Artificial zero calorie sweeteners can cause weight gain. Plus Covid-19 update

Artificial sweeteners are very attractive to the general public.  These sweeteners have zero calories. The business of artificial sweeteners is built on the idea that no- or low-calorie sugar substitutes will help you lose weight. Unfortunately, this simply isn’t true. Research has repeatedly shown that artificially sweetened “diet” foods and beverages tend to stimulate your appetite, increase cravings for carbs, and stimulate fat storage and weight gain.  Part of the problem is that artificial sweeteners trick your body into thinking that it’s going to receive sugar (calories), and when the sugar doesn’t arrive, your body signals that it needs more, which results in carb cravings. This connection between sweet taste and increased hunger can be found in the medical literature going back at least two decades. Artificial sweeteners also produce a variety of metabolic dysfunctions that promote weight gain. A 2010 review in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine is of particular relevance, as it offers a great historical summary of artificial sweeteners and the epidemiological and experimental evidence showing that artificial sweeteners tends to promote weight gain. It also illustrates that as usage of artificial sweeteners has risen, so has obesity rates. According to the author of the review: “Intuitively, people choose non-caloric artificial sweeteners over sugar to lose or maintain weight... But do artificial sweeteners actually help reduce weight? Surprisingly, epidemiologic data suggest the contrary. Several large scale prospective cohort studies found positive correlation between artificial sweetener use and weight gain.  Another study, cited in a recent article, "found that frequent drinkers of diet sodas had waist circumference increases that were 500 percent greater than non-drinkers of diet soda. In addition, artificial sweeteners are bad for your health. Aspartame, the main ingredient in Nutrasweet, Equal and Sugar Twin, has been deemed an excito-toxin, meaning the sweetener has bad effects on the nervous system.  In many cases symptoms from consuming aspartame have mimicked multiple sclerosis. Splenda and Sucrolose are actual sugars that have had their hydrogen and oxygen atoms replaced with chlorine to remove the calories.  So with those brands you are basically consuming chlorinated sugar.  If you are looking for zero calorie sweeteners try Stevia.  Stevia comes from a the leaves of the Stevia plant and has zero calories and is all natural.  If you do not like the slight aftertaste of Stevia, try Monk Fruit Sugar.  This all natural fruit sugar has zero calories and no aftertaste.  If you do not mind a few calories, use Agave Nectar.  This syrupy sweetener is very low on the glycemic index, which means that it does not cause your body’s natural insulin levels to rapidly spike.  “Man may be the captain of his fate, but is also the victim of his blood sugar.” ~ Wilfrid G. Oakley

Chiropractic Thought for the Week:   Pain relief? Yes. More mobility? Yes. Enhanced performance?  Yes.  Improved health? Yes.  Increased quality of life? Yes.  This is what chiropractic care can do for you.  Not sure about the how or the why?  Here it is.  Spinal adjustments realign your spinal joints, balancing your neck and back musculature. This increases mobility and relieves aches and discomforts.  Most importantly, spinal adjustments improve nerve flow to all of your body’s internal systems and organs.  Doing this improves the function of your body’s insides, thus enhancing health.  The outcome of less pain, more mobility and improved health leads to a greater quality of life for you!  

Prenatal / Pregnancy Chiropractic Care:  Pelvic balance is of extreme importance during pregnancy. Prenatal chiropractic care aligns the pelvis, relaxing the soft tissue and centering the pelvic opening, allowing the new born to have an easier exit. In addition,  there  is evidence that chiropractic care during pregnancy reduces tension on the round ligaments that support the uterus.  This allows babies to move more freely into the right pre-birth position, helping to prevent breech baby positioning.  In one study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, chiropractors reported a success rate of 82 percent for reducing uterine constraint and allowing babies to turn from the breech position into the normal pre-birth head down position.  This technique is called Webster’s technique and is used during pregnancy as a prenatal method for relaxing round ligament tension and restoring pelvic balance.

Covid-19 Update:  According to CDC data, 1 in 5 of every new COVID case involves vaccinated people, and the numbers of hospitalizations and deaths among the vaccinated are increasing.  As of August 30^th, the CDC received reports from 49 U.S. states and territories of 12,908 patients with COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infection who were hospitalized or died. The CDC says that for those who are fully vaccinated and get infected (ie, “breakthrough infections”), there is a risk of transmission to others.   The CDC website states that if you are vaccinated or unvaccinated and live in an area with substantial or high transmission of COVID-19, you will be better protected if you wear a mask when you are in indoor public places, even if you are fully vaccinated. In a 60 minutes interview from March 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci said, “The masks are important for someone who is infected to prevent them from infecting someone else. There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is. “And often, there are unintended consequences. People keep fiddling with the mask and people keep touching their face.”  A 2020 Chinese study found that regularly washing hands was more effective than wearing a facemask, but reports on the study also concluded that masks probably do block viral transmission to a degree, but there is currently not enough data to know how effective.

Atlantic County, NJ and Covid-19:  Atlantic County has 1,339 new cases of Covid-19 over the last two week period, up from 1,186 cases the prior 2 weeks. Our 7 day average cases reported per day is 95 cases per day. Atlantic County has had 10 deaths in the last two week period, up from 4 the prior two week period.    On August 8/29/2021, there were a total of 1,067 people admitted in all of New Jersey’s hospitals for care of Covid-19 infections, up from 973 a week ago.  In the USA, 374 million doses of the vaccine have been given out.  176 million people are fully vaccinated. 39.8 million people have contracted the Covid-19 virus in the USA.

Vaccine Informed Consent Information:   Informed consent means that the person to be vaccinated has to be informed about all the risks, the risk benefit ratios, the potential dangers and what is known about side effects. For example, informed consent takes place in all drug advertising.  Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System data released 8/20/21 by the CDC showed a total of 623,343 (up 27,000 from last week) reports of adverse reactions from all age groups following COVID vaccines, including 13,627 deaths (up 559). Serious injuries increased by 3,416 this week to a total of 84,466 between Dec. 14, 2020 and August 20, 2021. According to the CDC, as of August 20th 2021,   This week’s data for 12- to 17-year-olds show 17,518 total adverse events, including 1047 rated as serious and 18 reported deaths among 12- to 17-year-olds.  2,609 cases of anaphylaxis, 444 reports of myocarditis and 89 reports of blood clotting disorders in the 12-17 year old age group. This week’s data for pregnancy /prenatal vaccination shows pregnant women had 3.190 adverse events reported including 982 reports of miscarriage or premature birth.  VAERS is the primary government-funded system for reporting adverse vaccine reactions in the U.S. Reports submitted to VAERS require further investigation before a causal relationship can be confirmed. The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database contains information on unverified reports of adverse events following immunization. Reports are accepted from anyone and can be submitted electronically.

Author

Dr J. Zimmerman, Chiropractor Dr. Zimmerman is a practicing chiropractor from Galloway, NJ with 30 years of chiropractic practice.