Sugar Substitutes - By Dr. Oscar Vargas-Machuca E. MD

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Sugar Substitutes

By Dr. Oscar Vargas-Machuca E. MD - 1991

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EU: Popular sugar substitute safe
FDA backs safety of artificial sweetener

In the last few years the use of certain sweet, non caloric substances has spread. These substances are called sugar substitutes and they are ideal to control diverse metabolic disorders originated or aggravated by the ingestion of sugar, such as diabetes, obesity and arteriosclerosis. The advantages of these substances are enormous, since they can replace sugar and quick re-absorption polysaccharides, making food more tempting at the same time.

Since 1969, many stories have been told to discredit the use of sugar substitutes, indicating they produce carcinogenic reactions, however their use and the research of certain institutes show they are not harmful, if they are taken in the recommended doses. According to this pessimistic approach all the diabetics that consume sugar substitutes for years, should die from cancer and not from diabetes; however, the rate of this terrible disease among diabetics is not greater than average.

The problem began in the 60's when in certain experiments rats were given around 2,250 milligrams of cyclamate per kilogram of weight daily. This excessive dose generated a neoplastic disease in the bladder of some second-generation rats. Such overwhelming results immediately alerted the scientific community and sugar substitute consumers.

Analyzing this research impartially, we find many extenuating circumstances to this pessimistic trend. What was not said is that a completely disproportionate dose had been used for such small animals, since the cyclamate given was 10,000 times higher than the dose an average-weight man would take in a year. Besides, the rats that were utilized had a natural tendency to develop tumors.

It is important to refer to what Doctor Lewis Stegink, Professor of Pediatrics and Biochemistry from Iowa University, tells us about artificial sweeteners and other similar substances, "Nothing is completely harmless to people, everything depends on the quantity and the sensitivity of the subject, as well as on the time period and the dose".

Common experience demonstrates that there has been no rise in the number of proliferative diseases in recent years, nor have artificial sweetener consumers developed bladder cancer above normal statistical levels.

In the sugar market, industries' powerful economic interests are at play. Sweet food producers with secret intentions disclose the damages, real or false, that artificial sweeteners may bring, in order to "keep them out of business".

Our statistical controls have shown a high number of proliferative and degenerative illnesses in people that consume tobacco, alcohol, sugar and its by-products. However, we have seen an organic balance and metabolic correspondence in those who do not eat quick re-absorption carbohydrates but artificial sweeteners, and none of the above mentioned illness are present in these people.

In relationship to saccharin, the F.D.A. (Food Drug Administration) presented their doubts that this compound was carcinogenic; therefore, the United States Congress set a moratorium to its prohibition. Dr. Ronald Hart, Director of the F.D.A. National Center of Toxicology Research says: "The results showed clearly that saccharin was ineffective as a direct carcinogenic agent and as a source of bladder tumors although in the rats, the saccharin promoted the appearance of tumors or acted as a carcinogenic agent (comment already clarified), it was completely harmless for mice." We should not forget that the dose of saccharin or cyclamate used in these experiments was too high.

It is unlikely that saccharin is carcinogenic in humans, since the body does not metabolize it and it is completely eliminated by the kidneys. Neither does it act on the DNA, whereby the genetic code is not altered. The case is the same with cyclamate, so the conclusion is that there is not definitive proof that these compounds are carcinogenic.

Different conditions have been reported in consumers of sugar substitutes, such as: dizziness, sickness, nausea, weakness, shivers, cold perspiration, yawning, drowsiness, etc. All these symptoms have been mistakenly attributed to these products, and thus they have been considered harmful. However these circumstances are not related to the artificial sweeteners, but to hypoglycemia (low level of glucose in the blood), affecting most or all obese people, pre-diabetic or diabetic patients to whom doctors prescribe artificial sweeteners. When the sugar they are accustomed to is cut off, they no longer have carbohydrates for instant use. They immediately enter hypoglycemia first and then ketosis, especially if they have not eaten for at least 3 hours. This condition will trigger the previously described symptoms. A person feeling these disorders should not blame the artificial sweetener, since the reaction is from cause to effect. This is the reason why the introduction of Aspartame in the U.S. was delayed for several years even though this sugar substitute is completely innocuous, since it consists of only two strictly natural amino acids.

If we feel the, symptoms previously mentioned when we eat sugar substitutes, we will eliminate them by adjusting our diet to 5 meals a day; that is to say, by eating every 3 hours. This way every disorder will disappear.