The Wellness
Center For Research & Education, Inc;
© 2011 Dr.
Theresa Dale, PhD, CCN, NP
www.wellnesscenter.net
If you are
ingesting supplements to create a healthier body and mind, you need to know the
facts about the supplement manufacturing process and labeling codes.
Are your
supplements healthy or toxic?
Did you know that
the binders, fillers, heavy metals and flow agents in your supplements are
harmful? I have ongoing
research to report that may shock and disappoint you. Due to the fact that supplement manufacturers for the most
part are numb to the fact that additives and excipents in vitamins and minerals
cause health issues, we need to go beyond reading labels and read the
laws. Labeling laws state
that if as product has less than 5 ppm of heavy metals, flow agent, filler, binder (excipents); they don’t have to
be disclosed on the label. Shocking but true! Moreover, just because these additives are not listed on the
label doesn’t mean that the products do not contain them. Lets take a look at some of the worst
ingredients in supplements today.
The facts about
these egregious ingredients, which are shown to cause health problems are
shocking but hopefully it will allow you to choose your supplements wisely and
ask questions.
Magnesium
Stearate, Stearic Acid And Calcium Stearate
These
stearates, made by hydrogenating cottonseed or palm oil, are used throughout
the supplement industry as lubricants. They are added to the raw materials in
supplements so that production machinery will run at maximum speeds. These
fatty substances coat every particle of the nutrients, so the particles will
flow rapidly. This ensures that production schedules will meet profit targets.
Cottonseed
oil has the highest content of pesticide residues of all commercial oils;
cotton crops are heavily sprayed. In the hydrogenation process, the oil is
subjected to high heat and pressure in the presence of a metal catalyst for
several hours, creating a hydrogenated saturated fat. Hydrogenated vegetable
fats contain altered molecules derived from fatty acids that may be toxic. The
metal catalyst used in the hydrogenation process may also contaminate the
stearates produced (see Erasmus, Fats and Oils).
While
toxicity is one problem, decreased absorption is another. In a study published
in the journal Pharmaceutical Technology, the percent dissolution for capsules after 20 minutes in
solution went from 90% without stearates to 25% with stearates. Clearly, stearates reduced the
rate the capsule dissolved by 65%! This delays the absorption of nutrients.
Individuals with impaired digestion may have particular difficulty absorbing
nutrients coated with stearates.
Other problems
with Magnesium Stearate and Other Stearates.
Concentrated
doses of stearic acid suppress the action of T-cells, a key component of the
immune system. The article “Molecular basis for the immunosuppressive action of
stearic acid on T cells” appeared in the journal Immunology in 1990.
Did
you know that…
-
Companies that manufacture and transport
magnesium stearate must file a Material Safety Data Sheet with the
Environmental Protection Agency because concentrated magnesium stearate is
classified as a hazardous substance.
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Its uses are listed as “ammunition, dusting
powder, paint and varnish drier, binder, and emulsifier.” The section “Human
Health Data” states that “Inhalation may irritate the respiratory tract” and “Acute
ingestion may cause gastroenteritis.”
-
Under the
heading “Regulatory Information,” the paper states, “This product is hazardous
under the criteria of the Federal OSHA Hazard Communication Standard.” This
information may be viewed at the web site: www.hummelcroton.com/msds/mgstear_m.html This document is indeed confusing for
consumers due to the fact that OSHA contradicts their own reporting. The above url states the following
information.
Section XI.
Toxicological Information
-
RTECS Number: Not Established
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Routes of Exposure: Eye contact. Ingestion. Inhalation. Skin
contact.
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Toxicity Data: To the best of our knowledge, the chemical, physical, and
toxicological properties have not
been thoroughly investigated for Magnesium Stearate.
-
Chronic Toxic Effects: This product has no known chronic effects. Repeated or prolong exposure
to this compound is not known to aggravate medical conditions.
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Acute Toxic Effects: Irritating to the skin and eyes on contact. Inhalation will cause
irritation to the lungs and mucus membrane. Irritation to the eyes will cause
watering and redness. Reddening, scaling, and itching are characteristics of
skin inflammation. Follow safe industrial hygiene practices and always wear
protective equipment when handling this compound.
Immune System
Excessive
ingestion of magnesium stearate adversely affects the normal functioning of
T-cells, which are very important for the body's immune responses. High amounts
of magnesium stearate act as a immunosuppressor. Thus, prolonged administering
of magnesium stearate at a high dosage weakens the immune system over a period of time.
Absorption
Decreased
One
of the reported dangers of magnesium stearate is the decreased absorption of
Vitamin B2, B3, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, and Zinc. Researchers report that tablets without magnesium stearate
have a 90 percent absorption rate, while those formated with magnesium stearate
show a 25-30 percent absorption capacity. This is the reason why, some people
complain of absorption problems after taking magnesium stearate containing
products. This would be very
serious in a person with a health issue, as it would be compounding the
problem.
Supplement
manufacturers pass off magnesium stearate as a benign form of magnesium. Magnesium
stearate is the magnesium salt of stearic acid, which is also used in
supplements for the same purposes. The argument is made that small amounts of
these substances do no harm. But do you really want them in your supplements
every day? Remember, the sole purpose of using these substances is a flow agent
~ to make the machines go faster. Supplements can be made without them; it just
takes more time, care, and attention to detail.
How Much
Hydrogenated Lubricant Oils Are You Getting With Your Supplements?
Up
to 5% of the average 1000 mg capsule or tablet is magnesium stearate. That’s 50
milligrams. Suppose you take 8 capsules or tablets a day. That’s 250 a month
– or 12,500 mg of this hydrogenated oil, nearly half an ounce. That works
out to about 6 ounces of hydrogenated oils a year, from just 8 pills a day.
Many people take more supplements, and ingest pounds of this toxic oil we try
to avoid in our diets – while directly inhibiting the utilization of the
nutrients they’re supplementing!
Remember,
the sole purpose of using these oils is to make the machines go faster.
Supplements can be made without them – it just takes more time, care and
attention to detail. Our exclusive process yields absolutely pure supplements
– no lubricants, binders, flowing agents, fillers, dyes or additives of
any kind – only the pure nutrients.
Aspartame Side
Effects
There are over 92 different health side effects
associated with aspartame consumption. It seems surreal, but true. How can one
chemical create such chaos?
Aspartame
dissolves into solution and can therefore travel throughout the body and
deposit within any tissue. The body digests aspartame unlike saccharin, which
does not break down within humans.
The multitudes
of aspartame side effects are indicative to your genetic individuality and
physical weaknesses. It is important to identify which side effects aspartame
is creating within you.
Aspartame Side
Effects: Grave Disease or
Aspartame Poisoning.
The components
of aspartame can lead to a number of health problems, as you have read. Side
effects can occur gradually, can be immediate, or can be acute reactions. |
|
According to Lendon Smith,
M.D. there is an enormous population suffering from side effects associated
with aspartame, yet have no idea why drugs, supplements and herbs don’t relieve
their symptoms.
Then, there are users who
don’t ‘appear’ to suffer immediate reactions at all. The answer is that the aspartame builds up in the body. Even individuals who don’t have current
side effects are susceptible to the long-term damage caused by excitatory amino
acids, phenylalanine, methanol, and DKP.
Adverse reactions and side
effects of aspartame include:
These are NOT allergies or
sensitivities, but diseases and disease syndromes. Aspartame poisoning is
commonly misdiagnosed because aspartame symptoms mock textbook ‘disease’
symptoms, such as Grave’s Disease.
Aspartame changes the ratio
of amino acids in the blood, blocking or lowering the levels of serotonin,
tyrosine, dopamine, norepinephrine, and adrenaline. Therefore, it is typical
that aspartame symptoms cannot be detected in lab tests and on x-rays. Textbook
disorders and diseases may actually be a toxic load as a result of aspartame
poisoning.
Have you ever gone to the
doctor with real, physical symptoms, but they can’t find the cause? Well, it’s
probably your diet, your environment or emotions.
Aspartame is the
common denominator for over 92 different
health symptoms at the root of modern disease.
The Aspartame and
Sucralose Detoxification Program is the most effective way to reverse disease
symptoms.
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Remove all
sugar-free products with aspartame and sucralose from your diet.
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Read Labels
-
Get a Five
Element Saliva Test and a hair analysis.
-
Detoxify using
the Dr. Dale’s Slow Cleanse for 30 days.
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Restore
depleted nutrients with Dr. Dale’s Optimal Multi and Nano Ionic Multi.
-
Exercise and
get plenty of rest.
-
Eat 75% raw
foods at every meal.
-
Drink water,
water, water.
Sucralose
Toxicity: (Splenda)
According to one source
(Sucralose Toxicity Information Center), concerning the significant reduction
in size of the thymus gland, “the manufacturer claimed that the sucralose was
unpleasant for the rodents to eat in large doses and that starvation caused the
shruken thymus glands.
Toxicologist Judith Bellin
reviewed studies on rats starved under experimental conditions, and concluded
that their growth rate could be reduced by as much as a third without the
thymus losing a significant amount of weight (less than 7 percent). The changes
were much more marked in rats fed on sucralose. While the animals’ growth rate
was reduced by between 7 and 20 percent, their thymuses shrank by as much as 40
percent. (New Scientist 23 Nov 1991, pg 13)”
Research
in animals has shown that sucralose can cause many problems in rats, mice, and
rabbits, such as:
- Shrunken
thymus glands (up to 40% shrinkage)
- Enlarged liver and kidneys
- Atrophy of lymph follicles in the spleen and thymus
- Increased cecal weight
- Reduced growth rate
- Decreased red blood cell count
- Hyperplasia of the pelvis
- Extension of the pregnancy period
- Aborted pregnancy
- Decreased fetal body weights and placental weights
The most
misunderstood fact about sucralose is that it is nothing like sugar even though
the marketing implies that it is. Sucralose was actually discovered while
trying to create a new insecticide. It may have started out as sugar, but the
final product is anything but sugar. According to the book Sweet Deception, sucralose is made when sugar is treated
with trityl chloride, acetic anhydride, hydrogen chlorine, thionyl chloride,
and methanol in the presence of dimethylformamide, 4-methylmorpholine, toluene,
methyl isobutyl ketone, acetic acid, benzyltriethlyammonium chloride, and sodium
methoxide, making it unlike anything found in nature. If you read the fine
print on the Splenda web site, it states that "although sucralose has a
structure like sugar and a sugar-like taste, it is not natural."
The name sucralose is
misleading. The suffix -ose is used to name sugars, not additives. Sucralose
sounds very close to sucrose, table sugar, and can be confusing for consumers.
A more accurate name for the structure of sucralose was purposed. The name
would have been trichlorogalactosucrose, but the FDA did not believe that it
was necessary to use this so sucralose was allowed.
The presence of chlorine is
thought to be the most dangerous component of sucralose. Chlorine is considered
a carcinogen and has been used in poisonous gas, disinfectants, pesticides, and
plastics. The digestion and absorption of sucralose is not clear due to a lack
of long-term studies on humans. The majority of studies were done on animals
for short lengths of time. The alleged symptoms associated with sucralose are
gastrointestinal problems (bloating, gas, diarrhea, nausea), skin irritations (rash, hives, redness, itching, swelling), wheezing, cough, runny nose, chest pains, palpitations, anxiety, anger, moods swings, depression, and itchy eyes.
The only way to be sure of the safety of sucralose is to have long-term studies
on humans done.
Splenda is a product that
contains the artificial sweetener sucralose, but that is not all that it
contains. Sucralose does have calories, but because it is 600 times sweeter
than sugar, very small amounts are needed to achieve the desired sweetness so
you most likely won't consume enough to get any calories. The other two
ingredients in Splenda are dextrose and maltodextrin, which are used to increase
bulk and are carbohydrates that do have calories. One cup of Splenda contains
96 calories and 32 grams of carbohydrates, which is often unnoticed due to the
label claiming that it's a no calorie sweetener. Because this is found in so
many products and can be used in cooking, it can be possible to consume 1 cup
or more each day. For people with diabetes, this is a significant amount of carbohydrates,
and for people who are watching their weight, this can be a problem. Consuming
an additional 100 calories a day can result in a weight gain of 10 lbs. per year!
A recent study found that
Splenda affected the absorption of medications in rats. The rats were given
sucralose at doses of 1.1-11 mg/kg. After 12-weeks, they found that the rats
had half of the good bacteria in the gut. They also found that Splenda
interferes with the absorption of prescription medications. Other research
studies have come out to show that this is not what happens. The only way to
know for sure is to perform long-term studies in humans. Unfortunately, this
takes time. It can also be dangerous if this is actually happening. The limited
number of studies and lack of long-term studies on sucralose means that we are
going to have to learn things like this as we go.
MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 22, 2008
(GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- James Turner, chairman of the national consumer education
group Citizens for Health expressed shock and outrage after reading a new
report from scientists at Duke University. "The report makes it clear that
the artificial sweetener Splenda and its key component sucralose pose a threat
to the people who consume the product. Hundreds of consumers have complained to
us about side effects from using Splenda and this study, published this past
week in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health Part A, confirms
that the chemicals in the little yellow package should carry a big red warning
label," said Turner.
Among the results in the
study by Drs. Mohamed B. Abou-Donia, Eman M. El-Masry, Ali A. Abdel-Rahman,
Roger E. McLendon and Susan S. Schiffman is evidence that, in the animals
studied, Splenda reduces the amount of good bacteria in the intestines by
50%, increases the pH level in the intestines, contributes to increases in body
weight and affects the P-glycoprotein (P-gp) in the body in such a way that
crucial health-related drugs could be rejected. Turner noted that the P-gp
effect "could result in crucial medications used in chemotherapy for
cancer patients, AIDS treatment and drugs for heart conditions being shunted
back into the intestines rather than being absorbed by the body as intended."
www.splendaexposed.com/articles/2009/01/new_splenda_suc.html
Headaches
Both aspartame and
sucralose appear to trigger headaches in some individuals, according to
research studies. A 2006 study published in the scholarly journal
"Headache," notes that sucralose triggers migraine headaches in some
users. Another study published in "Headache" -- this one conducted in
2005 -- indicates similar effects from aspartame. If you find that you're
having unexplained headaches and use either sucralose or aspartame, you might
try removing the artificial sweetener from your diet for a
period of several days. If the headaches resolve, it may be that the sweeteners
were causing your symptoms.
Increased Sweet
Cravings
Studies have linked
consumption of sweet food to increased desire for sweet food. As such, if you
consistently sweeten your food -- whether you use table sugar, honey or a
non-caloric sweetener such as aspartame or sucralose -- you may crave sweet
flavors more than you otherwise would. A 1988 study published in the scholarly
journal "Physiology and Behavior," reports that individuals who
consume non-nutritive sweeteners crave sugar more than those who don't use
these sweeteners. Researchers suggest that because artificial sweeteners are
much sweeter than table sugar, they increase desire for very sweet flavors.
Cancer Risk
Sucralose is one of
the newest artificial sweeteners, and, as of 2010, no studies have linked use
of the sweetener to cancer risk. However, a 2007 article in the scholarly
journal "Environmental Health Perspectives," notes that rats exposed to aspartame in utero have a higher
risk of cancer over the course of their lives. This may or may not indicate
that using aspartame as an adult will increase your risk of cancer, but it does
suggest that if you are pregnant, using aspartame during your pregnancy might
make it more likely that your unborn child will have a higher risk of cancer
later in life.
Abdominal
Cramping
One of the most common
complaints from Splenda is abdominal cramping, bloating and pain that often
resembles a pulled muscle, food borne illness or more serious gastronomical
problems. It often takes awhile for most people to form a connection to
something they ate with Splenda. But once they realize that is the culprit,
people with this reaction are more diligent about checking labels and avoiding
the sweetener altogether
Headaches
With symptoms ranging from
mild headaches to migraines, Splenda has long been blamed for headaches in many
people. For most people experiencing this symptom, the results begin within
minutes of drinking a beverage or other product
containing Splenda and can last for hours. For most people, the symptoms stop
within 24 hours after Splenda is cut from their diet.
Mood
Swings
Many people who eat Splenda
regularly have suffered from immense mood swings, but have had a tough time
putting the connection between the mood swings and Splenda together. Because
many people using Splenda are dieting and trying to lose weight, they often attribute the mood swings to other
influences. But once they cut Splenda from their diet, they realize that the
mood swings are alleviated altogether.
Weight
Gain
Though Splenda was
developed as an alternative to sugar with fewer calories, for many Splenda has
caused weight gain. Whether it is a combination of bloating, overindulgence, or
a direct result of ingesting sucralose, many people have found that it is
easier to lose weight when cutting out sweets altogether instead of just
replacing the natural sugar with an artificial one.
Fatigue/Sleepiness
There have been many
reports of people experiencing chronic fatigue after consuming products made
with sucralose. In most cases, this fatigue and overall sleepiness is
alleviated within a day or two of ceasing to eat products made with Splenda.
The fatigue has been characterized by many symptoms, ranging from an overall
sleepiness, to an inability to concentrate or focus, to a tingling and weakness
in the limbs for hours after eating something containing sucralose.
With so many potential side
effects, it is no wonder that many are leery about using Splenda. Everyone’s
body is different though, and many people experience no symptoms. At any rate,
it is a good idea to keep track of when you ingest Splenda to determine if some
of the side effects you may be experiencing are from Splenda, and if so, cut it
from your diet.
www.3fatchicks.com/five-health-side-effects-of-splenda-sucralose/
www.kensavage.com/archives/splenda-and-sucralose-are-toxic-and-poison/
www.medicinenet.com/artificial_sweeteners/page9.htm
www.livestrong.com/article/298764-sucralose-and-aspartame-side-effects/
