One of my themes concerning the actions of Big Pharma drug companies is that they do not allow considerations of human health to interfere with their profits. My contention is that they manufacture drugs known to be harmful to our health, hide this information from view, market the drug, pocket the profits, and only then does the harm done by pharma drugs become an issue.
Surely Big Food companies do not do the same thing! Well, actually, they do!
Big Food play the same 'for profit' games as Big Pharma - at the expense of our health.
Sweetening our food is just one example. One way to increase food consumption is to sweeten it. And lots of foods are sweetened to make them poor palatable to us, more likely that we will buy them. Many do not need sweetening. Many sweetened foods are not sweetened by 'natural' sugars, but by artificial chemicals, such as aspartame.
There is, according to this article, a new 'artificial sweetener' disease. It has many symptoms. Recurring headaches, unbearable migraines, depression, anxiety, muscle pain, arthritis, buzzing or ringing in ears, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgfia, irritable bowel disease, Crohn's disease, inflammation, acid reflus. But as the article says, it is never called ASD - artificial sweetener disease. This article suggests that the Gulf War Syndrome can be connected to artificial sweeteners.
This article looks closer at the connection between sweeteners and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBF). It links them with brain lesions, enlarged and calcified kidneys, male infertility, increased mortality, and even spontaneous abortions in rabbits!
Violence can also be also linked to sweeteners in teenagers. As the article said, the soft drinks beloved of so many children are entirely devoid of nutrition, but are drunk is large quantities. "Diets high in refined sugar can also cause high blood sugar levels and hypoglycemic episodes, which profoundly impact our physical and psychological health. Hypoglycemic episodes often lead to angry and violent outbursts, and could be a direct cause of violence in children".
And as the article says, soft drinks also contain caffeine, which can contribute to hypoglycemic episodes and can also provoke aggression by raising adrenaline levels. Strange, then, that we so often give our children these drinks - as a treat!
Aspartame is the best known of these sweeteners, and as this article states, it is probably the most dangerous substance added to our food. Apparently, Aspartame accounts for over 75% of adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. This article explains the diseases caused by this poison, and how it is made. It is in a vast number of food and drink products, particularly if something is described as 'low sugar', or 'diet'.
Aspartame comes under many names? Perhaps they are all invented to confuse us - and no doubt they fool far too many of us! Aspartame brand names includ NutraSweet, Equal, Sweet One, and Spoonful.
Yet if you want to see dramatically what Aspartame does to living organisms, look at this remarkable article! It kills Ants. And Ants soon learn to avoid it. It is a pity humanity cannot respond to this poison in the same way!
But we don't, we even think that drinks containing artificial sweeteners are good for us! This article looks at sports drinks and sweeteners. Such drinks are regularly and intensively advertised, portraying them as 'scientifically' formulated to help athletes rehydrate their bodies after exertion. This kind of 'science' is the same 'science' that supports the Big Pharma industry - bought science, cheque-book science, science serving those who wish to make big profits at our expense.
Yet we do want to have sweeteners in our food and drink, and not all of them are bad for us. This article advises us to use only the best natural sweeteners. It contains good, sensible advice for anyone wanting to avoid the health impact of artificial, Big Food, for profit sweeteners.
