Sugar or sweetener.... difficult one isn't it? One has an impact on the waiste but what impact does the other one have?

Diabetes UK says, "..the myth that people with diabetes shouldn't eat any sugar still persists but the truth is that people with diabetes can eat sugar. Although sugar should be limited as part of a healthy balanced diet, good blood glucose control can still be achieved when sugar and sugar-containing foods are eaten."

What is a sweetener? Wikipedia says, "A sugar substitute is a food additives that duplicates the effect of sugar in taste, usually with less food energy. Some sugar substitutes are natural and some are synthetic. Those that are not natural are, in general, called artificial sweeteners."

I'm not a fan of sweeteners and generally advise my clients who are looking to change their diet to just use less natural sugar, rather than opt for for an artificial sweetener.

Sweeteners that we know by name tend to be: saccharin, sucralose, stevia, sorbitol and NutraSweet or 'aspartame'. The latter, aspartame has links will lots of elements of poor health.

In the UK, the Food Standards Agency confirms, "foods that contain both sugar and sweetener must carry the statement 'with sugar and sweetener(s)'. In addition, foods that contain aspartame must be labelled with a warning 'contains a source of phenylalanine'."

Dr Janet Starr Hull's website, http://www.sweetpoison.com has lots of interesting and frightening information about aspartame.

She says, "Aspartame was determined to be a dangerous chemical as early as the 1960s. Over the past 30 years, aspartame has been identified as a carcinogen, a chemical that eats holes in brain tissue, and a dangerous food additive during pregnancy." "aspartame WAS removed from the public market after it was approved. Aspartame has actually been approved for market TWICE. In the 1970s, aspartame was first approved by the FDA, but that approval was immediately rescinded when research was presented, showing that aspartame ate holes in the brains of the lab animals at Washington University."

http://www.healingdaily.com says, "NutraSweet (Aspartame) is composed of linkages of aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol. The aspartic acid acts as a neuroexcitatory agent. When NutraSweet is digested, it yields 10% methanol (wood alcohol). The wood alcohol (methanol) is widely distributed throughout the body including brain, muscle, fat and nervous tissue. It is then metabolized to FORMALDEHYDE which enters the cells and binds to the proteins and DNA (the genetic material). Cytogenetic effects (changes in DNA) have been shown to result from FORMALDEHYDE exposure and DNA damage occurs from FORMALDEHYDE. The nature of the injury generally involves breaking and then creation of cross linking within the genetic material which alters the cells. This finding has been confirmed numerous times...". It is believed that the negative impact of aspartame is cumulative.

So, if you have a choice, go for natural sugar, but less of it!