Safety of Aspartame

If you're eating foods containing the artificial sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal, diet drinks, etc.), you need to watch the documentary "Sweet Misery." Aspartame was approved for widespread use in the U.S. in July of 1983. Within six months, brain tumor rates climbed 10%, diabetes went up 30% and brain lymphoma tumors skyrocketed 60%. Learn how this toxic chemical was scandalously approved by the FDA and is now one of the most widespread food additives in the U.S.

The video can be downloaded at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-566922170441334340&q=aspartame+duration%3Along&total=23&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Meat from sick animals served at schools

The USDA is investigating Chino, CA company Hallmark after release of a video showing workers using illegal practices on sick cows to get them into the slaughterhouse. Federal and California law prohibits the slaughter of "downer" cattle - cows that cannot stand or walk - to protect the human food supply from eating the meat of unhealthy animals. Several studies have shown a correlation between meat from downer cows and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), more commonly know as Mad Cow Disease.

Employees at Hallmark were shown using forklifts to pick up and roll animals too weak to stand and, much worse, shooting high pressure water sprays into the nostrils of cows and repeatedly shocking them with electricity so they could get the animals to get up and walk past the inspector assigned to monitor that only healthy cows were slaughtered.

Beef from the Hallmark slaughterhouse is distributed by Westland Meat Co. (also of Chino). According to the USDA, Westland sold 27 million pounds of meat last year to federal food and nutrition programs including school lunches and meals for the poor and elderly.

For more info, check out the article in the LA Times at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-humane31jan31,1,7693001.story?ctrack=3&cset=true

What happens to your body within 1 hour of drinking a soda

The average American drinks more than 60 gallons of soft drinks each year, but before you grab that next can of soda, consider this: one can of soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar, 150 calories, 30 to 55 mg of caffeine, and is loaded with artificial food colors and sulphites. Not to mention the fact that it’s also your largest source of dangerous high-fructose corn syrup.

After drinking a can of soda, this is how your body is affected within the first hour:

Within the first 10 minutes, 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. This is 100 percent of your recommended daily intake, and the only reason you don’t vomit as a result of the overwhelming sweetness is because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor.

Within 20 minutes, your blood sugar spikes, and your liver responds to the resulting insulin burst by turning massive amounts of sugar into fat.

Within 40 minutes, caffeine absorption is complete; your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, and your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream.

Around 45 minutes, your body increases dopamine production, which stimulates the pleasure centers of your brain – a physically identical response to that of heroin, by the way.

After 60 minutes, you’ll start to have a sugar crash.

For more info, check out Dr. Mercola's Web site at: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/1/19/what-happens-to-your-body-within-an-hour-of-drinking-a-coke.aspx

Safety of Splenda

I am frequently asked about the safety of the articial sweetener Splenda. After all, they claim it's made from sugar so what could be the harm. Well . . . . .

They are now being sued in federal court. The accusation is that Splenda, a Johnson & Johnson company, is falsely advertising to consumers with its marketing slogan "Made from sugar so it tastes like sugar". Splenda is the synthetic compound sucralose, discovered in 1976 by scientists in Britain seeking a new pesticide formulation. The artificial sweetener is made by replacing hydroxyl groups in the sugar molecule with chlorine. So, no sucralose or Splenda is not the same as sugar at all.

There are no long-term studies of the side effects of Splenda in humans. The manufacturer's own short-term studies showed that sucralose caused shrunken thymus glands and enlarged livers and kidneys in rodents. But the FDA (always looking out for our best interests) decided that because these studies weren't based on human test animals, they were not conclusive. I wonder why given these results, further tests weren't made? Hm . . .

I recommend against using artifiical sweeters. No study has ever shown that using articifical sweeteners helps weight loss - in fact, the opposite has been found. Drinking diet soda can actually double your obesity risks (http://www.mercola.com/2005/jun/30/diet_sodas.htm).

Artificial sweeteners acutally can:

- Stimulate your appetite
- Increase carbohydrate cravings
- Stimulate fat storage and weight gain

Not to mention the possible risks to your health.

So what's safe to drink and good for you too????

WATER! (though not in plastic bottles - but that's another post.)

Safe baby bottles

Here's a link to info about non-plastic or non-bpa plastic baby bottles:

http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2007/07/z-report-bisphenol-in-polycarbonate.html

I've written several posts about the toxic chemical Bisphenol-A (BPA) leacheing from plastic baby bottles, but a new investigation by Environmental Working Group (EWG) reveals that BPA is also used to line nearly all infant formula cans. BPA levels found in liquid formula are likely to be far higher than those that leach from bottles under normal use.

EWG contacted company officials at Nestlé, Ross-Abbot (Similac), MeadJohnson (Enfamil), Hain-Celestial (Earth's Best), and PBM (sold under various names at Walmart, Kroger, Target and other stores). Each company's policy was documented a minimum of three times; twice through detailed phone interviews, and once by an e-mail questionnaire. The results reveal that all manufacturers use BPA to line the metal portions of all infant formula containers, including powdered varieties.

"There is mounting scientific evidence that BPA is toxic, especially to children," said Aaron Freeman, Policy Director with Environmental Defence. "Governments should be acting quickly, starting with a ban on BPA in food and beverage containers."

Previous formula testing by EWG and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has shown that BPA leaches from the plastic lining of metal cans into liquid formula, exposing formula-fed babies to potentially harmful concentrations that are higher than levels leaching from the bottles. BPA levels in powdered formula sold in the United States haven't been tested, but this formula is diluted with water before being fed to babies, and thus poses less risk to babies.
In light of these findings, EWG has created an online guide for parents to help them make the most informed decisions about how they feed their babies.http://www.ewg.org/babysafe

McDonalds advertising on report cards!

Last week, elementary school students in Seminole County, Florida received their report cards in envelopes adorned with Ronald McDonald promising a free Happy Meal to students in kindergarten through fifth grade with good grades, behavior, or attendance.

Targeting children directly with the message that doing well in school should be rewarded by a Happy Meal undermines parents’ efforts to encourage healthy eating. If parents want to reward their kids for getting good grades, they should be able to decide what is appropriate. They don't need any help from a corporation whose real concern is its bottom line.

Visit http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/621/t/4886/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=21959 and tell McDonald's to stop advertising on report cards.