Home 
Bacolod City, Negros Occidental ? Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral has cautioned the public against the use of magic sugar that is allegedly being smuggled into the country.
"From what I hear, magic sugar is being smuggled in from Indonesia to the southern provinces," Cabral said.
Cabral was in Bacolod City for the groundbreaking of the Bacolod Heart, Lung and Kidney Center at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital compound.
She described magic sugar as an artificial sugar also called sodium cyclamate that could cause dizziness, vomiting and stomach ache.
Cabral said the magic sugar has not been registered as a food by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
"It is banned in the United States because of some studies that show that it increases the incidence of cancer, such as urinary bladder cancer," she said.
The Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD), in its advisory, said "magic sugar as food sweetener is prohibited due to its evidence of carcinogenicity in animals."
Meanwhile, Cabral said the El Niño dry spell has not really caused a lot of health problems in the country.
"We have the usual summer diseases like measles, chicken pox, prickly heat. And we are watching out for paralytic shellfish poisoning in areas where there are algae blooms, such as red tide," she said.
Cabral also warned of diarrheal diseases caused by spoiled food.
"In the summer when it is very warm. Food spoils very quickly so we need to make sure that the food that we eat is not spoiled," she said. /INQUIRER
