FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD: Splenda linked to cancer, fish reduces Alzheimer’s risk, and winter tomatoes get respect

For the Love of Food
Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.
This week Splenda linked to cancer, fish reduces Alzheimer’s risk, and winter tomatoes get respect.
Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app I just discovered to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!
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Links of the week
- CSPI Downgrades Sucralose from “Caution” to “Avoid” <<Translation: Sucralose = Splenda; Downgrade = more dangerous than we previously thought. (CSPI)
- To Reduce the Risk of Alzheimer’s, Eat Fish <<While this is only true for people with the known Alzheimer’s risk gene ApoE4, those of us with the gene are happy to know we have some say in the matter. (NY Times)
- The New Era of 30-Day Fitness Challenges <<I find the psychology here fascinating. I imagine feeling “disconnected from past imperfections” is a big part of the appeal, since it lets you start fresh in your mind. Take whatever motivation you can get to shift to healthier behaviors. (WSJ)
- The Comfort Food Diaries: Celery Is My Star <<This is a straight up love letter to celery. I heart this so much. (Serious Eats)
- This Is How I’m Bringing My Lunch to Work More Often This Year <<Great tips for a fantastic Home Court Habit. (The Kitchn)
- Winter Tomatoes Are Deliciously Out of Season <<While attempting to not interpret this as a personal attack, I do appreciate the perspective that one need not get over-obsessed with local, seasonal eating when the overall goal should be to eat more tasty vegetables period. (NY Times)
- Bacterial molecules discovered in processed foods could unlock key to healthier diets <<Move over gluten, we have a brand new theory about why processed foods are so bad for you. I’m not holding my breath on this one. (ScienceDaily)
- Cooking with Olive Oil: Can you fry and sear with it or not? <<Please chillax about cooking oil. It’s really not that big of a deal. (Serious Eats)
- hot and sour soup <<Because once you make it at home the restaurant stuff will forever be ruined. (smitten kitchen)
- Cooked: Michael Pollan’s new Netflix series <<I loved the book, and am really looking forward to this. Check out the trailer below.
What inspired you this week?
Ok, Darya.
The Splenda article states that we should avoid Splenda, and essentially all artificial sweeteners. OTOH, the article states that the dangers from sugar is exponentially worse.
As a chemist, what is YOUR assessment of what we can use, and why?
Last year, coffee was bad for you; today those same researchers say that coffee is good for you. Same with eggs, butter, etc. Examples ad nauseum. It seems that we cannot trust anyone for more than one minute.
It reminds me of the George Carlin statement: ‘As if we do not have enough to worry about, research now shows that saliva can kill you…but only if swallowed in small amounts over an extended period of time’. At least I can trust this statement…
Good question. I have many problems with Splenda, the biggest of which is that it seems to induce more (not fewer) cravings for sweet things. I don’t touch the stuff, but not because I’m worried about cancer.
I have recently done a lot of research on artificial sweeteners. I understand they cause you to crave real sugar and have been proven to cause increased caloric intake, but nothing is as convincing as the patients I see every day. I do testing that requires my patients to drink a soda and I can predict, with at least a 90% accuracy, their choice of diet or regular soda. Almost every obese person chooses the diet soda. I wouldn’t recommend the regular soda either due to all the ingredients I can’t pronounce and calories, but it has to be better than the diet sodas. As for me, I will stay far away from both…….
Hi Darya, I stopped using Splenda a few years ago because of it’s Association with disturbing your gut bacteria. I have irritable bowel syndrome him and have had several bouts of SIBO. I do use pure Stevia on a daily basis in small amounts. The brand I use is new naturals, white Stevia powder. I would be very I interested in your opinion of this product and whether or not you feel it is safe to use. Thank you
Here ya go: http://summertomato.com/natural-sugar-substitutes-and-artificial-sweeteners-for-better-or-for-worse/
I dont think I can take anything seriously that was written by someone who doesn’t apparently know flouride is a neurotoxin. A neurologist you are? With a Phd? Are you kidding me? I went to medschool too, and at least O know. Couldn’t come up with any compelling evidence? Yeah right. The evidence is all over the place, and there is heaps of data, in articles in Nexus magazine for example (many of which are written by actual scientists). Just cause you’re apparently lazy to think outside of the box by looking at papers other than mainstream journals doesn’t mean there’s not any compelling evidence. Clearly you’re smart enough to finish med school, but apparently not smart enough to know flouride is a neurotoxin? And that it not only doesnt help teeth, bit it actually makes them worse. What about the African tribes who have flawless, white teeth – have they ever used flouride. This whole thing is a circus, when this misinformation and propaganda gets spread over and over it can really frustrate people and drive them to write harsh messages like I’m doing now. This misinformation and ignorance needs to stop! There is proper, scientific reaearch stating flouride damages teeth and that it is a neurotoxin. Think it’s false? Go do proper research this time and actually hear out the other side for once. How can a doctor be balanced if he only knows or chooses to know one side and not the other?
And by the way, most fish increase risk of Alzheimers, not decrease it, because these days the oceans are full of mercury. Even if you eat farmed fish they are full of dioxins abd PCBs which are all hugely toxic. So the only way eating fish can reduce Alzheimers possibly is by catching them near the source of a river, in the mountains. You should have been aware of this, in preparation for writing this article.