Sodium Benzoate and DNA damage

I have mentioned before about my reservations towards aspartame and recently there was that aspartame experiment on rats. There is a good list of aspartame side effects and some of the various articles here: Aspartame.

A fellow low carber Cleo shared her experiences recently as well: No More Aspartame For Me.

However one thing I ponder is if some of the reactions people report due to aspartame could also be tied to another additive, sodium benzoate. Sodium benzoate is very common in soft drinks, and other acidic items such as fruit juices, salad dressings, sauces and vinegar as well as cosmetics and mouth wash and has been linked to hyperactivity in children and DNA damage amongst other things as well as being thought to interact with other additives, E211 Revealed: Evidence highlights new fear over drinks additive

With that said, there is some good news that I wanted to share this article and a quote: Diet Coke to drop additive in DNA damage fear:

Coca-Cola is phasing out a controversial additive that has been linked to damage to DNA and hyperactivity in children.

Sodium benzoate, also known as E211, is used to stop fizzy drinks going mouldy.

Coca-Cola said it had begun withdrawing the additive from Diet Coke in January in response to consumer demand for more natural products.

By the end of the year no can or bottle will contain E211.

Lets hope they don't replace it with something equally as bad or worse!

Pricasso

Okay this is on my local news and I just had to share but be warned as there is nudity!

Make sure to watch the video and see how he paints his paintings ROFL!!!


Pricasso unveils tribute to Adelaide

 

Low Carb Chocolate and Pecan Brownies

I went off the elimination diet a while ago now, have toughened up on my carbs and have started playing in the kitchen. I am a chocolate lover and the elimination diet meant no chocolate so what do you think I wanted to play with first?

Chocolate!

These are yum so I thought I'd share, these are a low carb version of a Jamie Oliver recipe. Strangely enough, I find these very satisfying. I have another variation that I did the first time which is more chocolaty which you can find in my low carb brownie thread plus another member has posted another recipe which looks good but I haven't tried yet.

Now I will tell you straight off, that my taste buds are well adjusted to low carb, so depending on where you are at, you may find you need a little more splenda. I am thinking these would be even better with a sugar alcohol like erythritol or xylitol for that sugary type mouth feel.

Oh I should say that the picture is from my first batch and this is my second batch but they look exactly the same :)


Low Carb Chocolate and Pecan Brownies

Serves 16


200g lindt 85%, broken into smallish peices (7 oz)
250g butter, cubed (8.8oz)
100g pecans, chopped (3.5oz)
4 large free range eggs
1 cup splenda (US= 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon)
50g almonds, ground (1.7oz)
50g pure cocoa powder (1.7oz)
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 180C/350F

Grease or line a 30cm/12inch rectangular baking tray, I just greased the tray.

Melt chocolate and butter until smooth, what I do is place them in a steel bowl which I then place over a sink of boiling hot water. Mix in pecans.

In a separate bowl sift dry ingredients and mix then add to chocolate mixture making sure to mix well. Next add each egg in separately mixing well after each addition.

Chuck mixture into baking tray and wack in oven for 25 mins.

Jamie says you want it lightly springy on top but still gooey in the middle. Let cool in tray then cut into 16 slices/fingers.


Nutritional info:


Total: 76.7 carb 74g protein 420g fat 4351.6 cal
Per Serve: 4.8g carb 4.6g protein 26.3g fat 272 cal

I thought I should add for those interested that we also have a low carb chocolate fudge brownie recipe here: Low Carb Chocolate Fudge Brownie

Oink Oink

To those that liked the spider I thought you might like her pig that she did a while back :)

She turned 3 at the end of April and boy am I starting to regret showing her how to use MS Paint. In some ways it was good because she would go through so much paper in a day it's not funny, she'd do a quick sketch then bang onto the next piece of paper. She got to some of Ryans spare school books and before you know it, each page had been "christened". Sketch books do not last very long... If you left the room she was in, she would start drawing on the walls and tiled floor, she loves to draw LOL

Shes stopped drawing on the walls for now, and even though the novelty of MS Paint is wearing off, she has become quite proficient with the use of computers. It is amazing how fast she picked it up. I had to set her up with her own account, just so she doesn't do any harm when she is on there. I also have to be careful of not leaving my computer logged in. The other day, I opened up one of Garry's cover letters for a job to print out, to find she had opened it up, deleted stuff and replaced with mumbo jumbo and then saved it!

I have created a monster! :eek: