Aspartame????

kriztyn723

I am taking a bootcamp class and part of it is nutrition information... well I found out that aspartame (in diet pop, crystal light, equal packets, etc). can cause blindness and paralysis!!!!

I googled it and found this website...



Excuse me while I throw out my crystal light packets! Yikes!!!!

HMonsterX

Sigh, another one falls to the scaremongering


Is aspartame safe?

Yes. Aspartame has been tested for more than three decades, in more than 200 studies, with the same result: Aspartame is safe. In fact, the FDA Commissioner, upon approving aspartame, noted, “Few compounds have withstood such detailed testing and repeated, close scrutiny, and the process through which aspartame has gone should provide the public with additional confidence of its safety.”


Have other regulatory bodies reviewed aspartame's safety?

Yes. In addition to FDA, aspartame has been reviewed and determined to be safe by the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of the Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization, the Scientific Committee on Food of the European Commission, and the regulatory bodies of over 100 countries.


Have independent health organizations reviewed the safety of aspartame?

Yes. The American Medical Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Dietetic Association (ADA) have reviewed research on aspartame and found it to be safe. In fact, the ADA’s 2004 updated position paper states, “A comprehensive review of the safety of aspartame has recently been published. The review covers previous publications as well as new information that support the safety of aspartame as a food additive and negates claims of its association with a range of health problems...” Links to numerous other health organizations, which have confirmed the safety of aspartame, can be found at www.aspartame.org.

Can aspartame affect vision?

No. Although scientists know that huge amounts of methanol can affect vision, only small amounts of methanol are formed when aspartame and many fruits, vegetables and juices are digested. In fact, a glass of tomato juice provides about six times as much methanol as an equal amount of a beverage sweetened with aspartame. During the digestion of aspartame in the gastrointestinal tract, the released methanol is then easily further metabolized by normal body processes in the same way as when methanol is derived from other dietary sources. Numerous scientific studies have shown that the methanol from aspartame does not accumulate in the body and thus cannot reach harmful levels

Is there any truth to the negative information about aspartame on the Internet or in the media?

No. Allegations spread via the Internet and the media by a few individuals that aspartame may be associated with a myriad of ailments are not based on science. These have come to be called “urban myths.” Here is what the National Multiple Sclerosis Society had to say about such allegations:

“These stories claim that Aspartame is the cause of a variety of illnesses, including MS, lupus, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease, birth defects, Desert Storm syndrome, brain tumors, and seizures. However, please bear in mind the following:

The claims are not documented;
There is no evidence for “epidemics” of multiple sclerosis, lupus, and some of the other diseases as claimed in the articles;
There is no evidence that authors of the claims have any scientific, medical, or academic credentials; nor is there any evidence that they have done any scientific research to support their claims; and
No published, peer-reviewed scientific research exists that supports the claims being made in the articles.”
An October 2005 issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) carries an editorial concluding that aspartame has been “demonised unfairly” in sections of the press and on the Internet. The BMJ editorial states:

“Evidence does not support links between aspartame and cancer, hair loss, depression, dementia, behavioural disturbances, or any of the other conditions appearing in websites. Agencies such as the Food Standards Agency, European Food Standards Authority, and the Food and Drug Administration have a duty to monitor relations between foodstuffs and health and to commission research when reasonable doubt emerges…The Food Standards Agency takes public concerns very seriously and thus pressed the European Scientific Committee on Food to conduct a further review, encompassing over 500 reports, in 2002. It concluded from biochemical, clinical, and behavioural research that the acceptable daily intake of aspartame remained entirely safe-except for people with phenylketonuria.”

The safety of aspartame has been proven again and again, backed by more than three decades of research and over 200 scientific studies. Recently, several governments and expert committees carefully evaluated the Internet allegations and found them to be false, reconfirming the safety of aspartame. In addition, leading health authorities, such as the American Medical Association, the American Dietetic Association, and the American Diabetes Association, agree that aspartame is safe.

pinuplove

Depends on how many gallons of diet soda you can down in a day.

It is, however, a migraine trigger for me.

kriztyn723

With everything you can find research to back up the positives and negatives... However, my new years resolution was to drink more water... well that is hard for me so I decided to buy Crystal Light packets to help... I am talking daily.. After my nutrition session I googled side effects and I have a ton of them! I am going off Crystal Light and see if any of my symptoms improve...

HMonsterX

Some people suffer from allergies to it, or side effects. Most don't however. It certainly doesnt cause the things you described.

Sl1ghtly

Some people suffer from allergies to it, or side effects. Most don't however. It certainly doesnt cause the things you described.

Nocebo.

RatRace675

Depends on how many gallons of diet soda you can down in a day.

It is, however, a migraine trigger for me.

My mum used to get terrible migraines from it and she doesn't even drink any type of soda. She didn't know what was causing it until she started doing a food diary and worked out it was aspartame giving her the migraines. It's amazing how many products it is in. She hasn't had a migraine for about 5 years now.

HMonsterX

Aspartame has been a godsend to me. It's really helped lower my calories and make this whole journey so much easier for me! Never felt better!

samf36

I would rather do without than eat artificial stuff , we also do not corn products (hfcs, flour, meal ect) because of corn allergies.

pinuplove

Depends on how many gallons of diet soda you can down in a day.

It is, however, a migraine trigger for me.

My mum used to get terrible migraines from it and she doesn't even drink any type of soda. She didn't know what was causing it until she started doing a food diary and worked out it was aspartame giving her the migraines. It's amazing how many products it is in. She hasn't had a migraine for about 5 years now.

I avoid it like the plague! I'm glad your mum was able to track it down as the cause. I still get migraines, but only from circumstances I can't easily control.

Dave198lbs

I am taking a bootcamp class and part of it is nutrition information... well I found out that aspartame (in diet pop, crystal light, equal packets, etc). can cause blindness and paralysis!!!!

I googled it and found this website...



Excuse me while I throw out my crystal light packets! Yikes!!!!

LOL...if this was really true don't you think we would have heard of the zillion lawsuits by now?

kaweenf

Please do some research before jumping to conclusions. Preferably, research based on published, peer-reviewed, scientific articles with conclusions based on actual clinical studies. The FDA exists for a reason (this coming from someone who works in biotech and knows how hard it is to get anything past any regulatory body without years and years of intense scrutiny and testing and proving and re-proving your claims).

Here's some reading: http://tc.engr.wisc.edu/uer/uer98/author2/index.html

Basically, chemically, aspartame is processed by the body as a protein and frees a methyl group (as in, methanol, or wood alcohol, which can indeed cause blindness in large quantities as was observed during prohibition when people were trying to manufacture their own spirits and did so incorrectly). Anyway, long story short, putting two packets of nutra-sweet in your coffee or drinking a bottle of diet soda has no observable impact on blood methanol levels and as such does no observable damage to the optic nerve. In order for there to even be a chance for methanol-induced damage to the nerve to occur, you would have to drink something like 600 12-oz cans of soda in a relatively short time, short enough of a time to prevent the body from processing out the methanol via liver metabolism and renal function. But, if you drank that much diet soda even in the course of a day, you'll probably die of water toxicity or a ruptured bladder before you go blind from methanol poisoning.

So... SCIENCE!!!

mbar12

With everything you can find research to back up the positives and negatives... However, my new years resolution was to drink more water... well that is hard for me so I decided to buy Crystal Light packets to help... I am talking daily.. After my nutrition session I googled side effects and I have a ton of them! I am going off Crystal Light and see if any of my symptoms improve...

Please let us know if your symptoms improve. Jillian Michaels suggests that artificial sweeteners affect your liver and the way in which your hormones work. I do realize she is not a biochemist, but she has consulted with the scientific community.

kaweenf

Jillian Michaels suggests that artificial sweeteners affect your liver and the way in which your hormones work.

Hmm.. I wonder where Jillian Michaels got her biochemistry degree from, and what her thesis was?

kathyc609

I am taking a bootcamp class and part of it is nutrition information... well I found out that aspartame (in diet pop, crystal light, equal packets, etc). can cause blindness and paralysis!!!!

I googled it and found this website...



Excuse me while I throw out my crystal light packets! Yikes!!!!

if this were true there would be a lot less people on MFP because we would all be blind and paralized.

Dave198lbs

. Jillian Michaels suggests that artificial sweeteners affect your liver and the way in which your hormones work.

Jillian can motivate to exercise with her dvd's very well. But she has NO business giving this type of false information. Please do not use Jillian for your nutritional advice.

Faye_Anderson

With everything you can find research to back up the positives and negatives... However, my new years resolution was to drink more water... well that is hard for me so I decided to buy Crystal Light packets to help... I am talking daily.. After my nutrition session I googled side effects and I have a ton of them! I am going off Crystal Light and see if any of my symptoms improve...

Please let us know if your symptoms improve. Jillian Michaels suggests that artificial sweeteners affect your liver and the way in which your hormones work.

Oh well, if Jillian Michaels said it it must be true :noway:

JayPeazy

Aspartame is made by growing ecoli in controlled environments then feeding it toxic waste. Aspartame is what they poop out. Seriously.

Don't put this in your body. The only people that are super in favor of its production belong to the aspartame industry. They are also responsible for the tests that make it seem as though it is totally safe.

One more interesting fact...the guy who was pushing it like there was no tomorrow back in the day was none other than...Donald Rumsfeld. I'm sure that guy would NEVER do anything to risk human life. Not THAT guy.

wellbert

I heard aspartame causes mass hysteria in people that believe everything they read. Is it true?

mbar12

With everything you can find research to back up the positives and negatives... However, my new years resolution was to drink more water... well that is hard for me so I decided to buy Crystal Light packets to help... I am talking daily.. After my nutrition session I googled side effects and I have a ton of them! I am going off Crystal Light and see if any of my symptoms improve...

Please let us know if your symptoms improve. Jillian Michaels suggests that artificial sweeteners affect your liver and the way in which your hormones work.

Oh well, if Jillian Michaels said it it must be true :noway:

LOL, I was amending my post as you wrote this to say that Jillian is not a biochemist but she has consulted with scientists. Guess each person has to find out for themselves if a certain substance affects them.

Faye_Anderson

I heard aspartame causes mass hysteria in people that believe everything they read. Is it true?

REALLY, OMG WHERE??? is it happening to me? :laugh:

LorinaLynn

Before you throw them out, can you mail the Crystal Light packets to me? I'm running low, and with my paralysis, I won't be able to get to the store to get more, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to find them with my blindness.






I know I shouldn't joke about such things, but I am severely nearsighted, and my eyesight has not changed one bit since switching to diet beverages more than 10 years ago.

Faye_Anderson

Before you throw them out, can you mail the Crystal Light packets to me? I'm running low, and with my paralysis, I won't be able to get to the store to get more, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to find them with my blindness.






I know I shouldn't joke about such things, but I am severely nearsighted, and my eyesight has not changed one bit since switching to diet beverages more than 10 years ago.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :flowerforyou:

mbar12

Jillian Michaels suggests that artificial sweeteners affect your liver and the way in which your hormones work.

Hmm.. I wonder where Jillian Michaels got her biochemistry degree from, and what her thesis was?

Lol.... I realize Jillian is not a biochemist.... I am not either, but I did take biochemistry in college, so I do understand a little about biochemistry. I also understand that biochemistry is a very very complex field, and that just because the FDA approves something doesnt mean it can be trusted to be 100% safe. I do know they put things to very extensive testing (it about takes an act of congress to get a new methodology approved for a laboratory test) but noone can predict what effects substances have 20, 30, 40 years down the road. I really think each individual has to be wary, and try to figure out what is right for them.

kaweenf

Aspartame is made by growing ecoli in controlled environments then feeding it toxic waste. Aspartame is what they poop out. Seriously.

Don't put this in your body. The only people that are super in favor of its production belong to the aspartame industry. They are also responsible for the tests that make it seem as though it is totally safe.

One more interesting fact...the guy who was pushing it like there was no tomorrow back in the day was none other than...Donald Rumsfeld. I'm sure that guy would NEVER do anything to risk human life. Not THAT guy.

I'm not one to comment on politics, so your fearmongering re: Donald Rumsfeld (and how that has anything to do with nutrition and biochemical pathways in any case) aside, I will address your ignorance regarding the manufacture of aspartame. It's a simple fermentation process. Fermentation is the term used to refer to any bacterial culture and is used widely for manufacture of a lot of pharmaceutical processes, as well as every single type of alcohol. Yes, there are synthetic ways to do this stuff, but harnessing the biomolecular pathways of an organism is much easier.

So, first of all, the organism used is not e. coli. The FDA would have a field day with that. The bacteria used are B. flavum and C. glutamicum -- likely cultured from ATCC strains and kept at all applicable quality standards for biotech manufacturing per ICH, FDA, ISO, etc.

Second of all, they are not fed "toxic waste" -- the bacteria have to be cultured at very specific conditions in very specific media to produce the wanted results at an optimal quality and quantity. The medium probably contains a whole lot of glucose and protein, and is probably nitrogenated and sparged with oxygen at a fairly large quantity.

Truth be told, this process is a whole lot cleaner than the way beer is made, so if you're wary of consuming bacterial by-products, I'd avoid beer or any alcohol if I were you. And most foods, for that matter.

Here's a nice article you can read: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Aspartame.html#b

It describes in more detail the manufacturing process, precursors, and purification process.

Again, guys, please do your research. Science is a good thing, don't promote scientific ignorance through home-bred rumors and fear-mongering!

kaweenf

Jillian Michaels suggests that artificial sweeteners affect your liver and the way in which your hormones work.

Hmm.. I wonder where Jillian Michaels got her biochemistry degree from, and what her thesis was?

Lol.... I realize Jillian is not a biochemist.... I am not either, but I did take biochemistry in college, so I do understand a little about biochemistry. I also understand that biochemistry is a very very complex field, and that just because the FDA approves something doesnt mean it can be trusted to be 100% safe. I do know they put things to very extensive testing (it about takes an act of congress to get a new methodology approved for a laboratory test) but noone can predict what effects substances have 20, 30, 40 years down the road. I really think each individual has to be wary, and try to figure out what is right for them.

I understand that, but look at it this way: the contents of one packet of aspartame contains about 35 mg apsartame. Any applicable laboratory test will tell you that this amount of the chemical has absolutely no effect on metabolic activity or body chemistry; you can't even measure an increase in methanol blood concentration, not even a tiny bit; undetectable! It can be safely assumed that aspartame is eliminated from the body in a very short time, therefore long-term consequences and effects are highly, HIGHLY improbable.

mbar12

Aspartame is made by growing ecoli in controlled environments then feeding it toxic waste. Aspartame is what they poop out. Seriously.

Don't put this in your body. The only people that are super in favor of its production belong to the aspartame industry. They are also responsible for the tests that make it seem as though it is totally safe.

One more interesting fact...the guy who was pushing it like there was no tomorrow back in the day was none other than...Donald Rumsfeld. I'm sure that guy would NEVER do anything to risk human life. Not THAT guy.

Thanks for the info. Those organisms are "good" organisms found in everyones gut - they populate the intestines and keep the "bad" bacteria from taking over.


I'm not one to comment on politics, so your fearmongering re: Donald Rumsfeld (and how that has anything to do with nutrition and biochemical pathways in any case) aside, I will address your ignorance regarding the manufacture of aspartame. It's a simple fermentation process. Fermentation is the term used to refer to any bacterial culture and is used widely for manufacture of a lot of pharmaceutical processes, as well as every single type of alcohol. Yes, there are synthetic ways to do this stuff, but harnessing the biomolecular pathways of an organism is much easier.

So, first of all, the organism used is not e. coli. The FDA would have a field day with that. The bacteria used are B. flavum and C. glutamicum -- likely cultured from ATCC strains and kept at all applicable quality standards for biotech manufacturing per ICH, FDA, ISO, etc.

Second of all, they are not fed "toxic waste" -- the bacteria have to be cultured at very specific conditions in very specific media to produce the wanted results at an optimal quality and quantity. The medium probably contains a whole lot of glucose and protein, and is probably nitrogenated and sparged with oxygen at a fairly large quantity.

Truth be told, this process is a whole lot cleaner than the way beer is made, so if you're wary of consuming bacterial by-products, I'd avoid beer or any alcohol if I were you. And most foods, for that matter.

Here's a nice article you can read: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Aspartame.html#b

It describes in more detail the manufacturing process, precursors, and purification process.

Again, guys, please do your research. Science is a good thing, don't promote scientific ignorance through home-bred rumors and fear-mongering!

Sorry, my reply got stuck up above this, so I reentered it. Those bacteria are the "good" bacteria which populate the gut and keep other "bad" bacteria from growing. Thanks for the info.

kaweenf

Sorry, my reply got stuck up above this, so I reentered it. Those bacteria are the "good" bacteria which populate the gut and keep other "bad" bacteria from growing. Thanks for the info.

It's cool bro. Consequently, it's been shown that for people with messed up stomach flora (I think IBS? though I'm not exactly sure, I'm not that kind of scientist) can essentially be cured by "bombing" their stomachs with the proper flora and allowing it to propagate in that environment, killing off the unwanted bacteria. This essentially comes down to replacing "bad" stomach bacteria with "good" stomach bacteria by ingesting someone else's stomach bacteria (isolated from their excrement).

Yes it sounds gross but studies have shown for it to be very effective and logically, scientifically, it makes a whole lot of sense. We're born "clean" and develop our unique mix of stomach bacteria over time with what we eat and process. It's a thriving ecosystem in our guts.

rjt1000

It's people. Aspartame is made out of people. They're making our food out of people. Next thing they'll be breeding us like cattle for food. You've gotta tell them. You've gotta tell them!

misskerouac

It's people. Aspartame is made out of people. They're making our food out of people. Next thing they'll be breeding us like cattle for food. You've gotta tell them. You've gotta tell them!

BIGJIMMYU

There is no clinical proof anywhere from any study I have ever seen or has been proven to me that Aspartame is harmful in any way.