On artificial sweeteners

On artificial sweeteners

I refer to the letter of Sunarto Prawirosujanto published in
The Jakarta Post on Oct. 20 urging Indonesians to use more and
more artificial sweeteners to avoid the importation of sugar.

Of particular interest to all would be the fact that earlier
classification of cyclamates and saccharin as carcinogenic
elements, based on studies conducted on mice, have been reversed
by the FDA of the U.S. after subsequent studies over a long
period of time showed that these two sweeteners were not found to
be carcinogenic to human beings.

Today, there are many artificial sweeteners apart from the
other two. On one end is a chemical-based sweetener Aspartame and
on the other end is Stavia, an herbal extract from the leaves of
a tree found in Brazil. Also making a recent appearance on the
U.S. market is Splenda.

For a layman, it is very difficult to determine which of these
sweeteners are safe for use over a long period of time, because
the information available on the internet is so conflicting that
it can make one's head swim and leave him in total confusion.

I wonder whether some medical professionals among and beyond
the Post's readership could enlighten people like us who are
interested in using artificial sweeteners but do not know enough
to make a correct choice.

I also wonder why everybody's favorite foods, sugar-free ice
creams etc., which are easily available in U.S. supermarkets, are
not available in Indonesia, while "diet" sodas are available. I
really miss sugar-free ice creams.

K.B. KALE

Jakarta