- The subject of aspartame, APM, has stretched beyond my
expectation. That is due to the valuable information provided by our proactive
readers around the globe. I would like to express my appreciation for their
enthusiastic and interactive e-mails, sharing painful experiences and providing
up-to-date data and support. Special thanks go to activists like Dr. Betty
Martini, Jim McDonald and others for their active roles in exposing the
damages caused by dangerous "concealed" chemicals and additives
in our food, snacks and beverages.
-
- Unfortunately, our children, adolescents and young athletes
are targets of the chemical industry such as Monsanto and Searle, APM manufacturers
and their high-positioned political supporters. Big profits come from universal
consumers and not just from the diabetics and the obese. Aspartame has
become a staple ingredient in our food and beverages as well as in vitamins
and drugs. The struggle will be very confrontational amongst consumers
and activists on one side and the powerful chemical industry and influential
special interest groups on the other side. That is why we should lend our
support to activists and strive to keep toxic chemicals out of our food
and environment.
-
- Today, I shall mostly discuss the dangers, which aspartame
and other additives (artificial colorings, flavors and preservatives) pose
to children's and youngsters' health. This article is specifically addressed
to parents, school teachers and administrators, the Ministries of Education
and Health, and the Saudi Food and Drug Authority to prevent food and beverage
contamination of innocent school children and adolescents through the addition
of unnecessary poisonous chemicals and additives.
-
- First, I would like to caution parents about the unhealthy
nutrition (fast fatty food, candy, ice-cream and chewing-gum with artificial
sweeteners, colors, or taste) given to their children at home, schools
and restaurants. You are responsible for your loved one's interest and
health.
-
- Train your children to eat healthy meals made from whole
nutrient-dense foods like fresh fruits and vegetables. Share meals with
your children at home and prepare for them homemade dishes, ice-creams
and desserts as well as sandwiches, snacks and cakes for school, instead
of off-the-shelf processed and fast foods. Rather than having colas and
soda and soft drinks, they should become accustomed to drinking water,
milk and fresh juices as well as homemade smoothies, milkshakes and cool
herbal and fruit infusions. Avoid over-sweetening beverages; they lead
to weight gain and tooth decay. Though refined sugar is not healthy, it
is still less hazardous to health than artificial sweeteners. However,
developing a sweet tooth can result in child obesity and diabetes.
-
- Read labels; ask questions; and search on Internet. As
parents, you should prepare healthy snacks and meals for yourself and your
family. You should set the example for them. I have seen parents who stop
their children from having colas in restaurants, yet they order for themselves
the very drink. This way, they send mixed signals to their children who
will eventually follow suit.
-
- Schools and Ministry of Education play important roles
in our children's health and wellbeing. They should ban the sales of "harmful"
sweets (candy, chewing-gum), health-damaging foods (fries, hamburgers)
and snacks (ice-creams, sodas) in schools. Their nutrition should be carefully
selected for them. A healthy menu should be designed by nutritional experts
and tailored to the developmental needs of our children and youth. Prior
to the 1990s, none of these "harmful" items were sold or distributed
in schools or even universities in this country.
-
- Such an initiative is achievable. It was sponsored by
parents of ADD children in the worst school in Wisconsin, US. According
to Dr. Betty Martini (<mailto:Betty19@mindspring.com>Betty19@mindspring.com),
"Vending and soda pop machines were removed and the children were
given nutritional food. At the end of the program this became the best
school in Wisconsin with zero learning and behavioral problems."
-
- With effort and contribution from parents and schools,
wonders can happen. By becoming aware and proactive, you can reclaim your
children's mental and physical health and reverse learning and behavioral
disorders.
-
- Youngsters and athletes should not abuse energy, caffeine
and soda drinks (diet colas, energy drinks) especially when they and their
drinks are exposed to the heat and sun. With dehydration and mineral (magnesium)
loss, young sportsman drinking heated sodas containing APM can succumb
to fatal cardiac arrests. Even the so-called "healthy" energy
sodas can become unhealthy when abused.
-
- Many overweight and obese citizens have become conscious
of their conditions, so they take part in weight loss programs that include
ready made low-calorie meals and moderate activity. The attention given
to health is very encouraging, but something worries me! They turn to diet
colas and artificial sweeteners instead. Moreover, some diet centers use
artificial sugar substitutes in desserts to make them "light"
or sugar-free." These chemicals are not only harmful, but once the
dieters get off the program, they easily regain the lost weight and more.
That is because their palates have not had the time to lose the craving
for sweets. This point should be discussed with the dietician. According
to Dr. Neal Barnard, in order to maintain weight loss, sugar should be
restricted to whole fruits ONLY for at least 20 days to overcome sugar
addiction.
-
- Diabetic and heart disease sufferers should rely on a
healthy nutrition free of refined sugar and carbohydrates and harmful fats
as well as artificial sweeteners and additives in order to wean themselves
from sugar cravings. Even though recommended for diabetes, artificial sweeteners
result in adverse reactions to blood sugar levels, making them difficult
to manage despite medication or insulin. As mentioned earlier, heart patients
can also suffer from aspartame side effects.
-
- This paragraph is addressed to young parents-to-be. You
should become smart consumers and your own spy doctors. Stop the consumption
of diet drinks and "sugarless" sweets and chewing-gum and foods
that contain APM, E951, or other artificial sweeteners (saccharin, sucralose)
long before you decide to become parents. Don't be tempted with the word
"sugar-free." The food or cola may be free of sugar, but also
loaded with carcinogens and neurotoxins that can harm the physical and
mental development of fetuses. By consuming such chemicals, you are tainting
your fertility, sperms, ova and DNA, which get passed on to your offsprings.
Pregnant mothers should be extra vigilant, because the excitotoxins in
APM, MSG and others become magnified in the placenta and get transmitted
to fetus brains, causing damage such as behavioral disorders like ADD or
ADHD or worse, neurological impairment. Lifetime suffering and struggling
will be yours to live with.
-
- Patented chemicals and additives may enhance flavor,
add color and make attractive processed food, drinks (diet sodas), snacks
("sugarless" chewing gum, candy and throat-soothers) and pharmaceutical
vitamins and medication, but they also endanger the health of the unaware
public who is made to believe in their safety. Instead, we should investigate
the underlying causes and increase in disease and disorders (tumors, cancers,
allergies and mental, behavioral and physical disorders) in order to exclude
such "detrimental" chemicals, preservatives and additives as
well as heavy metal (mercury, lead, cadmium) that have been introduced
in our diets, vitamins, vaccines (mercury) and medicines. Such additives
were virtually non-existent in our lives some decades ago.
-
- The relentless drug industry includes artificial additives
in most pharmaceuticals, ranging from vitamins and vaccines to antibiotics
and drugs. Whenever you find the E plus a number on the container label,
you can be sure that it contains an artificial chemical. Because these
additives trigger allergies, in sensitive people, we should become aware
of them. For example, Centrum multivitamins contain E110 and E171; Arius
(anti-allergy drug), E132; and Cipralex (mood regulator), E171. None of
the mentioned medicines cite these additives in their leaflets, leaving
the consumer unaware of the components of the medication. This information
was provided by a pharmacy in Switzerland.
-
- Most vaccines contain the heavy metal, mercury (Thimerosal).
It acts like a preservative. Heavy metals' cumulative effects are toxic,
especially when babies, whose detoxification systems are undeveloped, are
subjected to multiple vaccines in one session. Activists in the US point
to mercury as a cause of autism in their children.
-
- I would like to add the following. Eye-liner and kohl
pencils and lipsticks made by "reputable and fashionable" manufacturers
contain lead to make them last longer on the skin. I also suspect that
the perfume mixers and venders in this country add lead to their perfumes
or attar of the natural rose and oud to make it hold on the skin longer.
I have noticed that the attar turns green at the touch of metal, an indication
of lead content. This should be investigated by the authorities. Like mercury,
lead is toxic. This metal breaks down red blood cells in the system, causing
severe anemia. Does this information make you wonder why we have become
afflicted with a concoction of once unknown neurological and autoimmune
disorders and cancer?
-
- I commend the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) for
their diligent work in a short period of time. However, I also urge the
Authority to look into the "health damaging" sweeteners and artificial
chemicals in foods and beverages and revise or limit their inclusion as
"food additives" in our food and snacks. Until a ban is introduced,
I request the Authority to at least issue warnings on each packaged snack,
food item and beverage in order to caution the public of the "dangers"
of aspartame and other additives on health. It is important to make foods
"safe" for all and especially developing children who will be
tomorrow's adults.
-
-
-
- N.B.: Individuals with medical conditions or on medication
should consult their physicians when they decide to introduce anything
new in their diet even if it is natural.
-
- © 2010 Arab News
-
- <mailto:MariamAlireza@gmail.com>MariamAlireza@gmail.com
|
