Candace

Talmadge

Read Candace's bio and previous columns

July 14, 2008

Modern Sugar Substitutes: How Sweet It Isn’t

Call it irony, poetic justice, karma or whatever. This fat lady is allergic to sugar substitutes.

You know – the ones that supposedly have no known harmful side effects, at least according to the FDA. 

I beg to differ. I have known since 1983 that I am highly allergic to aspartame, better known as NutraSweet (the blue packet). I had to stop putting aspartame in my coffee after I developed a large red itchy spot on my left palm and began to shake every time I drank it. 

I unknowingly began ingesting aspartame again on a daily basis back in 2004 in one of those prescription allergy medications turned over-the-counter wunderkind. Six weeks later, the skin on the bottoms of my feet abruptly turned to concrete and I could barely walk. And I had another red, itchy spot on my left palm. 

It took me months to figure out the origin of the problem and finally stop taking the stuff. Meanwhile, my physician and podiatrist were equally stumped. Tests came back negative for infection or fungus. Naturally, I spent lots of money with nothing to show for it. Somehow that’s par for the course of so-called modern medicine. 

My soles have yet to recover fully because now, it seems, I am allergic to every other kind of fake sugar, including ones that are found in a host of products not even labeled “low calorie,” such as toothpaste, chewing gum, energy drinks and, so help me, chewable vitamin supplements. 

What’s a health-conscious fat lady to do? Chewing gum is no great loss, but I cannot now consume most commercial toothpastes. I have to use the expensive variety from the health food store. I also have to read all ingredients labels twice as diligently, but that doesn’t always do me much good. In an effort to keep their oh-so-precious trade secrets confidential, manufacturers have taken to using ingredients’ obscure chemical names that mean nothing to ordinary people. No doubt that’s why I didn’t spot the aspartame in the allergy medication. 

Speaking of names, the monikers of these offending sugar substitutes are quite a mouthful. Try saying, rapidly, erythritol, lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol (gluchtitol), and xylitol. Phew. Sounds like the Readers’ Digest version of the periodic table of the elements, which it is, in a way.  

Then there are sucralose (yellow packet) and saccharine (pink packet). It makes me long for the days of cyclamates, a sugar substitute that was delicious in sodas like the former Sugar Free Dr Pepper, now Diet Dr Pepper laced with aspartame. Yuck. 

Perhaps this is better living through modern chemistry for some, but not for me. Whatever happened to old-fashioned sugar? My body doesn’t seem to have a problem whatsoever with that sinful substance. Even so, I try to consume it in moderation. I’m all for moderation in moderation, too. Occasionally you just have to be a foodie extreme. Let’s hear it for “death by chocolate!” Yes! Gimme! 

Sigh. Back to sobering reality. Based on my unhappy personal experiences, my unsettling impression is that all these so-called sugar substitutes are really a devil’s bargain, and not at all safe or healthy to ingest in any great quantities or for any length of time, regardless of what the feds say. After all, the feds approved Vioxx, too, until it started killing people, and issued no warnings about hormone replacement therapy, until studies decades after the fact showed HRT raised breast cancer rates. 

When in doubt, eat the genuine article or go without. A tough philosophy, but one that averts death by poison from a thousand bites. 

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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