Why Aspartame Isn't Scary
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Even with the proliferation of studies everywhere and for everything. I still think that what is important is the quality and the intention of the study or their supporters, not the quantity.
It is not an either/or. Both the quality of a study and the quantity of research available on a given topic are things to consider when evaluating evidence for or against something.2 -
That makes sense. I feel a little more educated today. Thank you!Just curious and maybe you can explain...
Why doesn't the process produce ATP (energy). If these compounds are similar to the breakdown of protein, do they enter the citric acid cycle and go through the electon transport chain? Are not calories just the amount of ATP that results? But aspartame is calorie (energy) free. Why?
It would go through that process, it would produce ATP and it would have a caloric yield as a result. Thing is in a can of soda is 180mg of aspartame. If we considered aspartame to be protein, which it pretty much is, and protein has 4 calories per gram that means its caloric yield in an entire can of soda is 0.18 * 4 or 0.7 calories. 0.7 calories is below the threshold for reporting caloric value set by the FDA so they just call it zero.
The reason aspartame is "diet" is not because it has no caloric value, it actually has the same caloric value as sugar by weight...it is that it is 700 times more "sweet" than sugar so you need substantially less of it. Weight by weight aspartame and sugar have the same caloric value.0 -
Even with the proliferation of studies everywhere and for everything. I still think that what is important is the quality and the intention of the study or their supporters, not the quantity.
It is not an either/or. Both the quality of a study and the quantity of research available on a given topic are things to consider when evaluating evidence for or against something.
By quantity I meant the number of studies.0 -
Even with the proliferation of studies everywhere and for everything. I still think that what is important is the quality and the intention of the study or their supporters, not the quantity.
It is not an either/or. Both the quality of a study and the quantity of research available on a given topic are things to consider when evaluating evidence for or against something.
By quantity I meant the number of studies.
Yes, and if you have 1 study with a few design limitations you can't necessarily conclude anything from it. And if you have 100 of these studies that all have a mix of various design limitations but the majority of them point in one direction then this becomes potentially meaningful.
Which is why in some cases number of studies can be important.
I wouldn't claim that quantity does not matter.1 -
As a science teacher, I appreciate what you are saying. However, I discovered, quite accidentally without knowing it was a thing, that aspartame gives me headaches.
I was getting headaches. It wasn't for a while that I realized I got them after drinking Crystal Light or Coke Zero. After I stopped consuming those beverages, I stopped getting headaches. Could be a coincidence, I agree. However, maybe a few months later, I was getting headaches again. Remembering the Coke Zero, I looked at anything new I had been eating. Turns out some low sugar granola bars had aspartame in them. Stopped eating, headaches went away. This happened once more with aspartame containing yogurt. I finally got the message and now I usually check. Once in a while I'll get a headache and sure enough, something has slipped by, some product I wasn't expecting aspartame to be in so I didn't check. The last offender was a Ricola cough drop.
I don't believe the hype about it. But I have had it happen too many times to ignore the fact that it gives me headaches.0 -
To those saying that in their personal experience that aspartame or artificial sweeteners give them headaches.
I really cannot comment on that. Its your personal experience, it is anecdote. I'm not going to tell you you are wrong but at the same time without knowing a mechanism I'm not going to say you are right either. I see a lot of reasonable sounding people posting about this who seem to recognize that the correlation doesn't demonstrate causation so I don't really have much to add there.
The point of my post was to say why I think the preponderance of evidence shows that aspartame is safe for consumption in the general population and that claims that it is "toxic" or "carcinogenic" are false. That is all really that I mean and I get the sense that no one really strongly disagrees with that.
For example I would also say that there is no reason to consider peanuts not safe for consumption in the general population and no one calls peanuts "toxic" or "carcinogenic" and yet some people are so allergic to them that touching the oil residue from a peanut could be fatal.
I am not going to claim it is utterly impossible that the body could react to a molecule in an unusual and undefined way. Causes of migraines and headaches are very ill defined and perhaps for some people it is a trigger, I don't know.
I don't think that connection, if genuine, means that aspartame is somehow dangerous or unsafe though. People have migraine or headache triggers for any number of things and as of yet there are so many triggers and the causes so vague that nothing is really known about it.
Could aspartame cause headaches for some people? I don't see how really but that is just to say I don't see how (in the literal sense). That doesn't mean it doesn't, I just don't see what the mechanism would be and I haven't heard anyone or any study propose or substantiate a mechanism.
In these cases I'd agree with the doctor who responds toa patient that says "Doctor, it hurts when I do this" by saying "Then don't do that."5 -
Could aspartame cause headaches for some people? I don't see how really but that is just to say I don't see how (in the literal sense). That doesn't mean it doesn't, I just don't see what the mechanism would be and I haven't heard anyone or any study propose or substantiate a mechanism.
In these cases I'd agree with the doctor who responds toa patient that says "Doctor, it hurts when I do this" by saying "Then don't do that."
It's actually very frustrating for me. I was happy that I found a low cal soda I could enjoy in Coke Zero. Now I'm stuck drinking water like a dog. :P0 -
Great post!0
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I've never thought aspartame is scary, but all the chemistry and math gives me shivers!
But I appreciate the effort you put into your post, thank you 0 -
Just in case anyone would like to read more about the actual evidence involved here, specifically humans, rather than rats, this is quite a nice review
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23891579
Although note this is not a systematic review and is therefore open to bias, as all reviews are, I think given that we have cohort studies which seem to be powered, and a randomised control trial is not feasible in this area, i think we have to focus on other more important areas of research. I think the studies say with 95% confidence it does not cause cancer (statistically speaking it is very difficult to be more certain than this, and would require a ridiculous amount of money and time)
It would be lovely to research everything until we were 100% certain of something but in a world of finite resources, you have to stop and ask yourself, If I spend x trying to answer a question I think has already been answered, what am I not researching which could potentially have a far greater impact on society.
This returns nicely to the OPs point that, rather than focussing on problems which are unlikely to exist due to public pressure, we should focus on problems we don't know exist yet or on solutions to problems.
However of course people should always make choices for themselves, I think the point is to not ask others to do the same unless you have evidence to support it.0 -
I'm not scared of aspartame, however, concoctions of a medely of ingrediants which tend to include aspartame, have been noted to give me (personally) headaches, and terrible acid reflux.
On that note, I have also noted (personally) that other people in my life, Wife, parents, siblings, friends, aspartame causes no such qualms and they enjoy the medely of ingrediants that include aspartame.
From my experience (personal) there is nothing wrong with aspartame on the whole, but it will affect certain people differently.
In my focus group it seems to be 1 in roughly 115 people. so less than 1% will be adversely affected.
Enjoy Diet Coke for me, I'll stick to the regular Coke.0 -
It would be lovely to research everything until we were 100% certain of something but in a world of finite resources, you have to stop and ask yourself, If I spend x trying to answer a question I think has already been answered, what am I not researching which could potentially have a far greater impact on society.
Exactly. I am a fan of practicality.0 -
Tagging to read.0
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I'm not going to drink it because diet coke tastes disgusting. Only real reason to avoid it (other than an allergy) I think.0
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I am wondering in what form you are getting the aspartame? If you are getting it in diet sodas, it is probably the sodium and caffeine.
This was meant to be to the person who said they feel bloated after consuming aspartame.0 -
I'm cracking one open as we speak, with no concerns about the toxins....ah delicious and refreshing!0
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What a coincidence! An hour back, I was looking up on net to check reviews about having diet soda. Most of them said NO for the same reason and not good for the body etc etc
Then this one group talked about having chemicals in everything actually and he is been having it since long and he did not die! Well, true. People talking about going natural fail to understand that even the naturals are composition of chemicals.
If you ask these people if willow bark is good or aspirin, they would say willow but fail to understand the willow also contains the chemical salicin as found in aspirin!
Conclusion of my story: I bought the diet coke can which is now sitting on my desk1 -
I love the fact that If theoretically aspartame could be the cause of headaches in some people who could possibly be sensitive to it then it becomes a dangerous substance, yet I know that eating a large portion of cake or other refined sugar and carb loaded food will make me feel awful for a good 3 hours but it's still not dangerous. brilliant post, thanks OP
We all know that cake is a killer though :sad:3 -
Great Post! Finally an advocate for aspartame. All I know is they will have to pry my Diet Coke from my cold, dead fingers! I just did some research about our water for a class I am taking and some scientist are saying that water high in acid causes a ton of health problems and we should be drinking high alkaline water. There are much worse things than Diet Coke that will kill me, such as swimming in Lake Eerie for instance.0
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Great Post! Finally an advocate for aspartame. All I know is they will have to pry my Diet Coke from my cold, dead fingers! I just did some research about our water for a class I am taking and some scientist are saying that water high in acid causes a ton of health problems and we should be drinking high alkaline water. There are much worse things than Diet Coke that will kill me, such as swimming in Lake Eerie for instance.
I sincerely doubt that that was a scientist saying that. Maybe Dr Oz, but we all know he's a quack anyway.0
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