Aspartame (Crystal Light, and other 'diet drinks')

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2

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  • snazzyjazzy21
    snazzyjazzy21 Posts: 1,298 Member
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    I've read that aspartame can actually help store fat on your thighs/bum area.... Eeek!

    Untrue. Aspartame plays no part in fat storage, or where it is stored. Excess calories on the other hand, will cause you to gain fat.
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
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    I've read that aspartame can actually help store fat on your thighs/bum area.... Eeek!

    Note to Self: Increase aspartame intake.
  • KeepCalmNGetyaSweatOn
    KeepCalmNGetyaSweatOn Posts: 361 Member
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    Everything in moderation so dont drink 15 cans of coke zero a day and you should be sweet.

    I agree with ^^^ %100 everything in moderation. Unsweetened ice tea is a good alternative to water. Also cut up pieces of fruit in water adds taste and very few calories. There is also flavored stevia that you can add to water. Just some suggestions.
  • lessfatmatt
    lessfatmatt Posts: 27 Member
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    The best thing you can do if you're interested in aspartame safety is to look at the actual evidence. There have been lots of peer reviewed studies on aspartame safety. You can find papers yourself by searching on www.scholar.google.com - which is like regular Google, except for scientific papers. Here are some examples:

    http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/149/10/2318.pdf

    http://www.researchgate.net/publication/6011307_Aspartame_a_safety_evaluation_based_on_current_use_levels_regulations_and_toxicological_and_epidemiological_studies/file/d912f50bb9773d3e4f.pdf

    Peer reviewed science is what you should rely on, not people's opinions (whether those people are randoms on the internet, or supposed nutritionists).

    And if you're worried about consuming "chemicals", remember that water and sugar are chemicals too...
  • benol1
    benol1 Posts: 867 Member
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    Aspartame consumption has been linked to fibromialgia, certain cancers, diabetes and obesity.

    http://nutritionfacts.org/topics/aspartame/
  • Brenda4105
    Brenda4105 Posts: 117 Member
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    I have been addicted to TAB, which has aspartame for more years than I care to admit to. A few years ago I was drinking a 12 pk a day. Not good I know. I was so hooked that if I didn't have it I went through caffine withdrawal. I decided I wanted to save money so I started drinking a bottle of water between each soda. Slowly raising it to two waters, then three....

    Now I only drink water all day long. I have one soda in the morning, my form of coffee and then water until after 6pm. I went from a 12 pk a day to a 12 pk a week. I can't say that it made me crave sweets any more than normal. I do know that the sodium levels in soda are ungodly high, which might be some of the weight that "people" talk about when making comparisons of diet soda and over weight people.

    Bottom line, if you want a soda or something else with artificial sweetners - have it. You are the best judge of how it makes you feel. Health wise everything you do has a health risk or so we are told any more. Personally I think we all have to pick our poison. Your going to die from something, so make sure you enjoy it.
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
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    Aspartame consumption has been linked to fibromialgia, certain cancers, diabetes and obesity.

    http://nutritionfacts.org/topics/aspartame/

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

    that's a crackpot vegan website run by a crackpot!

    http://www.humanewatch.org/hsus_doc_exposed_as_schlock/
  • Thomasm198
    Thomasm198 Posts: 3,189 Member
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    Ignore me. I'm just here waiting for the fun when the "aspartame is the work of the devil. It's a conspiracy between the government and big corporations to slowly kill us all so their alien overlords can take over the planet" brigade turn up.

    popcorn_yes.gif
  • dennymau
    dennymau Posts: 118 Member
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    I drink Crystal Light everyday!!!
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
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    I drink Crystal Light everyday!!!

    well, in that case... you probably died in 2003 and are now a zombie. sorry to have to break the news to you this way.

    :laugh:
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
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    I can't have aspartame or splenda. I'm severely sensitive and I have physical reactions to both.

    other than that, everyone has a different opinion on whether they're harmful or not.
  • HIITMe
    HIITMe Posts: 921 Member
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    Oh and truvia is supposed to be the "best" artificial sweetener. The stevia sweeteners are plant extracts with sugar alcohol added to "pad" them. These are the ones that are safe, per my pediatrician, to give to my toddler, and per my midwife, to drink while pregnant. Truvia is essentially dried stevia tea and sugar alcohol. Crystal Light used to have those water bottle flavor packets with stevia but I couldn't find them. I did find an off-brand powdered lemonade sweetened with stevia but it's in pitcher-sized packets.


    you can buy them online but I cant find them in the store anymore either

    http://shop.crystallight.com/Pure/pure,default,sc.html?cm_mmc=Google-_-Int_eCom_Varieties-_-Pure Broad-_-pure crystal light
  • jmayerovitch
    jmayerovitch Posts: 71 Member
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    Most of the sites out there about artificial sweeteners are either: a) run by the people who make the artificial sweetener, b) run by their competitor, or c) run by "natural health gurus" and have very little real science behind them. Also, these gurus are generally trying to sell a product of their own.

    Splenda gives me migraines. So I don't use it.

    Aspartame seems to have no effect on me whatsoever. So I use it.

    Sugar makes me gain weight. So I try to avoid it where I can.

    So that's what I go with. How I know things affect me personally. Let everyone else argue all day about what pumping mice full of artificial sweeteners does to them.

    What bothers me is when things aren't clearly labeled. I think any product with an artificial sweetener should be clearly labeled on the box, can, whatever. For me, this is especially important with splenda as even one drink with splenda in it can knock me out for the day. It sucks. And since a lot of products that used to use aspartame have switched to splenda, I've often mistakingly ingested it and had a horrible headache afterward.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
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    Personally I avoid the artificial sweeteners, aspartame has been shown to be carcinogenic. Plus I read a report last week showing that people are ending up with MS like symptoms and loss of use etc, and being mis understood by a lot of doctors as MS when the underlying problem is aspartame poisoning, and once the sweeteners had been removed from their diet, normal bodily function returned, but it's your choice... :wink:

    Also sweeteners of any kind are acidic to the body's PH balance along with other chemicals that we use on a daily basis, and the body needs to naturally retain fat to neutralise them as fat is alkaline. This is in part why people that are dependant on meds really struggle with their weight...

    Lolwut.

    No.
    No.
    No.
    No.

    Not a single iota of fact there.
  • Sparkle_Princess
    Sparkle_Princess Posts: 926
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    Personally I avoid the artificial sweeteners, aspartame has been shown to be carcinogenic. Plus I read a report last week showing that people are ending up with MS like symptoms and loss of use etc, and being mis understood by a lot of doctors as MS when the underlying problem is aspartame poisoning, and once the sweeteners had been removed from their diet, normal bodily function returned, but it's your choice... :wink:

    Also sweeteners of any kind are acidic to the body's PH balance along with other chemicals that we use on a daily basis, and the body needs to naturally retain fat to neutralise them as fat is alkaline. This is in part why people that are dependant on meds really struggle with their weight...

    http://rhondagessner.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/a-killer-in-your-fridge-sweet-poison-a-must-read/

    This is the link with info on the MS symptoms etc
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
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    Aspartame consumption has been linked to fibromialgia, certain cancers, diabetes and obesity.

    http://nutritionfacts.org/topics/aspartame/

    Umm, that site cites a few cases of fibromyalgia. Which might be a concern for some - I don't use Aspartame because I get headaches. But it does not, as far as I can tell, suggest a link to cancer, diabetes or obesity directly.

    Care to back those claims?
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
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    http://rhondagessner.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/a-killer-in-your-fridge-sweet-poison-a-must-read/

    bull+on+toilet+cartoon.jpg

    http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp
  • sasers
    sasers Posts: 146 Member
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    I can not have Nutrasweet...have reactions to it but I do okay with Splenda.

    I drink Crystal Light Peach Tea every day (3 packets minimum) Plain water gets too boring and Crystal Light is easier to use at work.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
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    Personally I avoid the artificial sweeteners, aspartame has been shown to be carcinogenic. Plus I read a report last week showing that people are ending up with MS like symptoms and loss of use etc, and being mis understood by a lot of doctors as MS when the underlying problem is aspartame poisoning, and once the sweeteners had been removed from their diet, normal bodily function returned, but it's your choice... :wink:

    Also sweeteners of any kind are acidic to the body's PH balance along with other chemicals that we use on a daily basis, and the body needs to naturally retain fat to neutralise them as fat is alkaline. This is in part why people that are dependant on meds really struggle with their weight...

    http://rhondagessner.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/a-killer-in-your-fridge-sweet-poison-a-must-read/

    This is the link with info on the MS symptoms etc

    A blog to sell Kangen water. Great.
  • BoomstickChick
    BoomstickChick Posts: 428 Member
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    I think it's stupid to say they're "good" for you, but I also don't think they're as bad as people say they are in moderation.

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