Artificial Sweeteners: Are They Bad For You?

Keeping your weight down, and being healthy are two completely different things. Many people believe that sugar-free drinks and foods are good for you. Sugar-free foods can actually have an opposite effect on ones body than what the media leads people to believe.

Artificial sweeteners are made up of chemicals or natural compounds that replace the sweetness of sugar, but have no calories. But dont let the mask of sugar-free fool you into thinking that what you are about to eat or drink has zero calories. You always need to read the product label, but to contrary belief, there are many people who think that sugar-free or fat-free means low-calorie. There have been recent studies that show that artificial sweeteners can increase your appetite. And then there are sugar-free products that can actually increase your blood sugar. This is why people who suffer from blood sugar diseases need to be aware of the effects that sugar-free products can have on the body. White flour in sugar-free cookies is a good example of a sugar-free product that will raise your blood sugar.

Aspartame (Spoonfuls, NutraSweet, Equal, Canderel, NatraSweet, DiabetiSweet) is the most popular chemical sweetener with side effects that include: hallucinations, brain tumors, seizures, migraines, chest pains, anxiety attacks, and the list goes on and on. This is the one main artificial sweetener you want to stay away from.

Sucralose (Also known as Splenda) is just as frightening. A recent report suggests that Splenda can enlarge your kidneys and/or liver while shrinking the thymus glands. Sucralose breaks down into what is called dichlorofructose, and has not had any adequate tests done on humans. Splenda can cause dizziness, night sweats, rashes, bloating, vertigo, weight gain, and nausea.

Think those two sweeteners were frightening? Most artificial sweeteners in the stores have the same horror story that the all ready mentioned sweeteners portray. One of the most frightening side-effects is cancer! Research also shows that artificial sweeteners can cause over eating.

In addition to all the harmful effects these sweeteners have on your body, think of what is it doing to our planet. While those little packets sit on a counter. Think of all those empty packets sitting in our landfills. We have been cutting down trees for something to house something that can harm our bodies and prevent us from shedding unwanted pounds.

Wanting to overcome your sweet tooth without putting all those harmful chemicals in your body? Turning to natural sugars is your best bet. The best natural sugars are: Honey, date sugar, brown rice syrup, and stevia. Not only will they not harm your body, but through the consumption of these products it will eventually slow down the harm we are causing on our beautiful planet. And they just taste better too!

With all the harm that artificial sweeteners cause on your body it is hard to say no too much healthier things. And through research and knowledge of these effects we can help make our bodies and our earth a better place.