Aspartame Vs Sugar

My point is that you'll have a hard time finding any major scientific studies because their goal is to prove it's safe - not to prove it's not. The only evidence out there involves what's happening to people (personal experiences) or media reports of battles between corporations and poor people who live in areas who are trying to deal with the disasters left behind. It's hard for a poor guy who makes $200 dollars a month to stop a giant corporation. There's a reason why some Latin American's are ticked at our big business companies. We have a bad habit of leaving industrial disasters behind us. They're just too poor to do anything about it. This stuff doesn't come out in our news.

Now, if I had the time, I would have to go to a university library system to access better documents. But, you don't have to be so snide about it. I do know that I prefer natural and whole foods and to me a chemical is not a whole food or nutritious. I'd prefer to not poison/modify my system. It's your choice to do so if you think it's safe. Tons of people take that route, but I don't plan on taking that risk with my life especially if there are natural alternatives. Why risk accumulating a chemical in my system that isn't natural? Why should I chance this when I've read blogs after blogs of people who detail horrible reactions that occurred over time - migraines, muscle pains...more. It's scary. How can you guarantee that 30 years from now this stuff won't do anything to me? You can't. I'd rather not risk it.

Our government is really messed up and doesn't look out for us. Here's a great example of how willing they are to allow things to slide. Look up "Chloramine". It's the newest additive to making water safe: a combination of Ammonia and Chlorine. If you own fish tanks, you'd better buy yourself a giant trashcan to pretreat your water before you put your fish in it. It's VERY toxic and there are no studies whatsoever yet they decided to put this into our water instead of Chlorine. Chlorinated water can be left out over a few days and it disappears. Chloramine does not dissipate. In fact, many of the giant fish stores have invested thousands to remove this chemical because their fish will die if the water isn't treated first. I met a local home owner who apparently has so much Chloramine (due to how close he was to the plant that sends out the water to the city) that his fish kept dying and he couldn't do an outdoor pond! He was ticked. He was complaining to the owner of a local LPS who pretty much now sells water by the gallon because he invested in a massive filtration system to keep his fish stock safe. Granted, the common guy can't afford the 10,000 dollar filtration system - this guy had to give up on his pond because the cost was impossible to manage. This chemical can get into our rivers and it takes a chemical to break the stuff down. How's that for safety?

You want another example of why we can't trust our government? Why is it that we don't have access to some of the best sunscreens in the world? Why do we still allow companies to sell pesticides over seas that are banned here? Why do we allow the use of BHT/BHA in foods when overseas they've proven those preservatives trigger migraines and it's even banned in multiple countries. Obviously, they need to make a profit so it's allowed here. It's in almost ALL cereals in the grocery aisle except for organic stores. These are the types of safety questions that make me ponder whether the safety studies are being done correctly. I suspect not.

Remind me to never be near a truck that overturns that contains Neotame. Apparently, it's highly combustible. They only recommend cleanup by vacuum in the case of a disaster spill. Bizarre. It does make you want to take a whole bottle and drop a match from a distance into it just to see what happens. I've probably use barbecue gloves and really, really long tongs.

http://www.neotame.com/pdf/Neotame_MSDS.pdf

This a list of combustible dusts by OSHA.

CombustibleDust
Does your company or firm
process any of these products or
materials in powdered form?
If your company or firmprocesses any of these products or
materials, there is potential for a “Combustible Dust” explosion.

Agricultural Products
Egg white
Milk, powdered
Milk, nonfat, dry
Soy flour
Starch, corn
Starch, rice
Starch, wheat
Sugar
Sugar, milk
Sugar, beet
Tapioca
Whey
Wood flour
Agricultural Dusts
Alfalfa
Apple
Beet root
Carrageen
Carrot
Cocoa bean dust
Cocoa powder
Coconut shell dust
Coffee dust
Corn meal
Cornstarch
Cotton
Cottonseed
Garlic powder
Gluten
Grass dust
Green coffee
Hops (malted)
Lemon peel dust
Lemon pulp
Linseed
Locust bean gum
Malt
Oat flour
Oat grain dust
Olive pellets
Onion powder
Parsley (dehydrated)
Peach
Peanut meal and skins
Peat
Potato
Potato flour
Potato starch
Raw yucca seed dust
Rice dust
Rice flour
Rice starch
Rye flour
Semolina
Soybean dust
Spice dust
Spice powder
Sugar (10x)
Sunflower
Sunflower seed dust
Tea
Tobacco blend
Tomato
Walnut dust
Wheat flour
Wheat grain dust
Wheat starch
Xanthan gum

www.osha.gov/Publications/combustibledustposter.pdf

Sensationalism sells.:laugh:
So would you do the same with these dusts too? Or are you just anti chemical?


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

go natural.. use stevia... a natural sweetner.. from a plant.. NO CALORIES.. no chemicals, no plastic or weird crap!

I was a long time user of aspartame and splenda, then stevia. I now am a user of cane sugar, agave syrup, honey, etc. Here is why:

I had read for a long time about brain effects of aspartame. Last summer I was with a nephew at Mayo Clinic. He had leukemia and with side effects of treatment was having a very hard time getting any food down. One thing he liked was vanilla frozen yogurt. The vanilla frozen yogurt available had aspartame in it. He would be having a good day, eat the yogurt, and do a 180 on us. Scared the living daylights out of me. He died Aug 18, 2011.

I read that splenda and aspartame can mess with your hunger signals. Your body tastes sweet and gets ready to digest calories. Calories do not come, so your body sends hunger signals so you send calories. If this is true, then stevia might work the same way. Stevia has been used for centuries, but no one over does it like and American, I am afraid that it will prove harmful in the amounts we consume.

I use about 10 grains of sugar in the raw when I want something sweetened. That's about 5 calories. In coffee I use a little organic milk which has lactose, a sugar, in it, and have learned to live with that amount of sweetness in my coffee.

I have also read that coffee itself is an appetite stimulant, and should be used very moderately by dieters.

My doctor told me that a little real sugar is better than artificial sweeteners. She told me that when you eat/drink artificial sweeteners your taste buds get the sweet sensation and send signals to your brain which makes your body expect the sugar and the energy spike that comes with it. When your body doesn't get that, it in turn causes you to crave more sweets...

Not entirely sure of the validity of this but I cut way back on artificial sweeteners and my craving for sweets has gone down drastically.

My doctor told me the same thing. Since I also get migraines, I'm trying as an experiment to cut all artificial sweeteners from my diet for a month and see if it makes a difference. So far it's been 20 days and I think it is helping - my cravings for sugary things have been significantly less intense lately, even though I'm pretty stressed right now. (Stress is a major craving trigger for me.) It's not a scientific study, but the changes are enough that I think I'll keep going this way for another month and see how it goes. If it helps, it's worth it.

Ninerbuff -

I was joking about the overturned truck. I guess you didn't realize it. I just thought it was interesting how difficult this stuff was to clean up and it seemed a bit funny to me. I was lightening up a bit. Let's just agree to disagree. We'll all eat whatever sugars (artificial or real). For me, I'll always stick to the natural stuff. I think that's the safest bet. I'd rather eat right and limit the real sugars than eat chemical ones. There are too many organic ones out there. It seems like the zero calorie chemical stuff is in everything you drink and appears in foods...etc. Basically, it's just easier to avoid it.

As for chemicals, I think we do need to explore more nature based environmental chemicals. We have too many plastics in our environment and yes - we do need to look into stuff that's more biodegradable. We still haven't found ways to easily dispose of stuff and creating more landfills and dumping stuff on top of them is not a good long term solution. We can't keep creating stuff that can't go back into the environment. It's just not a good feasible long term solution for trash. By the way, look at the ocean gyres. You're going to be surprised how much of the stuff we create ends up in our oceans.

http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/marine-debris/the-pacific-garbage-patch.html

This is why I'm willing to start looking at alternatives to some of our chemical based living. Now here's where the anti-animal faction is going to kill me. I prefer to wear cottons, leathers...animal based stuff because it's cleaner than plastic chemical based clothing. It breaks down better too. There's a reason the scientists get super excited when they find old clothing. It's not that common. I just think we all need to lead lives with fewer man made materials.

Monica

Ninerbuff -

I was joking about the overturned truck. I guess you didn't realize it. I just thought it was interesting how difficult this stuff was to clean up and it seemed a bit funny to me. I was lightening up a bit. Let's just agree to disagree. We'll all eat whatever sugars (artificial or real). For me, I'll always stick to the natural stuff. I think that's the safest bet. I'd rather eat right and limit the real sugars than eat chemical ones. There are too many organic ones out there. It seems like the zero calorie chemical stuff is in everything you drink and appears in foods...etc. Basically, it's just easier to avoid it.

As for chemicals, I think we do need to explore more nature based environmental chemicals. We have too many plastics in our environment and yes - we do need to look into stuff that's more biodegradable. We still haven't found ways to easily dispose of stuff and creating more landfills and dumping stuff on top of them is not a good long term solution. We can't keep creating stuff that can't go back into the environment. It's just not a good feasible long term solution for trash. By the way, look at the ocean gyres. You're going to be surprised how much of the stuff we create ends up in our oceans.

http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/marine-debris/the-pacific-garbage-patch.html

This is why I'm willing to start looking at alternatives to some of our chemical based living. Now here's where the anti-animal faction is going to kill me. I prefer to wear cottons, leathers...animal based stuff because it's cleaner than plastic chemical based clothing. It breaks down better too. There's a reason the scientists get super excited when they find old clothing. It's not that common. I just think we all need to lead lives with fewer man made materials.

Monica

I don't disagree with Ocean conservation. I'm willing to live without more chemicals to save them. Plastic bottles....people who drink bottled water need to be more educated about where it really comes from and how soda companies are making a TON of money off our free TAP WATER (little more filtration involved). I have an under the counter filtration system in my home that has saved me lots of money and recycle trash.
Personally I like eating whole foods and less processed. But at the same time there are processed items which I believe to be safe and fine if taken in moderation with diet soda being one of them.

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

My doctor told me that a little real sugar is better than artificial sweeteners. She told me that when you eat/drink artificial sweeteners your taste buds get the sweet sensation and send signals to your brain which makes your body expect the sugar and the energy spike that comes with it. When your body doesn't get that, it in turn causes you to crave more sweets...

Not entirely sure of the validity of this but I cut way back on artificial sweeteners and my craving for sweets has gone down drastically.

My doctor told me the same thing. Since I also get migraines, I'm trying as an experiment to cut all artificial sweeteners from my diet for a month and see if it makes a difference. So far it's been 20 days and I think it is helping - my cravings for sugary things have been significantly less intense lately, even though I'm pretty stressed right now. (Stress is a major craving trigger for me.) It's not a scientific study, but the changes are enough that I think I'll keep going this way for another month and see how it goes. If it helps, it's worth it.

Artificial sweeteners in any amount are a KNOWN culprit to headaches and migraines. And because the artificial crap is anything 'diet', the amount actually consumed by the 'dieter' is wayyyy more than you'd think....

You can't be so possibly undereducated to think that calories alone acounts for a weight problem?!

Instead of calling someone undereducated, do you think you could point out specifics that you don't agree with? That'd be a better way to engage in discussion, don't you think?

Take a look at the damage the artifical crap does to your body in general... And that in no way leads to a weight problem?

Since this discussion is about artificial sweeteners, do you have evidence in the form of research, that indicates that aspartame is harmful at regular human dosages? Are you aware that the components of aspartame (phenylalanine, aspartic acid <

---

two amino acids, and methanol) are contained in chicken and bananas, naturally, and at higher doses than a can of soda?

Do you have examples of people who are eating in a calorie deficit and getting fatter?

The weight problem is excess calorie consumption. If you want to make a case for people getting fatter for any reason ASIDE FROM excess energy consumption, I'd love to hear it.

Now there IS validity in discussing whether or not there's a cause to excess energy consumption, but that doesn't change the fact that the excess consumption causes the weight gain.

I'm not argueing the cycle in which the sweeteners sabatoge a persons efforts, but point is, they do

Do you have any evidence of this? I sure haven't seen any.

EDIT: You CAN find some studies showing the effects of artificial sweeteners on gut hormones but when you look at several studies and don't cherry pick, it's inconclusive.

I totally agree with you about bottled water. That's the biggest scam ever! Sometimes the bottled water isn't any better than the stuff coming out of your faucet. We've also got a system for under the sink and that's what I use too. It's ironic that past generations used to use glass bottles that were returned washed and reused and now...we keep creating more and more plastic. It's not anywhere as nice as the glass bottles.

Now that my mind is thinking about glass bottles, I had an interesting memory pop up about soda growing up. I don't know about you, but when I do cheat on soda, there's nothing better than Coke Cola in a glass bottle made from real sugar (not corn syrup). It's just different! It was a totally different experience - the sugar also changed the flavor. I hate corn syrup.

I have tried to cut anything that was made in a lab from my diet. All this about there have not been any ill effects over the last 30 years - have they not noticed the obesity epidemic!! While I am sure it is not Aspartame alone that has done this but a combination of processed foods etc.

Don't overdo the sugar either it is all down to calories vs calories out.

You're correlating obesity with artificial sweeteners as being part of the cause? Please enlighten me on how consuming something with zero calories causes someone to be obese?

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

You can't be so possibly undereducated to think that calories alone acounts for a weight problem?! Take a look at the damage the artifical crap does to your body in general... And that in no way leads to a weight problem? I'm not argueing the cycle in which the sweeteners sabatoge a persons efforts, but point is, they do

As Sidesteal mentioned, aspartame is made from the amino acids aspartic acid and phenylalanine (which happens to be an essential amino,) the methanol is actually a byproduct of metabolizing it, not an ingredient in the product itself. Methanol is also a natural byproduct of metabolizing most fruits, vegetables, and meats, and methanol and formaldehyde are actually exhaled from your body every time you breathe out.

A 4 oz piece of chicken breast contains the equivalent amount of aspartic acid and phenylalanine (essentially aspartame) as 25 cans of diet soda. If aspartame is really as dangerous as you seem to be convinced it is, then eating chicken is far deadlier than drinking diet soda. If you're going to insult someone and call them "undereducated," you might want to take the time to thoroughly educate yourself first.

I have tried to cut anything that was made in a lab from my diet. All this about there have not been any ill effects over the last 30 years - have they not noticed the obesity epidemic!! While I am sure it is not Aspartame alone that has done this but a combination of processed foods etc.

Don't overdo the sugar either it is all down to calories vs calories out.

You're correlating obesity with artificial sweeteners as being part of the cause? Please enlighten me on how consuming something with zero calories causes someone to be obese?

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

You can't be so possibly undereducated to think that calories alone acounts for a weight problem?! Take a look at the damage the artifical crap does to your body in general... And that in no way leads to a weight problem? I'm not argueing the cycle in which the sweeteners sabatoge a persons efforts, but point is, they do

As Sidesteal mentioned, aspartame is made from the amino acids aspartic acid and phenylalanine (which happens to be an essential amino,) the methanol is actually a byproduct of metabolizing it, not an ingredient in the product itself. Methanol is also a natural byproduct of metabolizing most fruits, vegetables, and meats, and methanol and formaldehyde are actually exhaled from your body every time you breathe out.

A 4 oz piece of chicken breast contains the equivalent amount of aspartic acid and phenylalanine (essentially aspartame) as 25 cans of diet soda. If aspartame is really as dangerous as you seem to be convinced it is, then eating chicken is far deadlier than drinking diet soda. If you're going to insult someone and call them "undereducated," you might want to take the time to thoroughly educate yourself first.

Good stuff Tiger. Thanks for the clarification on methanol. I believe I had misunderstood it as an ingredient and not a byproduct.

I use "Stevia in the raw" for everything. I buy packets for coffee and tea and I buy in bulk for baking, cooking, etc. I LOVE the stuff. No calories + No Aspartame = a winner to me!

I agree with this! I use stevia in the raw also, it's a different taste than equal, but still good

http://sweetleaf.com/about/faqs

Read the section about Sweetleaf and it's processing. They don't use chemicals and it has a safe rating from the FDA. Like any consumer, you have to read what you buy or you could get honey mixed with corn syrup or some other concoction.

http://www.foodbusinessnews.net/News/News Home/Business News/2012/2/Stevia supplier receives patent for extraction method.aspx?cck=1

They patented a new process that doesn't use methanol. It's new technology. You just didn't know about it. Unfortunately, that means that the other companies making it are all using the method you mentioned. You are half right and half wrong. Basically, like I said, it's a matter of the consumer knowing what they are buying.