How Sweet It Is!

Dear Friend,

Americans love sweets. In fact, our annual consumption of sugar has been increasing for decades, and the fear of obesity appears to be the only thing that dampens our ongoing love affair with sugar. Sugar has lots of calories that the body can easily store as fat.

In the hopes of having the best of both worlds—the sweetness of sugar without its calories—a gigantic market has been created for artificial sweeteners. It all started with cyclamate and saccharin. Both of these lost popularity, however, when rats fed the sweeteners developed cancerous tumors. They are probably relatively harmless in the amounts normally used, but the rats were given daily doses equivalent to drinking thousands of artificially sweetened soft drinks.

Next came aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, Equal-Measure, etc.). The NutraSweet Company helped create a billion-dollar market, with product in over 70 countries worldwide. However, as the product has become more prevalent in the food supply, questions of serious side effects have begun to emerge.

Fewer Calories, But Greater Risk

Reports indicate that aspartame now accounts for over 75 percent of all adverse reactions from food additives reported to the FDA, and close to 100 different symptoms have been attributed to it. One of the most serious complaints suggests that the widespread use of aspartame could be linked to an increase in the incidence of brain tumors.

Several books and reports have been written about the dangers of aspartame, and I won't go further into them here. There is, though, an Aspartame Consumer Safety Network that you can contact by phone at 1-214-352-4268 for more information. Despite these problems, I expect aspartame to be around for quite some time to come. There's just too much money at stake for any government agency to pull the plug on it.

What's Used in Other Countries?

In Japan and South America, the all-natural herbal sweetener stevia has been widely used for decades. It is a safe alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners that is 30 to 100 times sweeter than sugar, nontoxic, water soluble, and has no aftertaste. Despite a history of FDA regulations and interference, stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) is becoming more readily available in this country. You can now find it in your local health food store.

Researchers in Finland have been working with a natural sweetener called xylitol for many years. Xylitol is a compound found in certain vegetables, strawberries, raspberries, plums, and jute, as well as various hardwood trees such as birch. When used as a sweetener in chewing gum, it becomes a powerful tool to fight against dental cavities and plaque formation. It may even help prevent problems such as sinus infections, bronchitis, pneumonia, and middle ear infections.

Xylitol is an unusual compound in many respects. Unlike sucrose (table sugar) and fructose (fruit sugar), xylitol doesn't create an acid environment in your mouth when used to sweeten gum or foods. When the pH in your mouth becomes acidic from sugary foods, the enamel on your teeth erodes, leading to tooth decay.

Furthermore, sugar and artificial sweeteners are fermented by plaque-forming organisms in your mouth, and become food for bone-destroying bacteria. These plaque-forming bacteria are incapable of fermenting xylitol; in fact, when they ingest xylitol, their growth and ability to produce plaque becomes impaired. Also unlike table sugar, xylitol has a more complex chemical structure that doesn't trigger the release of insulin from the pancreas. This makes xylitol an ideal sweetener for diabetics.

Gum That Works for You

Most gum manufacturers in this country rely mainly on sorbitol as a sweetener to lower their costs. Sorbitol reportedly doesn't promote the formation of dental caries and is preferred over sucrose, but xylitol is far more effective and safe than either of these. About the worst thing I've heard about xylitol is that some people have developed a bit of diarrhea at higher doses.

Xylitol products, including the gum product XlearDent, are available from a company called Xlear, Inc. through their Web site www.xlear.com, or by phone at 1-877-599-5327.

Wouldn't it be nice if the solutions to all of our health problems were as sweet as this one?

Until next time,

Dr. David Williams