I understand what many of you are trying to say about sugar being more natural and/or safer than the artificial sweeteners. However, that's
not what South Beach says--on South Beach, we are asked to avoid sugar, but sugar substitutes are allowed, in small quantities. I just want to clarify that in case we have some newbies among us reading this and they get confused. Each person has to decide what they want or don't want to put in their body and what does or doesn't cause cravings in them. However, I find it hard to believe that anyone who replaced 1/2 cup of Splenda a day with 1/2 cup of sugar a day wouldn't end up with massive cravings and delete any help that Phase 1 gave them.
For those of us who have a serious sugar addiction
sugar is a poison. While I respect and understand the issues many of you have with artificial sweeteners, please be aware that for many of us (myself included), any possible side effects from sweetener usage are much
less likely to kill or sicken us than the side effects of sugar. When I eat sugar, I'm extremely overweight, depressed, and never exercise. When I stay away from sugar, I'm in a very different, much healthier place. It's hard for me to do that without the judicious use of artificial sweeteners. Period. So, for me (and for many others), artificial sweeteners are a necessary evil.
That doesn't mean that we don't do what we can to moderate the side effects. We try not to consume more than necessary (like having cottage cheese with unsweetened applesauce, which is sweet enough!). We look into more natural sweetening options (I'm having yogurt for snack which I sweetened with vanilla-flavored stevia liquid). And, overall, we try to sweeten things less and modify our taste towards less of an inclination for the sweet.
Please try to understand this point of view and don't automatically assume that artificial sweeteners are worse than sugar for everyone. Okay?
Some other points:
Yes, Stevia is approved by the FDA as GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe). Here's a quote:
Quote:
2009 JAN 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- Whole Earth Sweetener Company LLC and PepsiCo announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a no objection letter with respect to Rebaudioside A (Reb A), the stevia extract used in PureVia(TM), the companies' all-natural, zero-calorie sweetener.
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/purevia/36001/
This response indicates the FDA has no objection to the conclusion that Reb A is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) among qualified experts for use in beverages, foods and tabletop sweeteners. It also makes possible the launch of PureVia(TM) tabletop sweetener, zero-calorie SoBe Lifewater and Trop 50, Tropicana's new light orange juice product. This news will be sweet music to the ears -- and waistlines -- of U.S. consumers looking for more natural, low-calorie choices.
Here are some articles about Stevia:
A good overview of the status of Stevia in countries around the world, along with links to more information from various sources.
However, as
Cottage and
Kaplods mentioned, there
are concerns about Stevia. Though it has been used in Japan for 30 years without side effects, they aren't using large amounts. Here, it would quite possibly be different--as they said in an article I read, "in America we like to go to extremes." What happens when you take in a lot of Stevia? No one really knows yet. Here are some of the concerns, as noted in
an article by the
Center for Science in the Public Interest (the cancer one underscores
Kaplods's point about many natural things, such as hemlock, being detrimental to our health):
Quote:
Reproductive problems. Stevioside “seems to affect the male reproductive organ system,” European scientists concluded last year. When male rats were fed high doses of stevioside for 22 months, sperm production was reduced, the weight of seminal vesicles (which produce seminal fluid) declined, and there was an increase in cell proliferation in their testicles, which could cause infertility or other problems.1 And when female hamsters were fed large amounts of a derivative of stevioside called steviol, they had fewer and smaller offspring.2 Would small amounts of stevia also cause reproductive problems? No one knows.
Cancer. In the laboratory, steviol can be converted into a mutagenic compound, which may promote cancer by causing mutations in the cells’ genetic material (DNA). “We don’t know if the conversion of stevioside to steviol to a mutagen happens in humans,” says Huxtable. “It’s probably a minor issue, but it clearly needs to be resolved.”
Energy metabolism. Very large amounts of stevioside can interfere with the absorption of carbohydrates in animals and disrupt the conversion of food into energy within cells. “This may be of particular concern for children,” says Huxtable.
The bottom line: If you use stevia sparingly (once or twice a day in a cup of tea, for example), it isn’t a great threat to you. But if stevia were marketed widely and used in diet sodas, it would be consumed by millions of people. And that might pose a public health threat.
As for the "
Splenda is one molecule away from..." argument,
Twynn--that's really not something worth thinking or worrying about. It's a nonsensical argument used to scare people (it's
used for all sorts of things...I think the most famous one is that margarine is one molecule away from plastic--which isn't at all true) Many, many
healthy things are one molecule different from something very
unhealthy. Here are a few:
Water is "one molecule away" from being explosive hydrogen gas.
It's also one molecule away from formaldehyde (CH2O).
Carbon monoxide is only one atom different from oxygen.
I think this sums it up (
not that I think the website from which it comes is the best idea...holy trans fats, Batman!):
Quote:
Substances are made of molecules, which in turn are composed of atoms joined together in a specific pattern. I suppose one might say that hydrogen peroxide, H2O2, is one atom away from water, H2O, but even this is meaningless. That extra oxygen atom changes the properties of the substance dramatically. Stick your finger into a bottle of pure hydrogen peroxide and you will quickly experience the effect of that extra oxygen.
AnAbsoluteDiva , 03-17-2009 11:07 PM
Chelby! I've learned so much from the chicks here at 3FC! 
I especially love the "Crunchers" brand of freeze-dried fruit. It's unsweetened and, as the name implies, crunchy! 
