Artificial Sweeteners

I have just read an article that tells us in Europe, there are a staggering 1,521 additives "permitted" under official regulations.
Some are colours derived from vegetables, and some are vitamins and minerals, but two thirds of these additives have been concocted by industrial chemists. There is hardly a single food or drink that is 100% additive free, unless its raw organic produce or glass-bottled water.

It is also thought now, that artificial sweeteners actually make us gain weight, instead of lose weight. Apparently, as long ago as 1988, clinical trials showed that adding saccharin to rats water supply made them eat up to l15% more food than the rats who had plain water.
That same year, a Leeds University study found the same thing in people.
Also, with the aid of MRI brain scans, artificial sweeteners have a powerful effect on our brains, and real sugar activates totally different parts of the brain.

A 14-year survey in France of over 66,000 women found that diet drinks full of sweeteners, more than doubled their risk of Diabetes.


How many times does this sort of thing happen? How many times are we told something will help us, only to find out years later, the whacky scientists have changed their minds?
But what the heck, as long as there is money to be made, what does our health matter!

Re: Artificial Sweeteners

I used to shop with one hand on the trolley and one hand holding my 'bible' a book called E for Additives. It was the only way I could be sure what my children were eating because of some of their allergies.

Along the way I learned a fair bit and part of that was to avoid artificial sweetners is at all possible.
There are many claims about them but for me as a thyroid patient aspartamine is the main one to avoid it actually stops the absorbtion of the thyroid hormone medication and that will make you fat.

Re: Artificial Sweeteners

That's interesting, Cass.
Do you think it should be up to ordinary folks to educate themselves, or do you think more honest information should be on labels?

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Both would be good, Mups.

Some of the current labels on things read like a page from a chemistry text book. It surprises me how few people actually read the contents of the tin/packet they put into their trolleys. I suppose one of the advantages of being retired is that I have time to do that - and it is quite astonishing!

Re: Artificial Sweeteners

I've been avoiding Aspartame in foods and drinks for years.

Three things aspartame are metabolised to are all highly toxic, aspartate, phenylalanine and methanol, which is converted to toxic formaldehyde and formic acid.

For me that's enough reason to avoid it!

I didn't know it prevented absorbtion of medication though.
stevmk2

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I avoid sweeteners mainly because whenever I ate or drank them I'd get a terrible headache. Now I'm finding it hard to find any soft drinks or squash without them in.

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I do think self education is part of the problem but with all the unspeakable names (which is the reason for giving them an E number) and a massive amount of names and jargons used for sugar, 57 in total and easily more than a dozen names used for salt in everyday food life just isnt easy.

Its time manufacturers started coming clean about what they put in food.. If they did it might clear up a few health problems...

Re: Artificial Sweeteners

The problems involved in all this are immense TBH and will not be solved because crooks are running the show.

We are all being duped constantly by conglomerates who know how the human psyche works and who engineer "facts" and info around those weaknesses. Things work in carefully planned stages. For one generation of people certain "facts" are put out there to condition people's minds. Then as that generation becomes more savvy and aware, a new set of facts is put out. Each time the conglomerates determine what element of the whole scam the Sheeple will take on board as truth.

For example, a generation ago lot's of additives were put in foods and people were largely unaware. Science and research discovered that there were additives, people complained and so labelling laws had to be changed to force companies to list all the E numbers etc. A simple, though divisive mind-set switch occurs at this point. Previously the Sheeple simply relied on manufacturers and Gov'ts giving them decent healthy food. The mere thought that bad food would ever be allowed to be manufactured and put on shelves was . .well . . unthinkable. That is . . . . until people discovered that this was what had actually been happening.

So suddenly now people start to think they have been duped, and that they now have the upper hand and that manufacturers will have to fall in line and mend their ways. Now people start to read the food labels in detail and reject products whose ingredient list they don't like.

The conglomerates/Gov't achieve a nice human psyche switch here. Faith has now moved from manufacturers to labels. Nothing has really changed. The Sheeple are still relying on SOMEONE ELSE to do their research for them. The Sheeple now believe the label is truth and the mere thought that the labels on foodstuffs could ever be inaccurate or falsely representative is . . . well . . .unthinkable. That is . . until research and experimentation by others reveals that they are!!

The conglomerates continue to ply the nation with bad ingredients which are cheap and convenient for them and generate large profits. They put stuff in that is addictive and in some cases they completely hide what products really are made of.

We are on the verge of yet another mind-set swindle. The Sheeple are slowly starting to realise that now the labelling laws are crooked and that we can not rely on what we are reading. We find for example that Orange Juices which are labelled as 100% freshly squeezed oranges not from concentrate, are in fact orange juice that was freshly squeezed over a YEAR ago, and which has been sitting in a large tank for a year, had oxygen pumped out of it making the juice flavourless and not orange coloured and which subsequently has had something called a "Flavour pack" added to it to restore it's colour and flavour just prior to going on our store shelves. MOST orange juice in your store is treated in this way no matter how it appears on the label. How is this possible? Why don't the labels spell this out to us?

Because the food industry and gov't authorities are run by crooks.

When companies have been challenged about the use of these "flavour packs", most will not engage in discussion. It's not a secret they are keen to put in the public domain. Those that do engage say that the flavour packs are made from other parts of the orange inc the pith, skin, the natural orange oils in them and so on. So TECHNICALLY they list the ingredients on the carton as 100% oranges. Morally the truth is very far from this.

This kind of scenario crops up across the range of foods available to us. We are in a transitory period. Many Sheeple are still blindly dependent on, and have blind faith in, the labelling system and labelling laws, but many are now seeing the truth. So before long, the powers that be will concoct the next clever mind-set change. The labelling will change and when it does people's minds will be diverted towards the next "thing" that for them, is the source of truth. Maybe it will be some new food regulator, who knows.

Nothing will really change. The conglomerates will still peddle their bad foods and continue to damage our health via stealthy means. Primarily they will still force high levels of sugars or equivalent sweet chemicals into foods as it's a cheap product for them and it triggers human happiness/satisfaction responses. They will also continue to put lots of salt in foods too by various nefarious means.
They will doubtless come up with new ingredients equally bad for us which are cheap for them. GM soya, maize, corn etc.

GM is another good case in point of course. In the USA the labelling laws don't require GM ingredients to be listed as such. In the UK they do. So we feel protected and safe. . . .

Ah but have we learned nothing???

There is another of those mind-set changes. Surely the gov't wouldn't allow GM foodstuffs to be put in our foods would it? Surely the labels will accurately tell us if there are GM ingredients won't they?

lols. Yes . . . until people experiment and research and find that things are not as they seem! There will be excuses offered for the situation, crop contamination, inability to 100% guarantee things are GM free and so on. By then we will all have been consuming GM ingredients inadvertently for some time imo.

How did horse meat ever end up in burgers ?

It is really all doom and gloom as I am portraying it?

Actually, yes I really think it is. The conglomerates are multi-trillion dollar companies with tight control of authorities and government officials. They rule the roost. It's just how it is, like it or not.

All you can do is take personal responsibility for what you put in your mouth. Research research research. Where possible grow your own fruit and vegetables. Align yourself with a local butcher for your meat and be sure they have good provenance. Shun supermarkets, they are responsible for destroying local trades and thus your healthy choices.
Do not buy processed foods period. Eat what Nature provides naturally, straight from the ground. Give yourself a fighting chance against the crooks !

Re: Artificial Sweeteners

Where is this Utopia Realist?

Where can I find a "local" butcher that I can can actually trust?

Where I live there are big supermarkets and F-all else now - where's the choice?

We only buy ready-meals that we have checked out thoroughly before hand - it's not that hard to check ingredients, fat, salt , sugar etcetera and we do grow our own as much as we can BUT not many of my neighbours actually bother.

Congratulations on a first-rate post but it'll go unheeded mate because between the UK Government and the EU our freedom of choice does not benefit the Union so it is basically non-existent.

Check it out. stevmk2

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Local cats and town living mean growing my own is a dream . Health problems mean an out of town allotment is impossible.

Our local butcher buys his meat from a wholesaler so he is no better than the supermarket where at least I can check production codes and look at what Im getting.

When possible we prepare from scratch but our lives have changed so much for city living that most people cant live as suggested ..Sorry but the whole back to nature thing is a boat that has long since sailed for many of us...