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"If you&amp;#x27;re like me, you prefer to avoid artificial sweeteners whenever possible. Not all are dangerous, but some have been linked with health concerns. One doctor warns against a popular artificial sweetener that us getting rebranded with a natural-sounding new name. Be on the lookout for this ... Dr. Joseph Mercola, who blogs for the Huffington Post, recently warned that the artificial sweetener aspartame (also sold under the names &amp;quot;NutraSweet and Canderel) is getting a name change. Mercola calls it the &amp;quot;most controversial food additive in history,&amp;quot; that he says was previously listed by the Pentagon as a biochemical warfare agent. While I can&amp;#x27;t confirm this claim, I have read about some worrisome health concerns associated with aspartame--everything from ADD to MS and hypothyroidism. Scary, yes, but if is it dangerous? Most mainstream health experts would say don&amp;#x27;t fret--a little in moderation isn&amp;#x27;t going to hurt you. But here&amp;#x27;s the deal: aspartame is in more than 6,000 food products (including gum) and Mercola worries that many people may be ingesting too much in the name of low-calorie diets. Here&amp;#x27;s what Mercola has to say about the name-change: &amp;quot;Aspartame producer Ajinomoto chose to rebrand it under the name AminoSweet, to &amp;#x27;remind the industry that aspartame tastes just like sugar, and that it&amp;#x27;s made from amino acids--the building blocks of protein that are abundant in our diet.&amp;#x27;&amp;quot; Um, no. Interesting, isn&amp;#x27;t it? Do you try to avoid artificial sweeteners? More reading: *What you need to know about high fructose corn syrup ... *High fructose corn syrup&amp;#x27;s sneaky cousin ... *Weird health news: artificial sweeteners may be lurking in tap water ... *Stevia: is it safe? Photo: istock"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2010/07/one-suspicious-artificial-swee>