Aspartame????

Sapporo

It tastes disgusting, you'll realize it after you quit then have a diet pop a year from now.
I'm part of the headache crowd. I'll take real sugar over aspartame any day.

Karenlavonne1958

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

I think sooo! I am sure of it! I quit using it because my daughter nagging me about it gave me a pain in my other end! But I am having less joint pain. Coincedence? Probably but don't want joint pain back so whatever works for me.

dvisser1

It is, however, a migraine trigger for me.

Same here. Migraines and nausea. I'm now so sensitive to the taste that I can't force myself to drink anything with it. I can handle the small amount in a stick of gum without getting sick, but that's it. I can't stomach the taste of Splenda or stevia based products (Truvia, etc.) either, but that's just the taste.

misskerouac

When I was thinking about getting pregnant I went to a naturopath to go over my diet.. She only told me to cut out anything aspertame, splenda , etc since it can cause birth defects in babies... So I gave it up, and noticed my 5x a week headaches went down to ZERO! Just makes you wonder what that stuff is doing to you

Ah naturopaths, bastions of useless "knowledge", false "science", and the ability to "cure" everything with water... oh, and snake oil

Naturopaths (at least here in Canada) have to have their Bachelor of Science then go on to study Naturopathic medicine. They have the same schooling as your medical doctor. And no they don't cure everything with water and snake oil. Have you ever been to a naturopath? Just because their answer to everything isn't drugs doesn't mean they are idiots.

LorinaLynn

It is apparent from some of the replies that aspartame causes headaches in some people. There may also be other side effects. Does it cause blindness? hmmmm dont know but to me its doubtful. To those who suffer side effects it is of course best that they not use aspartame. For those who are committed to using natural products, it would also be best not to use aspartame. For those who seem to be able to handle aspartame, and who enjoy their diet foods with aspartame, by all means use them (hopefully there will be no adverse effects down the road).

Bah... live and let live... That's just crazy talk.

tigersword

Hi I dont like artificial products either so if youre looking for something sweet to replace sugar, try Stevia. Its super sweet and I prefered to cut out sugar rather than use this but know lots of people who have made the switch and really love the taste! I thinks its made from a plant, tree or the like, but is natural.

Stevia is just as artificially processed as aspartame, it just apparently has better marketing.

Also, millions of people around the world can DIE just from smelling a peanut. BAN THE EVIL PEANUT!


Seriously, there's a huge difference between an allergic reaction, and poison.

zincalloy

You're worth more alive but suffering from an illness that requires expensive treatment, than dead.

And if you think your Government really cares if you live or die then good luck with that.

I don't think the government cares about me as an individual. But I know that when my mom was sick and dying in a hospital getting loads of expensive treatment, the money didn't come out of her pocket. Uncle Sam footed most of that bill.

Really? And where do you think Uncle Sam got that money to pay for the treatment? Uncle Taxpayer, that's who. Your hard earned tax dollars being fed into the many highly profitable medical and drug companies. Do you think they really want everyone to be healthy?

Karen_ZH

Even though it has been around for years, doctors still tell women not to use it while pregnant. It is also a trigger for many people for migraines.

Generally, I stay away from ALL chemicals in my food. Better to eat a little of the real thing than use a chemical.

As far as flavoring water, you're best bet is to go with regular old lemon or lime slices.

Elizabeth_C34

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

pitbullmama

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

It is, however, a migraine trigger for me.

Ditto

pinuplove

It is, however, a migraine trigger for me.

Same here. Migraines and nausea. I'm now so sensitive to the taste that I can't force myself to drink anything with it. I can handle the small amount in a stick of gum without getting sick, but that's it. I can't stomach the taste of Splenda or stevia based products (Truvia, etc.) either, but that's just the taste.

That's why I stick with real sugar, in limited quantities. Artificial sweeteners and I just do not get along!

JNick77

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!!!!

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!! :noway:

kleighsamboer

I stay away from ANYTHING with aspartame in it. Even sugar free gum. I have bad side effects from it not to mention all the horrible things I have heard and read about it. Try stevia or agave.

sweetyedie

From personal experience. Not medical though. I used it in sweetners and diet pop for years. So quite a bit had accumulated in my body. My sis while handing me a sweetner (with aspertine) handed an article on it she found on the internet. It described all kinds of symptoms that I was then currantly having. One of them was leg cramps. I stopped ingesting it in many foods and after two mos. the symptoms went away. This may not have the same effect on all people. I now stay away from a constant diet of it.

Scott613

naiomi85

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

It is, however, a migraine trigger for me.

^^^ Agreed. I get migraines from it too. I think it also depends on how much you consume in a day. Lots of diet sodas, gum, and sugars have it in the ingredients. Personally i wouldn't eat a large amount of it over a long period of time just for the simple fact of not knowing what it actually could do in the long run.

tigersword

I've mentioned this before, but I'll go ahead and say it again. Aspartame is aspartic acid + phenylalanine. Both are amino acids required by the body. Phenylalanine happens to be an essential amino acid. You get as much "aspartame" from a 4 oz piece of chicken breast as you would get from 23 cans of diet soda. Any protein source, both animal and vegetarian, have aspartic acid and/or phenylalanine in them, if it was so poisonous, the human race would be extinct just based on our diet.

ninerbuff

It tastes disgusting, you'll realize it after you quit then have a diet pop a year from now.
I'm part of the headache crowd. I'll take real sugar over aspartame any day.

Subjective. I love balut. I think it tastes great.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

ninerbuff

Even though it has been around for years, doctors still tell women not to use it while pregnant. It is also a trigger for many people for migraines.

Generally, I stay away from ALL chemicals in my food. Better to eat a little of the real thing than use a chemical.

As far as flavoring water, you're best bet is to go with regular old lemon or lime slices.

ALL foods are nothing more than chemicals bound a certain way. Just sayin'

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

acook104

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.

Excuse me while I take this and slap my old chemistry teacher in the face with it.

maverick48

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

without a doubt.

ninerbuff

Excuse me while I take this and slap my old chemistry teacher in the face with it.

Smack some of the "health police" too.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

maverick48

Even though it has been around for years, doctors still tell women not to use it while pregnant. It is also a trigger for many people for migraines.

Generally, I stay away from ALL chemicals in my food. Better to eat a little of the real thing than use a chemical.

As far as flavoring water, you're best bet is to go with regular old lemon or lime slices.

ALL foods are nothing more than chemicals bound a certain way. Just sayin'

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

You mean there's CHEMICALS in NATURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????? HOLY CRAP NOTHING IS SAFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dancingincircles84

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

I, personally, suffer from some allergies or side affects to it. I don't know if I'm exactly allergic to it, and it's not causing blindness or anything, but I feel my throat is tighter whenever I have food with aspartame in it so I try to avoid it. Sometimes I'll have sugar free gum, but that still causes me some problems so I don't chew gum very often.

rlt2005

My mom came off of it after being hospitalized with migraines. It was a big trigger for her. I continued on my Crystal Light because I was drinking more water that way. When I was having a lot of back problems & went to a chiropractor & he told me to come off of it. & that given the choice between diet & regular soda, choose regular. I switched to regular & cut back quantity to control the calories. I tried the Crystal Light Pure but it just wasn't as good.

islandjumper

This topic....AGAIN! It's obvious there are 2 distinct sides to this, and I highly doubt this arguing is going to change anyone's mind one way or another. I personally avoid the stuff like the plague...and it works for me, but for those of you who "have never seen a study implicating aspartame" here's a few

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21176433
Study of 2 individuals with chronic pain where aspartame was exposed as the the cause

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21376768
Liver damage due to long term use to aspartame

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21855599
Defects and brain inflammation in zebra fish given aspartame vs. saccharin and control groups

Edited to add: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17805418
Shows aspartame as a carcinogen, and lifelong exposure starting in the womb increases carcinogenic effects

RonSwanson66

This topic....AGAIN! It's obvious there are 2 distinct sides to this, and I highly doubt this arguing is going to change anyone's mind one way or another. I personally avoid the stuff like the plague...and it works for me, but for those of you who "have never seen a study implicating aspartame" here's a few

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21176433
Study of 2 individuals with chronic pain where aspartame was exposed as the the cause

n=2 doesn't even come close to statistical significance.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21376768
Liver damage due to long term use to aspartame

LULZ

Eighteen adult male Wistar rats, weighing 150-175 g, were randomly divided into three groups as follows: first group was given aspartame dissolved in water in a dose of 500 mg/kg b.wt.; the second group was given a dose of 1000 mg/kg b.wt.; and controls were given water freely.

A single diet soda contains 180mg of aspartame. So for a 75kg adult, that's the equivalent of 200 - 400 sodas per day.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21855599
Defects and brain inflammation in zebra fish given aspartame vs. saccharin and control groups

Zebra fish? Really?

Edited to add: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17805418
Shows aspartame as a carcinogen, and lifelong exposure starting in the womb increases carcinogenic effects

Again, rats, supraphysiological doses, and results which barely met statistical significance.

HeavenLeAngel127

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!

BAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAA

HeavenLeAngel127

Coronary heart disease
High blood pressure
Diabetes
Glucose intolerance
Angina
Congestive heart failure
Strokes
Sleep apnea
Gout

All associated with obesity................ But hey everybody drop the aspartame cause it might cause long term health problems.

thedavephan

I don't know much about the science, but I do know a friend of mine who drank 2-3 diet Dr peppers a day and started to have seizures. Which promptly stopped upon discontinuing use of any products with aspartame. Good enough for me to stay away from it.