I'm
so grateful for artificial sweeteners. Aren't they a better way
to give my children sweets without worrying about their reaction
to sugar? Artificial
sweeteners were invented for one specific purpose: to provide
sugar taste for medically supervised diabetics and dieters. No
one could have foreseen the day would come when chemical sweeteners
were in a large percentage of the products we would eat every
day. For instance, aspartame, which is marketed today under the
trade names Equal and NutraSweet, was never intended to be ingested
by children and adults all day long. In the 1990s, aspartame is
found in most foods which are marked "Sugar-Free", from
gelatin desserts and puddings to soft drinks and candies.
Aspartame is made
by combining two amino acids. It is never to be taken by those
who have PKU (phenylketonuria), a hereditary metabolic disorder.
The FDA suggests that no more than 50 milligrams of aspartame
per 2.2 pounds of body weight be consumed in any one day. For
the average adult, this is about 17 cans of diet soda. For a 40-pound
child, it translates to only four or five cans - assuming the
sweetener is not in any other food eaten that day. With the prevalence
of aspartame in the foods children consume, including packet fruit
powders, gelatins, and puddings, it isn't difficult for a child
to ingest more than the suggested amount in a 24-hour period.
In 1984, 3,341
ton of aspartame went into the foods Americans ate. Since aspartame
is 180 times as sweet as sugar, that translates into the equivalent
of 686,000 tons of sugar. By 1985, sales of the sweetener had
already reached $700 million a year. Every year since then, artificial
sweeteners have become a more significant component of processed
foods. Why worry about possible adverse reactions? Simply stay
away from artificial sweeteners.
Commercials try
to promote these sweeteners as being safe because they are a harmless
combination of naturally occurring elements. Ridiculous! Gunpowder
is the combination of naturally occurring elements, and no one
would presume for an instant that gunpowder is not dangerous.
We don't have enough experience with the commercial sweeteners
currently in our foods. We don't know if today's artificial sweeteners
could have disastrous long-term consequences. An earlier sugar
substitute, cyclamate, was found to promote cancer and was subsequently
removed from the market in October 1969.
I see no reason
why a child needs to be given sweetened food. There is plenty
of sugar in the fruits that should be abundant in his diet. Even
if, from infancy, he has never had sugar, you will find your child
has a natural sweet tooth. If you don't believe this, try putting
something sour on your baby's tongue and watch him make a "yucky
face". Then try a little sugar. His face will relax, and
you'll see the beginning of a smile. We are born with a "sweet
tooth". The fact is that human breastmilk is the sweetest
produced by any mammal. You don't want to intensify your child's
natural desire for sweets. So the secret is, as much as possible,
to keep your children away from processed sugars and the foods
that contain them.
Please remember…..
Be gentle as you are making dietary improvements for your family.
Some families do well with a drastic and complete change and some
require a more gradual approach that leads them to a very occasional
indulgence of a favorite food. Find what works for your family
as you walk this path to improving your health by improving your
foods.
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