the body become insulin resistant to protect themselves from being overdosed.  When that happens, a lot happens, and it’s all bad.  All chronic lifestyle diseases that dominate our culture today (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases) are either directly caused or indirectly influenced by insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance leads to the following:

• Diabetes:  Increased blood sugar from insulin resistance is the best predictor to becoming diabetic
• Suppressed immune system: Vitamin C and glucose are very similar in their biochemical structure so when there’s excess glucose (which goes hand in hand with insulin resistance), the immune system suffers.  Also, because vitamin C and insulin share the same pathway into our cells, insulin resistance by definition causes vitamin C resistance.
• Increased fat: Excess insulin and glucose result in saturated fat storage – in the blood AND the body – you get fat and your cholesterol and HDL/LDL levels go bad.
• High blood pressure from decreased magnesium levels:  (1) magnesium allows for smooth muscle relaxation; when magnesium levels are depressed, it results in chronic increase in blood pressure; (2) magnesium is also important for proper insulin production and absorption; so decreased levels of magnesium worsen insulin resistance.
• High blood pressure from increased sodium levels:  High insulin levels lead to increased sodium levels which also causes high blood pressure and fluid retention.
• Cardiovascular disease (heart attack and stroke):  Insulin stimulates the sympathetic stress response which results in raised LDL levels.
• Increased risk of cancer:  Insulin is also mytogenic – meaning it stimulates cell division; when insulin levels are abnormally high it results in abnormal cell division = cancerous cell growth.
• Osteoporosis: Osteoporosis is not caused by a deficiency in calcium – it’s a hormone and pH problem that is negatively impacted by insulin resistance.
• Thyroid problems: Hyperinsulinemia results in abnormal thyroid hormone regulation
• Dysfunctional sex hormone production:  Insulin participates in the production of cholesterol which all sex hormones are derived from.

Are you starting to get the big idea?  This is no joke.

It’s your fault
Any lifestyle behavior that you do that elevates insulin levels too quickly or keeps it high for extended periods is bad for nearly every aspect of your health.  What causes insulin levels to spike to abnormal levels?   It’s not just when you indulge in a Crispy Cream orgy or eat an entire bag of Chips Ahoy cookies.  When we eat a refined processed food diet, experience chronic stress, are sleep deprived and don’t exercise, our insulin levels rise. 

The Top Insulin Spikers:

• Refined sugar (i.e. sweets: soda pop - even diet soda, candy, energy drinks, coffee drinks - Frappuccinos, sport drinks, corn syrup - it’s in everything, usually as high fructose corn syrup)
• Refined carbohydrates (flour products - bread, pasta, muffins, cereals, crackers, cookies, cakes, etc.)  
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Chronic stress
• Sleep deprivation

The Good News: Avoiding or Reversing/Curing Insulin Resistance is Easy
Insulin resistance and all of its deadly consequences are all associated with lifestyle behaviors that can easily be avoided and/or reversed.

The Insulin Helpers

• High fiber plant-driven diet - eat lots of salads and vegetables (avoiding all grains and dairy)
• Regular consumption of quality fats and quality proteins
• Regular (daily) moderate to intense exercise
• Optimal sleep (no less than seven hours)
• Adequate water intake
• Lifestyle stress avoidance/management

In summary, virtually every hormone in the body is affected by insulin.  You can immediately improve your health and ultimately prolong your life by stepping off the insulin train right now!

You can do it!

Yours in health, Dr. Paul