A recent news release on November 7 2006 has thrown a curve ball at the health industry, once again. This time it’s about sugar, splenda and softdrinks.
Don’t you feel exasperated just trying to keep up with what’s healthy and what’s not when there is so much confusion? Whilst I am all for progress, and take history as being a given that cannot be changed, I have become highly sceptical of anything I read concerning food!
It seems Splenda is not a sweet as it once appeared. Commonly marketed as “natural†a recent report on the chemical configuration of Splenda declares it “more of a pesticide that a product fit for human consumptionâ€. The US sugar industry has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Splenda claiming it is deceptively marketed to make consumers believe it is natural. The basis of the claim is that “Splenda is an artificial product that contains chlorine which it says is a far cry from the claim of the Splenda slogan “made from sugar so it tastes like sugarâ€.
According to The Sugar Association, this is misleading as the sucrose, or sugar, contained in the sweetener has undergone a chemical molecular switch. In addition, over 98 percent of Splenda is made up of bulking agents such as maltodextrin and dextrose, used to dilute the sweetener, which is 600 times sweeter than sugar. Indeed, the two groups have a history of battling out their differences through lawsuits, with competitor sweetener manufacturers of tabletop sweetener Equal and NutraSweet lodging a similar claim in November 2005.
As far away as Australia and New Zealand, such claims have been upheld as misleading, yet according to Datamonitor, Splenda was used in 1,436 new products worldwide in 2004, a significant jump from 573 in 2003 and 35 in 1999.
Back to sugar. One day later on November 8 we get this headline “ Sugary drinks in new cancer link, study†The study claims that “Drinking two sugary soft drinks every day could almost double [90%] the chance of pancreatic cancer†And it’s not just about soft drinks. Adding sugar to any food or drink at least five times a day increases the risk by 70%.
The study, conducted by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, believe the “risk of developing pancreatic cancer rises when the pancreas produces higher levels of insulin. Eating a lot of sugar is a well-known way of increasing insulin productionâ€.
And just in case you are in any doubt at all about soft drinks, November 21 brought this item to our attention “ Doubts hit FDA handling of benzene in soft drinks†raising alarm that the FDA is not sufficiently monitoring the presence of benzene residues in soft drinks, in spite of soft drinks maker Kraft Foods calling for more guidance by the FDA on benzene in soft drinks earlier this year.
It seems the benzene is produced by a reaction in drinks between two common ingredients – sodium benzoate and ascorbic or citric acid, and has been known for some 15 years. According to both the FDA and soft drinks industry, there is little health risk linked to the levels of benzene found in drinks, Whilst the FDA believes the risk due to the benzene bi-product is quite low, manufacturers claim the drinks can be reformulated to prevent is production
So people, as you head toward the festive holidays with all those goodies laid bare, pause for a moment to consider your options.
How Sweet Thy Name
Nicola
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