By Becky Striepe •
December 21, 2009
Confession: In college, I was a complete Diet Coke head. There was always at least one case of the stuff in my refrigerator, and I usually kept an assortment of other diet sodas. I had no idea at the time that aspertame and other artificial sweeteners were so terrible for my body, and it was tough to kick my soda habit, but every time I read something new about diet soft drinks, I’m glad that I did.
Not too long ago, Zachary talked about a suspected link between aspartame and cancer. Now, researchers are saying that these low- and no- calorie sugar substitutes tend to defeat their purpose: artificial sweeteners might be making us fatter.
By Susan Kraemer •
December 10, 2009
Solar power is one of the solutions to stop climate change; by ending fossil fuel use, yet ironically, is itself constrained by climate change that is creating increasing desertification. Water is most scarce in the desert; What’s more: it’s getting worse throughout the Southwest, including California, right where insolation is best for maximum solar yield.
By Zachary Shahan •
November 15, 2009
Due to the great popularity of “Can Diet Coke Kill You?” combined with a lot of controversy over it, I have decided to write this follow-up post.
Most of the controversy over the last article was around the fact that the documentary I referenced cited data from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) but that organization itself claims there is no proven link between aspartame and cancer.
What was presented previously was a short explanation of why aspartame is expected to cause cancer and other health problems and a summary of some information presented in Sweet Misery, including findings from analyzing NCI and other data. This article, however, cites other scientific findings and discusses the economic-political history of this topic a little bit as well.
By Jennifer Lance •
February 15, 2008
The more I read about food additives, the more my convictions to feed my family natural, organic food is confirmed. Just yesterday, my daughter brought home tons of junk Valentine’s Day candy from school. At first, she wanted to eat it, but then we had a talk about the candy’s contents. By the time her father got home, she was explaining to him why the candy was bad, and as always, we offered to trade her the junk candy for organic sweets.
In the past, I have written about how food additives have been linked to hyperactivity in children. Recently, there has been more discussion on the harmful effects of food additives. Here’s a round up of articles I have lately come across on the subject:
Some children are more sensitive to food chemicals and display immediate effects soon after ingestion of additives, colours in particular. In small amounts additives are not harmful. Effects are dose related and, tragically, dose for weight, children are consuming several times more additives than the acceptable daily intake (ADI)
