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From Dr. Janet Starr Hull's website Splenda Exposed:
http://www.splendaexposed.com/

The percentage of overweight children has tripled in the past twodecades, and the percentage of obese adults has doubled. Even when we factorin bad health habits and poor lifestyle choices, we must acknowledge thisweight gain coincides with the introduction of NutraSweet twenty years ago.Coincidence? I don't believe in coincidence, and I strongly believeaspartame and ALL diet sweetener use are directly related to weight gain.Over twenty years ago, independent researchers warned us that aspartamewould cause weight gain-and look at us now.

Obesity is increasing worldwide and is set to become the world's biggesthealth problem. Recent reports suggest that it may soon overtake cigarettesmoking as a serious health risk. Nearly two-thirds of adults in the UnitedStates are overweight, and 30.5 percent are obese, according to data fromthe 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Inthe UK, nearly two-thirds of men and over half of all women are nowoverweight-and one in five are obese. At this rate, by 2010 at least one infour adults will be obese. According to data compiled by the InternationalObesity Task Force (IOTF), England and Scotland have some of the highestlevels of obesity in Europe.

The worldwide increase in weight gain is also spreading to the developingcountries that have recent access to the Westernized over-processed diet andchemical food technology.

Obesity in children poses serious health risks such as diabetes, heartdisease, cancer and high blood pressure, to name just a few. All of thesechronic diseases can be positively altered through proper dietary changes ofwhole foods without fake sugars or fake fats, so take heart!

A single twenty-ounce bottle of soda is actually 2 1/2 servings. InAmerica, muffins are the size of small cakes. "Care for a large order ofFrench fries? It's just a few cents more to super-size that order." That'sa third of the total calories you should eat in one day! But do peopleresist the fries? Not usually. They order a large diet cola to justify thedifference, nonetheless!

According to a new study by the American Centers for Disease Control andPrevention, women are eating 300 more calories a day and men 168 morecalories than twenty years ago. As any nutritionist will tell you, all ittakes is one hundred extra calories a day to gain ten pounds a year. To workoff those one hundred calories, you must walk twenty-five minutes every day.

Many experts feel Americans overeat because much of the food that makesup their modern diet is inexpensive, dense with the taste of "fat" calories,and highly processed, so again, the food isn't satisfying, so we eat more totry to feel full.

What Are We Teaching Our Younger Generation?

Some of the most disturbing weight statistics concern children. Resultsfrom the 1999-2000 NHANES Survey, using measured heights and weights,indicate that an estimated fifteen percent of children and adolescents agedsix to nineteen years are overweight. This represents a four percentincrease from the overweight estimates of eleven percent obtained fromNHANES III from 1988 to 1994.

No one can say with certainty whether one cause of childhood obesityoutweighs another, but considerable blame can be placed on the fact thatkids don't get enough proper nutrition, they sit more, and consume more andmore diet products daily.

School Vending Machines: Ditch The Fizz!

Children are encouraged to consume junk food at schools where theinfluences of fast food and soft drinks are prominent. The marketers offlavor, not nutrition, influence the food and drinks sold in schools.

There is a growing movement against soft drinks in public and privateschools. School programs discouraging the sale of carbonated drinks appearto reduce obesity among children. A British study in London showed thatreducing young students' intake of sweetened carbonated beverages reducedobesity among the students. A one-year ''ditch the fizz'' campaigndiscouraged both sweetened and diet soft drinks among elementary schoolchildren. The results showed a decrease in the percentage of children whowere overweight or obese. The improvement occurred after the reduction ofless than a can of soda a day. According to the study, a high intake ofcarbonated drinks contributed to childhood obesity. Apparently, suchprograms are working.

Of course, representatives of the soft drink industry contest theseresults, claiming carbonated drinks provide only a fraction of children'sdaily calories, and that they should not be blamed for the childhood obesityepidemic.

In Florida, USA, the Governor's Task Force on Obesity stopped short ofadmitting soda machines can make kids fat. They suggested a variety ofremedies to the state's obesity epidemic-less TV, more exercise inschools-but unfortunately they did not recommend the removal of soda orsnack machines from pubic campuses, rationalizing, "The machines often offermilk and other alternatives to carbonated drinks." (Can we trust children tomake good choices-after all, they are children!)

School vending machines raise considerable cash, funds that many highschools use to support athletic and other extra-curricular activities. Mostschool principals support the idea of choice and don't want to eliminate the"cash cow" of colas. Most US state laws protect the sale of carbonatedbeverages on campuses if fruit juice is also sold. But many districts aroundthe country are trying to get control of the situation in an effort toimprove their students' nutrition. In Broward County, Florida, the schoolboard's policy permits vending machine sales for only one hour after theclose of the last lunch period.

Don't be discouraged. In my new book Splenda': Is It Safe Or Not? Ioffer ways to change your lifestyle, not with trendy chemical diets, butwith the tried and true methods our bodies recognize and celebrate: whole,natural foods and moderate exercise. Teach your kids to ditch the fizz, dropthe fake foods, and their bodies will respond with vibrant health!

For more information visit my websites below.

http://www.issplendasafe.com

http://www.splendaexposed.com