People with diabetes do not have to eat artificially sweetened foods but Diabetes New Zealand develops its position statements and policies from evidence …
Sweeteners or Poisons? DNZ Position Statement
Artificial Sweeteners
Position Statement by Diabetes New Zealand
People with diabetes do not have to eat artificially sweetened foods but
artificial sweeteners do have a role in making some food more palatable and
widen the choice of foods available
The NZSSD New Zealand Society for the Study of Diabetes recommends
against the use of large amounts of artificial sweeteners but there is no
evidence that a low to moderate intake by adults causes harm
Aspartame appears to be the most suitable sweetener available for persons
over two years of age and pregnant women
Diabetes New Zealand, along with the American Diabetes Association and the
Diabetes United Kingdom, advise that if people use sweeteners, they should
vary the type used to avoid excessive consumption of any individual product
which enables a greater margin of safety to be achieved
People with the very rare condition of phenylketonuria are unable to
breakdown phenylalanine and so should not use Aspartame Indeed those
affected need to restrict their exposure to all food
containing
phenylalanine, including meat, milk and nuts This condition present from
birth is tested in all babies in New Zealand
This policy statement was reviewed in 2007 Diabetes New Zealand develops
its position statements and policies from evidence-based research For more
information, please see the NZFSA statement on aspartame at
http://wwwnzfsagovtnz/publications/hot-topics/aspartame/indexhtm
Background Information
Sweeteners or Poisons? Helped by the internet it is now easier than ever to
get any opinion about anything It can be difficult knowing the value of
the information provided The internet is particularly adept at rapidly
disseminating news but it does not discriminate between information and
misinformation
Increasingly medical practitioners and allied health professionals are
approached by patients eager to follow-up from news and views they have
found whilst surfing the net A recurrent concern regards food additives
such as sweeteners and, in particular, controversy about the safety of the
sweetener called Aspartame also known as NutraSweet, Equal and Sprinkle
Aspartame which was first synthesised in 1995 is 180 times
sweeter than
sugar It comprises of two amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine
both of which occur naturally and are two of the building blocks of
proteins An International Expert Committee involving the World Health
Organisation established an acceptable daily intake for Aspartame of 40 mg
per kilogram of body weight per day, based on a long term study of rats
which show that intake of 4000mg/kg/day, the highest levels used caused no
effects, and thus incorporated a safety margin on 100 fold reduction in
recommended level of use Because of claims that Aspartame might cause a
number of medical conditions including brain tumours, there has been on
going and thorough re-evaluation of its safety, and it has been suggested
as a result that Aspartame is now possibly the most thoroughly tested food
additive National regulatory authorities in many countries including
Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Australia have concluded that the
data demonstrates Aspartame to be safe for human consumption
In 1996 JW Olney, with others published a scientific paper suggesting an
increase in brain tumour rates since the
introduction of Aspartame based on
data obtained from the United States National Cancer Institutes Database
The Study did not determine whether individuals who developed brain tumours
had actually consumed Aspartame When this same database was reviewed by an
expert panel, it was noted that the increase in brain and central nervous
system cancers recorded began before Aspartame was available for use in
food and beverages and, furthermore, in the last two years recorded 1991
to 1993 there had been a slight decrease The apparent increase in brain
tumours may well be a result of better diagnostic techniques rather than a
real increase in disease Brain cancer is uncommon and the increase in
brain tumours postulated is not supported by the data Similar conclusions
have been made following reviews of other claimed toxic side effects
If you find the relevant sites on the internet you might come to a
completely different conclusion We were recently sent an email which
began, For those of you who enjoy diet drinks, please read this It may
save your life Obviously worth reading It continues, Americans have
become addicted to sugar free
foods in a quest for a quick fix to our
weight gain problem - deadly Aspartame In case of systemic lupus, we are
finding it has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis, especially
diet Coke and diet Pepsi drinkers and so on Further diseases attributed
to Aspartame included Alzheimers disease dementia, manic depressive
illness, rage and violence, health problems found during Desert Storm the
war against Iraq, epilepsy and more Similar claims have been made against
other artificial sweeteners
Regulatory authorities continue to monitor Aspartame research world-wide
All retail foods and drinks containing sweeteners have to include the
words artificial sweetener or the names of each artificial sweetener in
the food
You dont have to eat artificially sweetened foods but they do have a role
in making some food more palatable and widen the choice of foods available
The NZSSD recommends against the use of large amounts of artificial
sweeteners but there is no evidence that a low to moderate intake by adults
causes harm Aspartame appears to be the most suitable sweetener available
for persons over two years of age and pregnant
women Our sister
organisations, the American Diabetes Association wwwdiabetesorg and the
British Diabetes Association wwwdiabetesorguk have similar
recommendations and also advise that if people use sweeteners, they should
vary the type used to avoid excessive consumption of any individual product
which enables a greater margin of safety to be achieved A further site you
might like to visit is wwwdiabetesorgnz, to prevent being caught up in a
web of confusion
People with the very rare condition of phenylketonuria are unable to
breakdown phenylalanine and so should not use Aspartame Indeed those
affected need to restrict their exposure to all food containing
phenylalanine, including meat, milk and nuts This condition present from
birth is tested for in all babies in New Zealand
Sweeteners or Poisons, Breakthrough No 2, Winter 1999 By Dr David Cole,
Diabetes Specialist Chairperson of the New Zealand Society for the Study of
Diabetes
Source:acvp.org
