Just Say No

Did you know NutraSweet, Aspartame, Equal are all the same chemical?

Did you know that these chemicals are in many everyday food items and medicines from yogurts to over-the-counter children's medicines.

Here's my feeling about NutraSweet. If you are a diabetic you can have some foods that are "sweet tasting" but no sugar. And if you are a diabetic you have to stay away from foods that spike your sugar levels.

That being said if you are not a diabetic you should avoid fake sugars.

This is from Reuters on today's Yahoo news box...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. consumer group called for an urgent Food and Drug Administration review of the safety of aspartame on Monday, but the FDA said there was no immediate need to do so despite a new study showing the sweetener may cause cancer.

Italian researchers published a new study last week that showed aspartame -- widely used in soft drinks -- might cause leukemia, lymphoma and breast cancer in rats.

"This is the second study by the same lab showing that aspartame causes cancer in rats," Center for Science in the Public Interest executive director Michael Jacobson said in a telephone interview.

Here's what the FDA had to say...

FDA spokesman Michael Herndon said the agency had not yet reviewed the study.

"However, the conclusions from this second European Ramazzini Foundation are not consistent with those from the large number of studies on aspartame that have been evaluated by FDA, including five previously conducted negative chronic carcinogenicity studies," Herndon said in an e-mail.

Listen, I realize studies can be funky. You have to consider who paid for the studies, how the study was performed, etc.

I get it.

But I am also saying from a health perspective-if you can avoid fake sugars, do so and everyone should be trying their best to reduce refined sugar and simple carbohydrates in their diet.

What you eat is still your choice.

Make the right choice.