Equal, Sweet n Low, Artificial sweeteners

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  • SkepticallyFit
    SkepticallyFit Posts: 71
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    I won't eat aspartame or other artificial sweeteners any more. Their track history is terrible. The FDA approves stuff and then years later we learn it's a carcinogen. Anyway, adults can make their own decisions, but I don't agree with putting so much of that stuff on the market for children. I had to quit chewing gum because I couldn't find even one without aspartame.

    If you want to look at the preponderance of the evidence, here's a link to a list of peer-reviewed non-industry sponsored studies. You'll notice that all but one of the positive ones are by the FDA, but there are only 7 positive ones out of 92. Apparently most of the other positive studes are industry-sponsored. Can anyone say that's surprising?

    http://www.dorway.com/nonindus.html

    No.

    http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/athome/aspartame

    Aspartame has not been shown to cause any harm to humans, period.
  • phyllisgehrke
    phyllisgehrke Posts: 238 Member
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    I use Stevia and it seems to be the safest.

    Aspartame gives me headaches and read too much bad things about Sucralose.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
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    Stevia is the best one to use.....all natural, zero calories, no chemicals.
    Stevia is ALL chemicals.
    You've committed the naturalist fallacy.

    However ... everything we eat is all chemicals. Our bodies are composed of chemicals. Stevia is a naturally occurring sweetener in the Stevia rebaudiana plant. It's extracted and purified from the plant leaves. I remember many years ago a friend reading the ingredients on some food label and sneering as he read the ingredients; I pointed out that most of the chemical names he was sneering at (like citric acid and guar gum are perfectly natural and extracted from plants.

    I can't believe there's yet another natural vs evil chemical thread starting up on these forums ... just because something is naturally occurring doesn't make it good for you, and just because something comes from a lab doesn't make it bad for you. Me, I like my sweeteners and I figure in five or ten years they'll find out all this stuff really extends our lives, so I plan on living at least 150 years. Yay, Splenda! At the very least, I'll be a well-preserved corpse.
    Yes, that was my point. People say OMG chemicals! It's all chemicals people.
    Arsenic and oxalic acid are naturally occurring (or taken up during growth) by plants but I'm not shooting shots of those...
    Water is a chemical.
    ...and as to stevia, it may be natural but it has been less studied than aspartame.
    I use sucrose myself, table sugar.
  • bio01979
    bio01979 Posts: 313
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    What's so bad about artificial sweeteners? Seems better than using 2-3 spoons of sugar in a tea or coffee.

    Nothing is "so bad" about them unless you are allergic to them in some way or they are causing your macros to be out of whack (which would also happen with sugar anyway, if that's the case).

    There's a lot of alarmism and fear mongering going around about them, but it is not backed up as heavily as the fear mongers want you to believe.

    I'm in the best shape of my life, appearance and internally according to doctor's labs, and I have Splenda everyday. Until a large quantity of peer reviewed studies shows me definitively that it is bad for me, I'll continue using it. A couple of studies based on the idea that readers seem to believe that correlation IS causation isn't going to persuade me to do anything.

    one could say there is a lot of alarmism and fear mongering about sugar as well. In moderation, sugar is fine :)

    I don't eat a lot of sweet things but when I do I either use sugar or something like xylitol. Not because I think artificial sweeteners are the devil but because I hate the taste of splenda, aspartame and even stevia. I don't like the after taste :)
  • bio01979
    bio01979 Posts: 313
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    I won't eat aspartame or other artificial sweeteners any more. Their track history is terrible. The FDA approves stuff and then years later we learn it's a carcinogen. Anyway, adults can make their own decisions, but I don't agree with putting so much of that stuff on the market for children. I had to quit chewing gum because I couldn't find even one without aspartame.

    If you want to look at the preponderance of the evidence, here's a link to a list of peer-reviewed non-industry sponsored studies. You'll notice that all but one of the positive ones are by the FDA, but there are only 7 positive ones out of 92. Apparently most of the other positive studes are industry-sponsored. Can anyone say that's surprising?

    http://www.dorway.com/nonindus.html

    bacon, barbecued meat etc have carcinogens as well. Won't stop me from eating them :)

    I think you could probably find a study showing just about everything has carcinogens
  • WillowWindow
    WillowWindow Posts: 100 Member
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    Thank you for the the Cancer Society link. I read it , but I choose to err on the side of caution. I never need to eat aspartame, so I don't see that as a problem. Since it occurs in so many foods, along with things like trans fat, artificial flavour boosters, and GMO soy and corn products I think my best bet is to avoid as many processed foods as I can.
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
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    Yes, that was my point. People say OMG chemicals! It's all chemicals people.
    Arsenic and oxalic acid are naturally occurring (or taken up during growth) by plants but I'm not shooting shots of those...
    Water is a chemical.
    ...and as to stevia, it may be natural but it has been less studied than aspartame.
    I use sucrose myself, table sugar.

    Spinach and rhubarb contain oxalic acid, peach and apricot pits contain cyanide, sassafrass contains a carcinogen and various other bad things, licorice can raise your blood pressure, all natural. The problem is, people will believe a naturopath's or shaman's. recommendations over the findings of scientific research, or go out looking for questionable studies to confirm what they want to believe.

    I don't care for stevia particularly because of the taste ... But I'll use it sometimes in coffee because coffee's a bit bitter anyway. My personal favorites at present are Splenda and It would be fine with me if people presented their preferences as just that ... But when people say things like "X is the worst thing you could use" they seem to be forgetting: none of us are getting out of this alive, and as you get nearer to the end you realize, life goes by faster than you can imagine.

    Now, where's that carcinogenic bacon ...? :)
  • rdkemper
    rdkemper Posts: 4
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    Great response, Matt!
  • SailorKnightWing
    SailorKnightWing Posts: 875 Member
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    I don't eat them because they taste like battery acid, no other reason. I had a friend once who got migraines whenever she ate aspertame, but that's rare.

    vingogly: While your point still stands, are actually eating the peach and apricot pits? :P
  • ajaxe432
    ajaxe432 Posts: 608 Member
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    Although Stevia claims to be natural....it is still processed.
  • ajaxe432
    ajaxe432 Posts: 608 Member
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    What's so bad about artificial sweeteners? Seems better than using 2-3 spoons of sugar in a tea or coffee.

    Nothing is "so bad" about them unless you are allergic to them in some way or they are causing your macros to be out of whack (which would also happen with sugar anyway, if that's the case).

    There's a lot of alarmism and fear mongering going around about them, but it is not backed up as heavily as the fear mongers want you to believe.

    I'm in the best shape of my life, appearance and internally according to doctor's labs, and I have Splenda everyday. Until a large quantity of peer reviewed studies shows me definitively that it is bad for me, I'll continue using it. A couple of studies based on the idea that readers seem to believe that correlation IS causation isn't going to persuade me to do anything.
  • MRL1107
    MRL1107 Posts: 74
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    There are a lot of speculation about artificial sweeteners but no concrete evidence on what harm it actually does to our bodies in the long term.

    There are a lot of natural ways to sweeten beverages and food without upping your glucose levels or completely messing up your daily calorie intake. If you're worried about putting the chemicals in your body try these substitutes instead. The Stevia plant is used in other countries as a natural sweetening alternative for sugar. If you steep the leaves in water it turns into something similar to a simple syrup. There is also Agave Nectar, which is becoming quite popular in the states these days. Both Stevia and Agave nectar are simple to get these days.
  • Vivian06703188
    Vivian06703188 Posts: 310 Member
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    Stevia is no chemical and all natural you don't know what your talking about. Excuse me I'm not being rude, I am stating a fact. I have a stevia plant in my garden and use it to sweeten my tea. Stevia products are not processed and are all natural as long as nothing is added to them. Check you labels. As chemicals go I guess anything can be a chemical compound. This is all a very debatable subject. My grandmother used saccharine everyday of her life and lived to 98. There was no debate about the use of saccharine until big business wanted to make money on the by product Aspartame and then others came along and it has been a domino effect. If we publish these results we can herd the public like cattle and confuse them. Honestly I feel perfectly safe taking saccharine.
  • thisismeraw
    thisismeraw Posts: 1,264 Member
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    Stevia is no chemical and all natural you don't know what your talking about. Excuse me I'm not being rude, I am stating a fact. I have a stevia plant in my garden and use it to sweeten my tea. Stevia products are not processed and are all natural as long as nothing is added to them. Check you labels.

    The stevia products you buy in the store are processed.

    Regardless of if they are processed or not, it doesn't mean they are good for you. Natural products can be harmful and deadly. Natural or herbal doesn't mean healthy. Not processed doesn't equal healthy. Some stevia products are processed with various chemicals.

    I find the taste of stevia gross. I prefer sweeteners. There has yet to be anything proven that sweeteners are bad for us except for the few who do have issues with them (migraines, etc).

    Leaf of a rhubarb plant is natural but can be harmful... peanuts are natural but can kill people... arsenic is natural, not healthy... tobacco, cocaine, etc are all natural.
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
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    vingogly: While your point still stands, are actually eating the peach and apricot pits? :P

    The Italian cookie Amaretti di Saronno is made with ground apricot pits and/or bitter almonds, both of which get their almond flavor from the cyanide they contain. It's said the cyanide is burnt off when they're cooked, but one has to wonder. Would I eat one again? Yeah, in a heartbeat. Cyanide is delicious!
  • bio01979
    bio01979 Posts: 313
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    I don't eat them because they taste like battery acid, no other reason. I had a friend once who got migraines whenever she ate aspertame, but that's rare.

    vingogly: While your point still stands, are actually eating the peach and apricot pits? :P

    flax seed has cyanide as well :)
  • susan_skipper
    susan_skipper Posts: 33
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    Stevia is natural and better for u than sugar

    This is true. I started using Stevia a few months ago after hearing about it on one of these forums. I like the taste and its all natural. The other sweeteners just taste too "chemically" to me. I also found a Stevia plant at the greenhouse. I think you just dry the leaves out and then grind them up. Not sure if I am going to try It or not.
  • theycallyoumister
    theycallyoumister Posts: 222 Member
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    What's so bad about artificial sweeteners? Seems better than using 2-3 spoons of sugar in a tea or coffee.

    I agree. Over time, I cut way back on sugar so I add a little bit of artificial sweetener to coffee (to soften the bitterness) since I changed out from cream to milk. :smile:
  • lj8576
    lj8576 Posts: 156
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    But if Dr Oz said it would help it would fly off the shelves. Hes such an *kitten*. ANyway I have used splenda for years and I have 10 toes and 5 fingers on all three of my hands so I am good.
  • dena789
    dena789 Posts: 164 Member
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    But if Dr Oz said it would help it would fly off the shelves. Hes such an *kitten*. ANyway I have used splenda for years and I have 10 toes and 5 fingers on all three of my hands so I am good.

    Ha ha ha! :D I too have used artificial sweeteners for many years. I don't buy in to all the fear mongering. I happen to like my coffee and tea sweet so I use a brand name that contains sucralose. I've tried stevia too but still prefer the sucralose. I also use the water flavours like Mio and Crystal Light which also contain sucralose. I use what works for me... YMMV

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