ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS: Do You Eat and Drink Them?

Doctors say scientific findings show artificial sweeteners wreak havoc on various body systems, and when it comes to your brain… Dr. Peter McAllister of  NEINH, New England Institute for Neurology & Headache, points to the findings of a Harvard study that looked at  3,000 people and their consumption of diet soda.

KEY FINDING

Those who had a can of diet soda a day had three times the stroke risk and three times the dementia risk compared to folks who didn’t take artificial sweeteners in.

“Now it’s not cause and effect. But it’s a big study and it suggests there’s a correlation, that something is not good for the brain when you take artificial sweeteners in,” says Dr. McAllister.

Q. So, if you have a friend or a family member using artificial sweeteners, what do you say to them?

A. I say artifical sweeteners can be brain neurotransmitters, particularly aspartame and they can transmit things in the brain not good for the brain and could lead to a destruction of the nerves.

He says no need to panic, but “since these are probably not good for us anyway, why not try decreasing them and why not try eliminating them.”

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