When it comes to your diet, nothing artificial can be considered safe.  If you truly want safety with your sweetness, quality counts more than calories. 

Avoid Aspartame

Among a convincing pile of scientific research and personal testimonies, the dangerous effects of aspartame (Equal™ and NutraSweet™) are documented by the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) own data, which they were forced to release in 1995 under the Freedom of Information Act.

The FDA’s Adverse Reaction Monitoring System no longer exists, but at that time aspartame accounted for more than 75 percent of all adverse reactions reported.  There were 92 symptoms ranging from dizziness and headaches, to seizures and death.

Some experts suggest that the side effects of aspartame are often misdiagnosed as arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease.

Skip Splenda®

A US Internet survey by the Centre for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) in April 2004 showed that nearly half of the people using sucralose, known as Splenda, incorrectly believed the artificial sweetener was a natural product.

McNeil, the makers of sucralose, have effectively used the marketing slogan: “Made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar.” Yes, sucralose is made with sugar; however, the end product is artificial and contains no sugar.  The altered molecule does contain a chlorine-containing compound or chlorocarbon.

An FDA “Final Rule” report on sucralose showed that 11 to 27 percent of the compound is absorbed into humans.  Dr. Janet Starr Hull, author of the book Sweet Poison: How the World’s Most Popular Artificial Sweetener is Killing Us: My Story , says that chlorocarbons have long been known to cause organ, genetic, and reproductive damage, as well as thymus glad shrinkage.

The makers of Splenda are currently being sued for deceptive marketing.

Other Objectionable Options

The safety of Acesulfame-potassium, also known as acesulfame-K, potassium acesulfame, ace-K and ACK and marketed as Sunett is questionable due a lack of long-term, quality testing.  In addition, a byproduct of acesulfame-potassium has been shown to negatively affect the thyroid in animals when taken in large doses.

Sugar alcohols occur naturally in a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, however when produced commercially, they are not completely metabolized by the body (which is why they are low in calories).

The sugar alcohol xylitol is considered by many to be safe and even healthful because it’s derived from natural sources, however, eating an extract from birch, corn cobs or, according to some critics, pulp industry waste may be natural, but it certainly isn’t healthy.

Popular Artificial Sweeteners

• Aspartame
• Sucralose
• Acesulfame-potassium
• Sugar alcohols (Isomalt, Lactitol, Maltitol, Mannitol, Sorbitol, Xylitol, Erythritol and hydrogenated starch hydrolysates)

Sweetly Safe

The sweetest advice I can offer is to use traditional, naturally sweet options such as honey, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, barley malt syrup, blackstrap molasses, date sugar, fruit and fruit juice, and Stevia.  Sure, natural sweeteners have calories, but it’s what they don’t have that counts.