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Question
Melissa
I am using artifical sweetener now,but have heard that they are not that healthy.Is there one brand that is better than the rest?
Also,although I dont have it,I have a family history of diabetes.
I have begun taking a herbal supplement called Type II Defense which contains Funugreek,ALA,Bitter Melon,and other herbs which are supposed to help srengthen your system and ward off diabetes. Have you heard of this? Thanks.

Answer
Barry,
The safety of artificial sweeteners varies. All are completely, totally, without a doubt safe, at the level the government decided was the maximum likely consumption. Unfortunately, that only translates to about 5 or 6 packets a day-so, it's a good idea to not use more than 4 or 5 packets of any one sweetener a day. If you need more, then use two different kinds so that you don't eat more than 5 packets of any one.
Generally here's the safety breakdown.
Safest: sugar alcohols except sorbitol (glycerol, maltitol, xylitol, etc etc), sucralose (Splenda), cyclophosphamate, and Stevia.
Pretty safe: saccharin. Extremely high doses cause bladder cancer in rats, and it's not advised for pregnant women. It's not been proven to cause bladder cancer in humans (our bladders are very different from mouse bladders). Even if it doubled the risk, as it does in mice, then your lifetime bladder cancer risk would jump a 0.02% chance to a 0.04% chance. I'm sure you know that with a family history of diabetes, your chance of getting it at some point ranges from 20-100% depending on your diet and exercise.
Not so safe: sorbitol. Sorbitol is produced from glucose in the eyes of diabetics and contributes to diabetic blindness-the sorbitol you eat is not absorbed well from the digestive tract, but if you have a family history of diabetes, I'd stay away.  The other one to watch for is aspartame. Aspartame is broken down into a substance that can be toxic to your brain IF there is a disruption of the blood vessels in the brain-if you had an aneurysm, a stroke, any type of vasculidity, meningitis, West Nile, etc, that you didn't know about, or any type of high fever or severe infection anywhere in the body. So don't use aspartame if you're sick. Otherwise, you are good to go.

Type II defense-I've heard of ALA and bitter melon and I can tell you that they won't do anything for diabetes. I have no idea what Funugreek is, but if it really worked, some money hungry pharmaceutical company would have jumped on it years ago. Luckily, there are a couple of absolutely tried and true, 100% effective methods of preventing diabetes-you already know, but let me remind you:
1. One hour every day of light exercise like brisk walking.
2. Don't eat sugary junk. If you do, eat it after you've already filled your stomach with healthy things, so the sugary junk will be digested more slowly.
So take the cash you would spend on herbal supplements, and buy a good pair of athletic shoes!
Melissa

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