Healthy by Nature radio show this week:  Even though it is a holiday weekend, please tune in to hear my interview with the amazing Artemis Simopoulos, MD, international authority on genetics and fats in our diet. She is also the author of The Omega Diet. Click here to find podcasts, show archives and how to listen nationwide.
 
FDA Approval is No Guarantee
We know all too well that FDA-approved drugs frequently have to be removed from the market because they are even more dangerous than originally thought. Surely, the agency does better with food, right?

Sucralose (Splenda® is one brand) was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (ironically, on April Fool’s Day 1998) as a sweetener for use in foods and beverages. Sucralose is a marketing name to make us think of sugar. That’s also the impression in ads–that it is just sugar’s low cal cousin. However, the chemical sucralose is actually more chemically similar to DDT, bleach and poison gas used as a weapon. Splenda’s cheery yellow packets bear no warning even though studies in animals (some before FDA approval) have shown a number of serious negative effects. Those effects included: abnormal changes in the spleen, shrunken thymus (key immune gland), enlarged liver, slower growth, negative changes to gut bacteria, decreased red blood cells, spontaneous abortions, elevated blood sugar and damage to DNA among others. LINK.

Millions of humans have been led to believe that they are doing themselves a favor by selecting “Lite” and “Low Calorie” foods that are sweetened with it. However, in case you think that what makes rats sick won’t bother you, a recent human study showed that sucralose has Diabetes-promoting effects. (LINK) It has also been implicated in inflammatory bowel disease (LINK), liver trouble (LINK) and may be a migraine trigger. (LINK) Sucralose doesn’t break down easily and is now in the ground water and the oceans. (LINK) However, unless people literally start dropping dead in the street soon after swallowing it, FDA approval will never be revisited because it is too important to some very large and powerful manufacturers.

Aspartame (commonly NutraSweet®) also has FDA approval in spite of being associated with many health problems–many with the nervous system and some quite serious. (It would take more space than I have to dig into this one but let me just say that it takes years for cancer to develop and short term studies done for safety are inadequate.)

Stevia, the natural herbal sweetener, with a worldwide reputation for safety and health benefits instead of side effects, took decades to achieve approval. It might still be waiting for FDA blessing if the Coca-Cola folks hadn’t wanted to use it.

Official DISapproval is Also No Guarantee

Supplements and cancer treatment. The FDA and mainstream medicine are usually very negative about dietary supplements in general. And, if you mention supplements and cancer in the same breath, they really come unglued. Well, here is an article showing that there may be a glimmer of hope. LINK. (I haven’t yet found the list discussed.)

Ginkgo is an herb that improves blood flow to the brain and is taken by millions in the hopes of improving memory. Of course, studies have not conclusively proven that it is effective for that purpose. (Curiously, the standard of what is considered “proof” seems much higher for supplements than for synthetic drugs.)  However, Gingko has other health benefits, including perhaps help for diabetic neuropathy (e.g. loss of feeling in the feet). Now an arm of the government (The National Toxicology Program) has decided, based on a study using rats, that the herb may not be safe. (Hmm, weren’t the feds happy to ignore the animal studies showing trouble with artificial sweeteners?)

The study in question used a type of Gingko different than what has been shown safe and effective which is the one commonly sold in supplements. Also, they gave the critters 17 times as much per day for their body weight as humans typically take! None the less, the New York Times was glad to sound an alarm. Perhaps I should call Health e-Note the “What’s wrong with the news?_letter.”

Such confounding double-think is often a case of “follow the money”. But sometimes it is probably just ignorance born out of prejudice against natural solutions. That prejudice in turn comes from ignorance of the facts about natural solutions. It might at first seem just all too discouraging. But, at the end of the day, consumers have the real power. We can vote with our dollars and buy natural.
 
What’s up?
Have a safe Memorial Day Weekend. Fly your flag and do remember the veterans and their families that sacrifice so much to protect our freedoms. (It is just too easy to start thinking the holiday is all about mattress sales.)
 
Last Week
LINK to Archive. We’ve talked about vision and virtually every other aspect of health, but finally this week we talked about our sense of hearing – how to preserve it and what to do when it fades. Our expert in this exploration was Dr. Daxton K. Moss Au.D., CCC-A with Premier Hearing. We also talked with Scott Cunningham, CEO of XyloBurst about sweeteners, especially Xylitol.

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My first book : Natural Alternatives to Nexium, Maalox, Tagamet, Prilosec & Other Acid Blockers. Subtitle: What to Use to Relieve Acid Reflux, Heartburn, and Gastric Ailments.

My latest book: Aloe Vera-Modern Science Sheds Light on an Ancient Herbal Remedy

The information contained in this newsletter has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. The contents are for informational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice.

Copyright 2013 Martie Whittekin, CCN