Dean L. Jones, C.P.M.

March is National Women’s History Month, which brings to mind current health trends for women that show them contracting chronic health conditions more than men do.  Women still have a longer life expectancy than men have, but unfortunately are living with arthritis, asthma, mental illness, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes.  The most startling fact is that the mortality rate for cancer has decreased by only 17% since 1950, and the lung cancer death rate for women has risen more than 500% over the same period.

These health trends are probably caused by a variety of things, even though the remedy, whether it results in surgery or medication, doctors commonly suggest better eating habits.  All the while, the food and beverage industry has worked feverously to eat their respective stuff.  They like to make stuff that hits the average consumer’s taste palate trio of fat, salt and sweet in order to earn a profitable homerun.  Universally, food producers swing for the sweet taste to capture the largest audience.

At present, the sweet satisfier uses the most dangerous substance on the market, which is Aspartame.  Aspartame is a chemical compound, accounting for over 75% of the adverse reactions to food additives reported each year to the Food and Drug Administration, including seizures and death.  Aspartame ingestion can bring into being some dreadful reactions that explains the many advocates wanting it removed from the market.  There are researchers and physicians studying the adverse chronic illnesses effects it triggers or worsens such as, brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, parkinson’s disease, alzheimer’s, mental retardation, lymphoma, birth defects, fibromyalgia, and diabetes.

Although a lot people do not even know why or how they are getting sick, ingesting aspartame causes both men and women to have headaches/migraines, dizziness, nausea, numbness, muscle spasms, weight gain, rashes, depression, fatigue, irritability, tachycardia, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, loss of taste, tinnitus, vertigo, memory loss, and joint pain.

Aspartame serves to replace processed sugar that accepted blame as an obesity maker.  Nearly every low-calorie product sold uses aspartame as a sweetener including soft drinks, chewing gum, dessert mixes, puddings & fillings, frozen desserts, a variety of yogurts, tabletop sweeteners, mouthwashes, some vitamins & sugar-free cough drops,  breath mints, cereals, flavored syrups for coffee, flavored water, frozen ice crème novelties, fruit spreads, gelatin, sugar-free hard candies, iced tea, instant cocoa mix, jams & jellies, juice blends & drinks, maple syrups, mousse, no sugar added pies, nutritional bars & drinks, pudding, soft candy chews, sugar-free chocolate syrup, sugar-free cookies, sugar-free ketchup, table top sweeteners, and even vegetable drinks.

The vastly ingested aspartame-filled products that are frequently targeted at women may directly correlate to the deficient health trends.  For that reason, perhaps doctors should add the Latin phrase, ‘Caveat Emptor’—let the buyer beware.

www.SugarAlert.com

Mr. Jones, is a marketing strategist with the Southland Partnership Corporation (a public benefit organization), sharing his view on mismanagement practices of packaged foods & beverages.