A "New" & Natural Alternative Sweetener

When it comes to lose some weight (or other situations related to one’s health), many people are told to give up sugar—chocolates, cookies, soda, cakes, and many other products. But as it is very difficult to stop eating such a vital element of our diet, some sugar users have decided to include other sweetener alternatives to their lives.

As you may know, there are many options when referring to food sweeteners: the most important ones (and the most popular) are saccharin, sucralose and aspartame. Alternative sweeteners are said to be calorie-free and represent an important alternative for those who do not want to gain extra weight. Artificial sugar substitutes can be bought in supermarkets and they are not particularly expensive.

Nowadays, there is a "new" sugar substitute that has plenty of followers. This new product is called Stevia, and it is derived from a South American shrub called Stevia rebaudiana which contains a substance that is said to be about 250 times sweeter than sugar. In 1991, this product was banned in the United States due to some studies that suggested that Stevia may cause cancer and reduce fertility, and although this product has been used for centuries by many cultures, it was not until now that Stevia has become popular and widely available for anyone who wants to replace artificial sweeteners for a more natural sugar substitute.

Some experts claim that Stevia, when consumed in large amounts, may have harmful effects, but it cannot be still proved due to the lack of long-term studies related to this topic. At the same time, Stevia followers claim that its natural properties are less harmful than those of artificial sweeteners.

Not all natural products are always good for our health, and Stevia may be a good example. Do you always trust nature? Or do you prefer to do some research before consuming new products that claim to have natural properties?

Aspartame: Is it really good for your health?

Aspartame is a sugar substitute that can be found in many products, such as sodas, chewing gum, breakfast cereal, and even medicines. This artificial sweetener is 200 times sweeter than sugar, so it can be considered free of calories because of the small quantity needed to sweet food, even if it has almost the same amount of calories that sugar has. Since it was first approved by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1981, it has been used in more than 6,000 food products, and consumed by over 200 million people worldwide. Although the popularity of this product, numerous studies have proved that this sugar substitute is one of the most dangerous food additives today.

According to the FDA, over the 75% of the adverse reactions to food additives are due to aspartame. These reactions include headaches, muscle spasms, weight gain, depression, insomnia, vision problems, memory loss, loss of taste; or even worse things such as brain tumors, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and diabetes.
Several recent studies have scientifically proved this:
• In Italy, a study on rats has shown that aspartame is a multi-potential carcinogenic compound. Its effects are evident at a daily dose of 20 mg/kg of body weight, less than the recommended for humans.
• In Greece, a group of scientists have shown that aspartame ingestion worsen learning and causes memory loss.
• In Spain, a study on rats has proved that ingestion of aspartame promotes the formation of a known carcinogen called formaldehyde.

Having this in mind, Are you going to prefer food that contains aspartame instead of sugar?