how do people feel about aspartame?

ninerbuff

I, for one, am more worried about putting a chemical into my body than calories. WE NEED calories to live dontcha know? But then again, I drink my coffee black.

And again, science is offering more and more evidence that it is lethal but people still want to hang onto the studies done and paid for by Monsanto. Gee, wonder why that is?

There IS scientific evidence that it is bad for us, people just chose to ignore it or call the researcher or dr a quack.

Of course I live my life like I am supposed to, not eating trash, exercising and eating clean, so I do not have to put diet crap in me. I do not diet, I live healthy.

And yet everything thing that you consume has a chemical make up. That's the truth. There is science and pseudoscience. You see lots of pseudoscience out there in the fitness industry. Cleanses, supplements, food timing, breakfast being the best meal of the day, etc.
Can aspartame be bad? Absolutely if you're drinking a case of it a day. This was proven when mice were given the same equivalent dosage.
But if you're taking in a mild dosage of it a day, there hasn't been complications noted for those who don't have allergic or adverse reactions to it initially.
So you do what you think is right for you, however there are many many many people like myself who don't suffer from the scaremongering who have ingested aspartame for a long period of time, with no adverse reactions like those claimed by anti aspartame groups. Works for me and based on my blood work and physicals, doc says it's fine too.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

naturally occurring chemicals =/= synthetic man made chemicals that are added to foods to 1) enhance flavor 2) act as a preservative 3) change consistency

that's my view. if you feel there's no difference than that's your prerogative.

Stomach doesn't know the difference when it comes to chemical breakdown to simplest form. Whether it's a protein bar or a slab of meat, the protein of both are broken down to amino acids. You don't disagree on this?

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

MeeshyBW

I cannot stand sweeteners. Aspartame is by far the worst tasting of the bunch.

There is some stevia, fructose or similar in some of my protein shakes which is okay but I do not drink any sodas or have sugar in my tea.

I usually avoid it because of the taste even though I know it is detrimental to your health this is not my primary reason for not eating it.

CoachReddy

I, for one, am more worried about putting a chemical into my body than calories. WE NEED calories to live dontcha know? But then again, I drink my coffee black.

And again, science is offering more and more evidence that it is lethal but people still want to hang onto the studies done and paid for by Monsanto. Gee, wonder why that is?

There IS scientific evidence that it is bad for us, people just chose to ignore it or call the researcher or dr a quack.

Of course I live my life like I am supposed to, not eating trash, exercising and eating clean, so I do not have to put diet crap in me. I do not diet, I live healthy.

And yet everything thing that you consume has a chemical make up. That's the truth. There is science and pseudoscience. You see lots of pseudoscience out there in the fitness industry. Cleanses, supplements, food timing, breakfast being the best meal of the day, etc.
Can aspartame be bad? Absolutely if you're drinking a case of it a day. This was proven when mice were given the same equivalent dosage.
But if you're taking in a mild dosage of it a day, there hasn't been complications noted for those who don't have allergic or adverse reactions to it initially.
So you do what you think is right for you, however there are many many many people like myself who don't suffer from the scaremongering who have ingested aspartame for a long period of time, with no adverse reactions like those claimed by anti aspartame groups. Works for me and based on my blood work and physicals, doc says it's fine too.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

naturally occurring chemicals =/= synthetic man made chemicals that are added to foods to 1) enhance flavor 2) act as a preservative 3) change consistency

that's my view. if you feel there's no difference than that's your prerogative.

Stomach doesn't know the difference when it comes to chemical breakdown to simplest form. Whether it's a protein bar or a slab of meat, the protein of both are broken down to amino acids. You don't disagree on this?

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

In a vacuum, you're more or less correct. However, in real life it's a matter of how easy or difficult it is for your stomach to break down. natural foods are easier for the stomach to digest, thus it doesn't have to work as hard, thus your nutritional stress is lowered, thus your body works at a more optimal level and absorbs more nutrtients.

if it's harder to break down the processed foods (it is), fewer nutrients will be absorbed by the time the food passes through the digestive tract.

jonnythan

natural foods are easier for the stomach to digest

if it's harder to break down the processed foods (it is)

Yeah? Then how come you grind your flax seeds? Why do you grind grains into flour to make bread?

Processing foods in general actually makes them easier to digest because they're already partially broken down.

Whey is more digestible than milk. Flour is more digestible than bread. Etc.

CoachReddy

natural foods are easier for the stomach to digest

if it's harder to break down the processed foods (it is)

Yeah? Then how come you grind your flax seeds? Why do you grind grains into flour to make bread?

Processing foods in general actually makes them easier to digest because they're already partially broken down.

Whey is more digestible than milk. Flour is more digestible than bread. Etc.

1) because seeds have a natural defense mechanism called a shell.
2) I don't eat bread
3) but a protein bar is less digestible than a piece of chicken. we can do this all day. the things you mentioned are significantly LESS processed than junk foods, fast foods, protein/snack bars, etc

you don't seem to fathom that there are different amounts of processing that goes into different foods.

stephanj

"I wish I could quit you"

Try to move to Stevia, but Diet Coke is my mistress.

wellbert

The real reason people gain weight isn't because diet soda makes you fat. It's all the weight from the cancer.

jonnythan

1) because seeds have a natural defense mechanism called a shell.
2) I don't eat bread
3) but a protein bar is less digestible than a piece of chicken. we can do this all day. the things you mentioned are significantly LESS processed than junk foods, fast foods, protein/snack bars, etc

you don't seem to fathom that there are different amounts of processing that goes into different foods.

1) is why processing can make foods easier to digest.
2) is a lie.
3) a protein bar is not processed chicken. Whey is processed from milk, and whey is easier to digest than milk. Bread is processed grain, and is easier to digest than the grain. Carrot and pea paste is easier to digest than whole carrots or peas.

aguethler

How about Harvard for a good source?

http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/artificial-sweeteners-sugar-free-but-at-what-cost-201207165030

Nothing in that article even suggests that aspartame is bad for you.

Did you read the article? It is about all artificial sweeteners but the following suggests that it IS bad for you:

1. Overstimulation of sugar receptors from frequent use of these hyper-intense sweeteners may limit tolerance for more complex tastes,” explains Dr. Ludwig. That means people who routinely use artificial sweeteners may start to find less intensely sweet foods, such as fruit, less appealing and unsweet foods, such as vegetables, downright unpalatable.

In other words, use of artificial sweeteners can make you shun healthy, filling, and highly nutritious foods while consuming more artificially flavored foods with less nutritional value.

2. Artificial sweeteners may play another trick, too. Research suggests that they may prevent us from associating sweetness with caloric intake. As a result, we may crave more sweets, tend to choose sweet food over nutritious food, and gain weight. Participants in the San Antonio Heart Study who drank more than 21 diet drinks per week were twice as likely to become overweight or obese as people who didn’t drink diet soda.

3. Animal studies suggest that artificial sweeteners may be addictive. In studies of rats who were exposed to cocaine, then given a choice between intravenous cocaine or oral saccharine, most chose saccharin.

4. Whether non-nutritive sweeteners are safe depends on your definition of safe. Studies leading to FDA approval have ruled out cancer risk, for the most part. However, those studies were done using far smaller amounts of diet soda than the 24 ounces a day consumed by many people who drink diet soda. We really don’t know what effect large amounts of these chemicals will have over many years.

5. In the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, daily consumption of diet drinks was associated with a 36% greater risk for metabolic syndrome and a 67% increased risk for type 2 diabetes. Aren’t these diseases that artificial sweeteners may help prevent in the first place?

jonnythan

How about Harvard for a good source?

http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/artificial-sweeteners-sugar-free-but-at-what-cost-201207165030

Nothing in that article even suggests that aspartame is bad for you.

Did you read the article? It is about all artificial sweeteners but the following suggests that it IS bad for you:

1. Overstimulation of sugar receptors from frequent use of these hyper-intense sweeteners may limit tolerance for more complex tastes,” explains Dr. Ludwig. That means people who routinely use artificial sweeteners may start to find less intensely sweet foods, such as fruit, less appealing and unsweet foods, such as vegetables, downright unpalatable.

In other words, use of artificial sweeteners can make you shun healthy, filling, and highly nutritious foods while consuming more artificially flavored foods with less nutritional value.

2. Artificial sweeteners may play another trick, too. Research suggests that they may prevent us from associating sweetness with caloric intake. As a result, we may crave more sweets, tend to choose sweet food over nutritious food, and gain weight. Participants in the San Antonio Heart Study who drank more than 21 diet drinks per week were twice as likely to become overweight or obese as people who didn’t drink diet soda.

3. Animal studies suggest that artificial sweeteners may be addictive. In studies of rats who were exposed to cocaine, then given a choice between intravenous cocaine or oral saccharine, most chose saccharin.

4. Whether non-nutritive sweeteners are safe depends on your definition of safe. Studies leading to FDA approval have ruled out cancer risk, for the most part. However, those studies were done using far smaller amounts of diet soda than the 24 ounces a day consumed by many people who drink diet soda. We really don’t know what effect large amounts of these chemicals will have over many years.

5. In the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, daily consumption of diet drinks was associated with a 36% greater risk for metabolic syndrome and a 67% increased risk for type 2 diabetes. Aren’t these diseases that artificial sweeteners may help prevent in the first place?

The claim is basically that these artificial sweeteners are bad because they make you engage in other bad behaviors, like eating more sugary or fatty food or eating more food overall. So it's sort of danger by proxy. It's not that the sweeteners themselves are dangerous.

leigh0416

Gives me a headache and I absolutely refuse to eat anything that contains it. I generally do not like any artificial sweetener and stay as far away from them as I possibly can!

aguethler

Changing the way that your body perceives real food is every bit as dangerous as an physical disease. These chemical sweeteners are designed to help people to live healthier lives, to help them fight obesity, and to allow people with diabetes to eat sweet tasting food. If they are not doing that, if they are actually increasing diabetes and obesity by changing the way we taste food then they have no place in the diet of people who are not already diabetic except in things like chewing gum where it is important for other reasons like not bathing your teeth in sugars that bacteria use to cause tooth decay. Do you take medicine that doesn't work too??

TKRV

I tell myself that I don't mind aspartame, but sometimes, if I am craving diet coke or something, I will google aspartame and will be so disgusted by what I find. Usually, I decide that the conclusion aspartame "probably" won't cause cancer is not good enough and ditch the unhealthy drink.

But, over consumption of sugar is also linked to cancer and many other illnesses. So, If I'm going to have something unhealthy, I feel like something unhealthy made with aspartame is just as unhealthy as something made without it. So, I will choose the option with less calories.

jonnythan

Changing the way that your body perceives real food is every bit as dangerous as an physical disease. These chemical sweeteners are designed to help people to live healthier lives, to help them fight obesity, and to allow people with diabetes to eat sweet tasting food. If they are not doing that, if they are actually increasing diabetes and obesity by changing the way we taste food then they have no place in the diet of people who are not already diabetic except in things like chewing gum where it is important for other reasons like not bathing your teeth in sugars that bacteria use to cause tooth decay. Do you take medicine that doesn't work too??

It's not dangerous if you exercise control over your diet.

I don't think artificial sweeteners were designed "to help people live healthier lives" etc. I think they were designed to taste like sugar but without calories. And they do. So that's a win.

Artificial sweeteners aren't bad for you if they're not making you consume other unhealthy food.