ASPARTAME ----IS IT REALLY BAD FOR YOU ??

melissahann2010

HELLO I HAE BEEN TOLD THAT ASPARTAME IS OK FR YOU AND THEN TOLD IT IS NOT...IM CONFUSED...WHATS THE REAL DEAL???

uubulldawg06

its goes either way depending on which article you read. I personally can not have it because it triggers migraine headaches and other medical problems. i would use caution and the same everything in moderation theory when consuming products which contain aspartame.

fehrdad

From Wikipedia:
"The artificial sweetener aspartame has been the subject of several controversies since its initial approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1974. The FDA approval of aspartame was highly contested,[1] with critics alleging that the quality of the initial research supporting its safety was inadequate and flawed and that conflicts of interest marred the approval of aspartame.[2][3][4] In 1987, the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded that the food additive approval process had been followed properly for aspartame.[2][5] In spite of this, critics like anti-aspartame activist Betty Martini have promoted undocumented claims that numerous health risks (such as multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus, methanol toxicity, blindness, spasms, shooting pains, seizures, headaches, depression, anxiety, memory loss, birth defects and death[6]) are associated with the consumption of aspartame in normal doses. These health risk claims have been examined and debunked by numerous scientific research projects, and are also generally dismissed by governments and major health and food safety organizations.[2][7][8]"

"Publicity of this controversy has been spread through an elaborate health scare[9] and "internet smear campaign"[10] involving hoax[9][11][10] e-mails repeating Betty Martini's widely circulated conspiracy theory. Her undocumented claims are still repeated by thousands of self-published websites."

"Aspartame has been found to be safe for human consumption by more than ninety countries worldwide,[12][13] with FDA officials describing aspartame as "one of the most thoroughly tested and studied food additives the agency has ever approved" and its safety as "clear cut".[4] The weight of existing scientific evidence indicates that aspartame is safe as a non-nutritive sweetener."

I hope it is not because it is my BEST friend!!

biggiwig

I heard so many different things (good and bad) about sweeteners. But my belly always gets bloated, when I eat sweeteners. The only thing, I can eat is Sweet Leaf. I guess, everybody digests that stuff different.

ckroys

My neurologist told me not to worry about aspartame because tomatoes have more aspartame in them than a diet coke. This is when we were trying to figure out my migraines. She said they've ruled aspartame out as a cause for migraines and many other things, too.

So, I'm sticking with my diet coke. There are worse things in the world, and I trusted my neurologist - one of the few doctors I've met with that actually seemed to know what she was talking about.

arc918

depends who who ask

as for me, you'll have to pry the Diet Mtn Dew can from my cold, dead hands...

(and easy on the all caps thing)

Saoirse80

Aspartame is bad for you. There are many articles out there on the subject. Stevia is an herb that is a healthy alternative for sweetener.

Here are a couple of websites to read through (the second is from Dr. Joseph Mercola's site - he is an excellent health information resource):

http://www.lovethetruth.com/truth_about_aspartame.htm

http://aspartame.mercola.com/

drog2323

I can't see it being good for you - it's a un-natural, man-made chemical.

I completely cut it out and started to use splenda - which I am now thinking isn't good either. I am moving to Agave Syrup - all natural.

Brett_Alan

I don't care for the taste but will use it if I'm out of stevia (sp?)

doobabe

YES YES YES YES YES
It is very bad for you- PERIOD. It causes CANCER and other irrevesable health issues. It will most likely cause headaches right off the bat too. No Good at all-

biggiwig

uh, Splenda really makes me sick.

countryrunner

Aspartame contains methanol. That for me is a good enough reason to believe it is bad.

"METHANOL (AKA WOOD ALCOHOL/POISON) (10% OF ASPARTAME) Methanol/wood alcohol is a deadly poison. People may recall that methanol was the poison that has caused some "skid row" alcoholics to end up blind or dead".

"Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical with formula CH3OH (often abbreviated MeOH). It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colorless, flammable, liquid with a distinctive odor that is very similar to but slightly sweeter than ethanol (drinking alcohol).[4] At room temperature it is a polar liquid and is used as an antifreeze, solvent, fuel, and as a denaturant for ethanol. It is also used for producing biodiesel via transesterification reaction".

sarah44254

I can chew on some sugar cane.

or

I can pop some chemicals in my soda and magically make it calorie free!!



I like the idea of sugar cane much, much better.

Mads1997

YES YES YES YES YES
It is very bad for you- PERIOD. It causes CANCER and other irrevesable health issues. It will most likely cause headaches right off the bat too. No Good at all-

Doesn't everything these days cause cancer?

Everything in moderation is my motto.

JPayne53

In all my nutritional training it's like flipping a coin... if your looking to consume less CALORIES and just can't kick the sweets but need to lose X amount of weight, then yes the artificial sweetener is going to be the best way to go.. if you're looking at an over all health perspective artificial sweeteners tend to contribute greatly to water retention, which can lead to other health issues.. not to mention weight loss will be very very slow.

countryrunner

I can't see it being good for you - it's a un-natural, man-made chemical.

I completely cut it out and started to use splenda - which I am now thinking isn't good either. I am moving to Agave Syrup - all natural.

I used to use Splenda also. Then I did some reading and found out that it is just as bad as the other artificial sweeteners. It contains chlorine. Yuck! Thank goodness for agave syrup. Tastes good and is safe! Also another good choice is maple sugar. It's crystalized maple syrup. I haven't tried it yet because it is pretty spendy, but I think I will in the near future.

AngelicaDulas

True story about Aspartame. My mom, when she was 35 yrs old had consumed only Nutrasweet (which is aspartame) in her tea, cereal, etc. because it was the big diet-sugar replacement back in 1990, started having memory loss issues, to the point of not knowing where her keys were (in her hand) and talking to her purse like it was one of us kids. Not to mention she couldn't remember which of our names went to which face. Scary when you're 5 yrs old and your mom can't remember who you are. She had developed Alzheimer's at 35 years old. Her doctor told her to stop the N.S., even chewing gum which contained it. And within ONE month, she was back to normal. it had started to mess with the chemicals in her BRAIN. I don't know about you, but something that is nothing but a manmade chemical shouldn't go into my body. After seeing how it almost killed my mom's brain I try to avoid it like death itself.

astovey

It's not bad, people just want to b*tch about stuff and blame it for everything under the sun.

I've used it all my life and would have never been able to lose 70 pounds without it.

redefiningmyself

I studied this extensively in school, and at the end of my research, I do not believe that Aspartame is safe. Just becuase something doesn't cause immediate death does not mean its appropriate to eat/drink. However it is approved by the American FDA and Health Canada (where I live), which is why there is so much confusion.

I believe people need to research on their own and advocate for their own health. Not everything approved is "safe" which we can see by the amount of things that get pulled off shelves after class action lawsuits.

BTW: Tomatoes do not contain Aspartame. Aspartame is a synthetic man-made product. Tomatoes contain Methanol, which is also found in Aspartame. The main difference is that tomatos also have a natural antidote called lycopene, which protects you from the toxic effects of methanol. Aspartame does not have that.

Here's a link for some good information, but you will find much better research if you visit university libraries.
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Aspartame

beastlye

Similar to what drog2323 said, the natural, additive-free stuff is logically what we should tend toward. It makes perfect sense, right? However, it is extremely difficult to implement a lasting behavior change (kicking the aspartame/splenda habit, if you will). I know how bad I feel after consuming diet drinks and how my sugar cravings skyrocket afterward...and yet I still drink them from time to time. I think we get a little too obsessed with calorie counts sometimes instead of thinking about wellness as a whole.

I think the phrase "there's no such thing as a free lunch" works well here, but think of it in terms of a free soda. It isn't water and is surely having some series of chemical reactions after you consume it.

funkyspunky871

YES YES YES YES YES
It is very bad for you- PERIOD. It causes CANCER and other irrevesable health issues. It will most likely cause headaches right off the bat too. No Good at all-

Doesn't everything these days cause cancer?

Everything in moderation is my motto.

My thought exactly. EVERYTHING causes cancer nowadays. Mouthwash, deodorant, pringles, facebook, talcum powder, cell phones, red meat, tooth whitener, hair dye, soup. Just enjoy your aspartame.

chilipeppers

Read Skinny ***** and you will never touch Aspartame again... it stopped me!

p.s THANK you to all the people who are naysaying this horrific CHEMICAL. Last time we had this discussion on MFP most people were defending it (which I assume comes from the want to be able to eat/drink sweets "guilt free", I suppose wanting to lose weight overrides wanting to be healthy!)

thumper44

However it is approved by the American FDA and Health Canada (where I live), which is why there is so much confusion.

I believe people need to research on their own and advocate for their own health. Not everything approved is "safe" which we can see by the amount of things that get pulled off shelves after class action lawsuits.

Correct. Just because something is approved by the FDA, doesn't mean that it's safe.
Look at another thread about Alli - It's FDA approved.
I know someone who also had brain problems because of her drinking a 2L bottle of diet coke every day.

lisa35120

I don't know for sure if it's bad or not, but what I do know is that my mom gets vertigo EVERY time she eats/drinks something with aspartame in it. A few years ago she noticed that whenever she was dieting she would get vertigo, then just recently she was able to link it to aspartame... she went for alternative sweeteners and BAM! The vertigo stopped, & hasn't happened since.

Personally I try to avoid all artificial sweeteners, but every once in a while I don't think it's a big deal. Everything in moderation!

InterceptMedia

Here is a link to a pdf of the most recent aspartame cancer study:

http://www­.janethull­.com/newsl­etter/0206­/bella_ita­lia_the_so­ffritti_as­partame_st­udy.php

And here is an abstract:

http://www­.ncbi.nlm.­nih.gov/pu­bmed/17805­418

(By the way, Soffritti conducted three long-term studies that found a link between aspartame and cancer in recent years).

Many studies with dubious funding sources (Anjinamoto, Searle, etc.) will attest to the safety of aspartame. Non-industry funded studies are listed at this following link:

http://tinyurl.com/2awqfhv

ladyhawk00

My issue with aspartame (and other no/low calorie) sweeteners is that they've shown that they increase cravings. The body is signaled that sugar is coming in, and prepares for it - but it never receives the sugar. So it then initiates cravings to replace the sugar it didn't get. This is a particular problem with diet sodas, as you can consume a large amount of diet soda (as opposed to solid food) and that in turn keeps cravings high continually, without any satiation.

suzycreamcheese

i think its ok occasionally, but i wouldnt give it to my kids

sjmartinez

I used to get a lot of headaches when I would sweeten my tea with aspartame. I thought they had derived from the caffeine, so I switched to decaf, yet still. After some experimenting when I eliminated aspartame headaches disappeared.

Based on the things I have read, aspartame is in fact man-made and I have made a choice not to consume it. My diet now consists of whole foods, at least 90% anyways. What I have read has scared me enough to stay away, far, far away. I prefer better to be safe than sorry.

sjmartinez

I hate to be so down right ugly, because that's not who I am at all. I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion and shouldn't be persecuted for it, however here is what I have to say.

Toxins have no place in your body! If it's man-made it's a toxin.

Here is a nice analogy to help put it in perspective:

Your body speaks English, and toxins speak Chinese.
If you consume a Chinese speaking toxin, your body is thinking..."HUH???"
So then your body just thinks whatever I'm just going to do this with it.
Sometimes it's as harmless as creating fat cells to store it. (which how harmless is getting fatter really, seeing as it creates more problems)
Worse yet sometimes it brings on diseases in your body, like worse case scenario cancer.
If we continue to feed our body toxins, well guess what, cancer cells are enjoying an endless buffet and start multiplying! Whippee!

So to all the naysayers, this is the ugly comment you were looking for, QUIT BEING BLISSFULLY IGNORANT!

Levedi

I'd like to see some science, not rumor and internet myth on this issue. Every scientist will tell you that anecdote is not evidence so one person's individual experience is not enough evidence to prove a trend or an overall toxic effect. It might prove that one person had a bad reaction to something or that certain people are vulnerable to certain chemicals. It doesn't prove that something is a poison over all or a carcinogen. My mom is deathly allergic to certain pain killers, but that doesn't mean they kill everyone.

Only two posters have offered links to actual scientific studies and those were mostly so old that I question their validity. The studies showing harmful effects stuffed the rats with such a high dose of aspartame that it would actually have been strange if they hadn't gotten sick. That methodology has generally been scorned in the scientific community in recent years. On the other hand, the poster who showed part of wikipedia cited numerous studies showing aspartame was not harmful, but no one seems to care to consider them. Apparently it's not evidence if it disagrees with preconceived notions.

Finally, can we please drop the whole "if it's man-made it must be bad for you" meme? Really? Because everything in nature is so cuddly friendly? I live in SoCal and I could go half a mile into the Los Angeles National forest and find at least 7 deadly things, all completely natural. Heck, I've probably got a black widow spider living in my garage right now. And a lot of the so-called natural stuff people are eating is synthesized in a lab anyway. How do you think Truvia gets to be white and granular? It certainly doesn't grow that way.

So does anybody have any actual proof that aspartame is bad for you? Because if not then you don't need to be accusing other people of being willfully ignorant just because they don't share your opinion.

jayjay121

I don't want to frighten anyone but, my step dad was involved in the development of aspartame in the early 80's. He was a microbiologist working in the food industry in England. During his research he dropped dead of a huge combustion of all his internal organs, at work in 82. He was 30 years old. Needless to say we do not have it in our house, ever.
Aspartame is 10% poison, says it all to me.