Some people love them and some people hate them, but artificial sweeteners are very popular, especially in diet sodas, snacks and as table-top sweeteners at your local coffee shop or cafe.

Are artificial sweeteners safe? I think so, and I think they are a good way to satisfy a sweet tooth without adding extra calories. The thing I want you to remember, though, is that artificial sweeteners don't add anything good to your diet. So choose healthy, nutritious beverages like milk, fruit juices and vegetable juices first for all of the vitamins and minerals, then drink diet sodas and Splenda-sweetened coffee drinks as occasional treats.

Poll:Which artificial sweetener do you prefer?

• Splenda
• Equal
• Sweet N Low
• None - I don't like them
• View Results

Daily Nutrition Tip

_{Photo © John Sigler}

Tainted tomatoes, spinach, peanut butter and ground beef have all been in the news over the past year for making people sick. That would probably make you think that most people's opinions of food safety have grown recently. A poll conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health finds that a substantial number of people in the United States are concerned about the safety of their foods, especially foods imported from Mexico and China.

According to Robert Blendon, a professor at Harvard:
“With growing globalization of the food supply, Americans are likely to worry more about the safety of the food they eat. At the moment, many are not confident that the system for protecting their food is working as well as it should.”

The Harvard poll also that Americans perceive certain areas of food service to be more dangerous than others, specially food from pushcarts and street vendors, fast food restaurants, buffets and salad bars.

Poll:Do you worry about food safety?

• Yes
• No
• View Results

Food Safety at Home

• Picnics, Barbecues and Food Safety
• Food Safety During an Emergency
• Quiz - How Much Do You Know About Food Safety?

Daily Nutrition Tip

_{Photo © Medioimages - Photodisc/Getty Images}