Monday, May 30, 2011

             ASPARTAME, SWEET BUT SOUR
      In general everything has pros and cons, but it is hard for people to know both of them. Even if someone knows the pros of something, still he or she may not know the cons of the same thing. As an illustration, we can think about the advertisements of most of the big companies. These big companies tell all the good things about their products but hardly mention the other side of the story, of course the negative one. Aspartame, an artificial sweetener, was discovered accidentally by Jim Schlatter in 1965 when he was working on a project to develop treatments for gastric ulcer and it was first brought into the market by G&D Searle Company in 1974. Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar and low in calories. It is also marketed as a non saccharide alternative of sugar which can used by people including diabetics. That is why people find artificial sweeteners to be a better choice than the regular sugar. However, the government has declared aspartame safe for consumption, even it has been suspected of numerous disturbances. The researchers are alarmed by their studies of severe adverse reactions to aspartame.
     Aspartame is made of three components: aspartic, phenylalanine and methanol. The researchers have found that consuming aspartame for a long time can lead to various negative health effects like memory loss, brain damage, migraine, behavioral changes and can cause weight gain. Moreover the major problems caused by aspartame are premature births, brain tumors and cancers. There are so many real stories and facts about how aspartame has done damages on human’s health while consuming it for a long time.
        David Gutierrez, the writer in Natural News says, that “regular consumption of artificial sweeteners by pregnant women may increase their risk of premature birth.” He further mentions the researchers interviewing almost 60,000 pregnant women about their diet drink consumption, and thencomparing these data with the results of the women’s births, they found that drinking one can of dietsoda per day increased the risk of giving birth prematurely by 38 percent compared with who never drank diet soda. Drinking four or more of the sodas per day increased the risk of preterm birth by 78 percent and preterm birth is defined as taking place before the 38th week of pregnancy. So, the researchers suggested that premature births are caused by the neurotoxin methanol which is found in artificial sweeteners.
      According to researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame; memory loss is one of the common effects of the consumption of the sweetener. They say aspartate and glutamate act as neurotransmitters in the brain by facilitating the transmission of information from neuron to neuron. When  co aspartame products are heated or improperly stored causeS the methanol in them to break down into formaldehyde, a deadly neurotoxin which  slowly destroys the neurons and stimulates  the neural cells to death. That is how aspartame users were more likely to report long term memory lapses like forgetting details of personal routines or whether or not a task had been completed.
   Another misconception about aspartame is that  people who are calorie- conscious go for diet sodas or other diet products thinking they are good for maintaining body weight. But these sweeteners have opposite effect instead of causing users to lose weight. People hardly know exactly how this artificial sweetener  interacts with our different organ systems. Dr. Joseph Mercola, physician and the writer of book Sweet Deception says our body has a self regulating mechanism which measures the amount of energy obtain from a particular meal. So, when our body received enough energy from the food that we have eaten then mouth, intestine, and liver send message to the brain signaling energy requirements have been met. That’s how our nervous system secretes hormone which stops our desire for food. But when you are eating the foods which are in low calorie or diet products, body will not get enough energy and body will tempt you to eat more. So, as it goes on, this will lead to chronic overeating and body will gain more weight than losing. This is the reason people who use Equal and Sweet N Low instead of regular sugar and eat only diet products are still fat and moreover sometimes they get even fatter. (Sweet Deception, p61-83). And one of the worse things is that the big companies that manufacture these artificial sweeteners have renamed it and begin to market the product as natural. Despite the fact, this product is being proved as a toxin; it has remained on the global market with the exception of a few countries that have banned it.
       Based on all the above arguments and my research on aspartame I must conclude that this product seem to cause many complications to our health. Therefore this product shouldn’t be approved for human consumption. We need to give more education for the general public about the negative effects of the product and very importantly I propose the government should do thorough research on all these sweeteners and must act appropriately as soon as possible. The government needs to put more concern about peoples’ health rather than succumbing to millions of dollar being paid by the big companies for its approval in the global market. Ethan Huff, the writer in Natural News says “Practically all drugs and food additives are approved by the FDA not because science shows they are safe but because companies essentially lobby the FDA with monetary payoffs and complete the agency’s multi-million dollar approval process.” And lastly I must say that each individual have to make his or her own decision about whether they will continue to consume them or not.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Aspartame, the topicfor my final paper in which I will be writing about how it is not safe for our
health and big industries and FDA fostering the dangerous misconception.


Six sources:


Brody, Jane E. SweetenersWorries Some Scientists. New York Times. The New York Time. Web.5 Feb 1985.


The article talks about safety concern aboutaspartame as it is found most of our food that we consume from soft drinks topudding mixes. According to researcher the aspartame can damage the developing
brain.



Gutierrez,David. Aspartame Causes Premature Births.Naturals News. Web.02 November 2010


With the help of thisarticle I can suggest the pregnant women to not to take aspartame


Huff,Ethan. Aspartame Has Been Renamed is NowBeing Marketed as a Natural Sweetener. Naturals News. Web. 12 Feb 2010


In this article I found out the fact why marketing companycleverly rename their products to preserve the company’s multi-billion dollar cashcow as  people awareness about thedangers of artificial stuff grows.


Mercola,Joseph and Pearsall, Degen Kendra. SweetDeception: Why Splenda, Nutrasweet, and the FDA May be Hazardous to YourHealth. Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Inc.2006.Print

The sweet deception book gives me the entire ideaabout the aspartame. It exposes serious disease caused by using aspartame anddisplays how the FDA works with big company with their product.


Rebhahn,Peter. Dangerous Diet Drinks. Http://ehis.ebscohost.com.Vol.34 Mar 2001.Print

This article gives me an interesting fact to focuson how taking aspartame for a long time can cause memory problems.


Roberts, Hyman J. The Trouble with Sweeteners. Http:// ehis.ebscohost.com.1 Jan 2003,
Print.



This article tells the entire health problems causedby aspartame so I will be picking the most interesting one and try to get more detailson that particular issue.

Annotated Bibliography


Aspartame, the topicfor my final paper in which I will be writing about how it is not safe for our
health and big industries and FDA fostering the dangerous misconception.
Six sources:

Brody, Jane E. SweetenersWorries Some Scientists. New York Times. The New York Time. Web.5 Feb 1985.

The article talks about safety concern aboutaspartame as it is found most of our food that we consume from soft drinks topudding mixes. According to researcher the aspartame can damage the developing
brain.


Gutierrez,David. Aspartame Causes Premature Births.Naturals News. Web.02 November 2010

With the help of thisarticle I can suggest the pregnant women to not to take aspartame

 Huff,Ethan. Aspartame Has Been Renamed is NowBeing Marketed as a NaturalSweetenerNaturalsNews. Web. 12 Feb 2010

In this article I found out the fact why marketing companycleverly rename their products to preserve the company’s multi-billion dollar cashcow as  people awareness about thedangers of artificial stuff increases.


Mercola,Joseph and Pearsall, Degen Kendra. SweetDeception: Why Splenda, Nutrasweet, and the FDA May be Hazardous to YourHealth. Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Inc.2006.Print
The sweet deception book gives me the entire ideaabout the aspartame. It exposes serious disease caused by using aspartame anddisplays how the FDA works with big company with their product.

Rebhahn,Peter. Dangerous Diet Drinks. Http://ehis.ebscohost.com.Vol.34 Mar 2001.Print

This article gives me an interesting fact to focuson how taking aspartame for a long time can cause memory problems.

Roberts, Hyman J. The Trouble with Sweeteners. Http:// ehis.ebscohost.com.1 Jan 2003,
Print.


This article tells the entire health problems causedby aspartame so I will be picking the most interesting one and try to get more detailson that particular issue.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

10 things about the final paper

1.Banning the soda9.Energy drinks vending machines in school
2.Not allowing fast food company in hospital
3.helping organic farmers.
4.banning the fast food advertisement.
5.school lunches
6.strict rules on food processing
7.better safety precautions for meat packing industries.
8.Artificial flavor
10.Stopping injecting hormones to the animals.
As obesity and diabetes are one of the most leading problem in America,Banning soda purcahse with food stamps would be very good step.This proposal would not only help the improvement of health of poor people,it would help the Government taxpayer revenue.
So banning soda purchase with food stamp would allow people to buy more fruits and vegetables which is more healthier....

Monday, April 25, 2011

300 Words Response to the Fast Food Nation and “Super-Size Me”.



 Dolkar
The chapter 2 in fast food nation book mainly focuses on how Fast Food Company has applied profitable method of advertising and its impact on children. For instance, McDonald only has spent 1.4 billion dollars on advertisement, moreover they have provided playground within the restaurant premises and to allure more children they have even provided them toys with the happy meals. Because of large advertisement from fast food Company, they have made children often recognize a brand logo before they can recognize their own name. It says how far the McDonald has gone promoting itself as a “Trusted Friend” saying they care about customers’ well being.

The movie “Super-size me” that we watched in the class was so incredible movie which successfully
proved the causes of obesity and diabetics which are the leading problems of America. The movie was mainly focused on displaying how eating fast food’s meal can lead to serious health problem. It has also brought the issue of fast food restaurant  alluring the customer to eat bigger size. Moreover the movie says how hard McDonald has made people to get away from them as they are located in almost every three blocks. The movies also mentions how fast food has become incorporated in many public schools, shopping mall and even with the hospitals.To prove how damage fast food can do to our health, the movie director Morgan Spurlock does an experiment eating McDonald’s food for a month. Before doing so he gets his health checked up and he finds himself healthy. But after 30 days he gains his weight from 185 to 210, cholesterol level goes up and total body fat increase from 11% to18%.With all these reasons, the main motivation of this movie is to tell us whether we still want to stick with fast food or stop eating it.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

self review

Writer’s Name: Dolkar Tsering

Paper Title: Fabulous Dumpling

Date: 04/09/11

Editor’s Name: Dolkar Tsering


Peer
Review Worksheet


    1.Introduction: How does the first paragraph introduce both the paper’s topic and the writer’s approach or general conclusion? Is the first sentence attention-getting and
    relevant to the topic?

    The first paragraph covers the idea what is the essay about.Yes, the first sentence is       relevant to the topic.

    2.What can you identify as a thesis statement? (Re-write it below) Suggest, if
    possible, a way to improve the introduction or thesis statement.



    The main idea of this essay was to tell how the food that we are eating has been changed over the time .No suggestion.



    3.Structure: Can you identify the organization of the paper from the main idea of each
    paragraph? What are the main concepts explored in the paper? Does each paragraph
    make a relevant point that is distinct from what has already been covered? What
    are the main conclusions?


    Yes the idea of each paragraph is well explained. The main conceptsis to tell why the foods in 100 years back were tastier, healthier and fresher.Each paragraph make relevant point to the whole essay.


    4.Clarity/Style: Did you find distracting grammar, punctuation, spelling, or word usage problems? identify any patterns or themes you detect. Is the tone of the essay formal? If you find awkward sentences, try to explain why they don’t make sense to you.

    Yes the author nees to improve on grammar usage.No any awkward sentence is found


    5.Resources: Does the author clearly identify his/her sources? Is proper in-text and
    reference format used?



    Yes,the author has clearlyidentify the sources and the reference format was quite proper.

    6.What is/are the paper’s greatest strength(s)? Explain.

    Giving every details to cover the main idea of the essay is the greatest strenght of this author.