Lose Interest in Chocolate Cake?

Lose Interest in Chocolate Cake?

If you love chocolate cake, but you suddenly lost your ability to taste its sweetness, would you probably lose interest in cake?

You probably would. And you might also lose weight and avoid developing type 2 diabetes while you’re at it.

In the e-Alert “Bee Back Soon?” (4/18/07), I told you about a recent controversy over artificial sweeteners. That e-Alert included a link to a 2003 e-Alert with further information about sugar substitutes. A member named Frank sent along this question about a unique product mentioned in that older e-Alert:

“You mentioned ‘Sugarest’ sold by ‘The Harmony Co.’! I thought you’d like to know that when I called them to order it they said they hadn’t carried it for a couple years and didn’t know where to get it. If you can locate a source I’d appreciate you publishing it in your newsletter.”

Sugarest is a product that contains an herb called gymnema sylvestre that has a very unusual characteristic: When it comes into contact with taste buds, it blocks the ability to taste sweet foods by neutralizing the receptors on your tongue that register sweetness. Cravings for sweet foods, drinks, and even cigarettes are sharply diminished when Sugarest is regularly used. (Most smokers aren’t aware that part of their tobacco craving is actually a craving for the sugar added to cigarettes.)

There was no web site for Sugarest when I first told you about this product a few years ago, but now there is and you can purchase Sugarest directly through the site: sugarest.com.