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No Coke Zero in Venezuela!
It’s not news that President Hugo Chavez is not the biggest fan of the United States and his comments have been quite clear on that.
Many of his comments have gathered a lot of controversy in the U.S. press and I have a feeling that a new decision made by Chavez’s government will not please a lot of Americans.
The Venezuelan government has boldly ordered that all Coke Zero produced by Coca-Cola be removed from shelves of supermarket and convenient stores – pronto!
In an effort to preserve the good health of the Venezuelan population, Health Minister Jesus Mantilla declared that Coke Zero can no longer sold or stocked in Venezuela.
I’m pretty sure that a few of you must be scratching your head wondering why in the world Venezuela would do such a thing.
Well, I can sum it up for you in tow words: artificial sweeteners!
From reports I’ve read online, it seems that the health ministry in Venezuela found traces of artificial sweeteners that had been banned in the U.S. 40 years ago in 1969 because of concerns of cancer and issues with male reproductive organs! The artificial sweetener in question is called sodium cyclamate.
This is surely going to turn out to be another big political saga because sodium cyclamate is not banned in Venezuela and it’s legal in more than 50 countries around the world. The Venezuelan government is taking offence at the fact that Coca-Cola didn’t clearly list the ingredients on their cans.
The interesting thing about all of this is the fact that Venezuela is debating over a label violation, but they fail to see that cyclamate is STILL banned in the U.S. as a sweetener. I think this is more of a showdown than a health concern.
In fact, I was reading an article that suggested that cyclamate is among the least risky artificial sweeteners on the market (scary stuff)!
I will write a more in-depth post on why artificial sweeteners that are manufactured in a lab and that were first introduced to the market to help diabetics deal with their condition and quickly became popular as a weight control strategy might not be the healthiest options.
I’ve read some scary stuff about them and I will detail the facts and let you decide for yourself.
Sugar-based sodas are not good for your health, but replacing them with diet sodas is no better. Sugar in large quantities is not good for your health, but I can assure you that they are some ingredients in diet sodas that will do your body far more damage.
Up to now, I read that some of the worst artificial sweeteners were:
1) Aspartame
2) Acesulfame-K
3) Splenda
As you can see these artificial sweeteners are quite popular and you can find them in A LOT of diet products on the market.
Along with those not so healthy ingredients, you’ll also find a long list of other ingredients that in many studies have shown to cause some serious (SERIOUS) health issues.
I’ve never been hooked on soda because my dermatologist cut it out of my diet when I was a teenager because she believed there was a direct correlation between your diet and your acne. As an adult, I never took to sodas because I had not consumed them for over a long time.
I’m lucky in the sense that I don’t have to deal with a soda addiction, but I know a lot of people are just NOT able to give up their daily soda fix.
As I’ve said, I will continue reporting on sodas and also on artificial sweeteners. The facts might not get you to cut out soda in one shot, but maybe (just maybe) you’ll be able to consider cut back slowly to the point where you can live without having to drink them.
As for artificial sweeteners, I’m sure that some of the information I have to share with you will get you thinking twice.
>>> Here are a few other articles on soda that you might find interesting:
1) Can soda drinks age your teeth?
2) Can too much soda paralyze you?
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September 1st, 2009 at 1:39
Venezuela is lucky in many ways because they won’t have to deal with the pop consumption that North American face. Good for them for banning Coke Zero
September 1st, 2009 at 1:41
No Coke Zero in Venezuela? People living in Venezuela won’t have to deal with pop-addiction.
September 1st, 2009 at 1:42
I stopped drinking coca cola many years ago because of the sugar content and I stopped drinking Diet Coke because of the artificial sweeteners. I can surely understand where the government of Venezuela is coming from when they refused the sale of in Coke Zero Venezuela
September 7th, 2009 at 21:35
Well, I guess the leader in Venezuela, cares for their people. Why would they let their men to deal with that artificial sweetener? Artificial additives are bad for the body. It’s not healthy!