Another study about aspartame...

Francl27
Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Figured I'd throw this out here.

http://themindunleashed.org/2014/07/end-diet-soda-huge-study-links-aspartame-major-problems-sales-drop.html

And wait with popcorn.

ETA: need more coffee obviously.

Replies

  • tedrickp
    tedrickp Posts: 1,229 Member
    Reasons Im not personally worried about this study (besides being a guy).

    1. No single study changes the world. You have to see how it fits in the current body of research.

    2. Correlation =/= causation

    3. Self-reported data is not great

    4. In the hierarchy of evidence - an observational study like this doesn't rank too highly.

    Im not arguing aspartame is safe (even though I think it is) - I am just not personally swayed by this particular study.

    I think the scientist in charge of the study sums it up well:

    “We only found an association, so we can’t say that diet drinks cause these problems,” Vyas says, adding that there may be other factors about people who drink more diet drinks that could explain the connection.
  • TechMike
    TechMike Posts: 22 Member
    "We only found an association, so we can’t say that diet drinks cause these problems."

    Also known as, correlation does not imply causation (but it does waggle its eyebrows suggestively and gesture furtively while mouthing 'look over there'.)

    While it isn't conclusive in any regard, it certainly is interesting and a potential causal link should be studied.
  • cstigs84
    cstigs84 Posts: 15 Member
    Nice sensationalism.
  • Charlottesometimes23
    Charlottesometimes23 Posts: 687 Member
    The researchers say that women who consumed two or more diet drinks a day were more likely to be smokers, and had a higher prevalence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and higher body mass index....yet they still blamed the diet drinks. Sounds like great science to me...:wink:
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    The researchers say that women who consumed two or more diet drinks a day were more likely to be smokers, and had a higher prevalence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and higher body mass index....yet they still blamed the diet drinks. Sounds like great science to me...:wink:

    They controlled for this.
  • darkguardian419
    darkguardian419 Posts: 1,302 Member
    "We only found an association, so we can’t say that diet drinks cause these problems."

    Also known as, correlation does not imply causation (but it does waggle its eyebrows suggestively and gesture furtively while mouthing 'look over there'.)

    While it isn't conclusive in any regard, it certainly is interesting and a potential causal link should be studied.


    A potential causal link has been studied ad naseum and it's not true, with exceptions of course. The exceptions being if you drink/eat enough aspartame that you would literally die from hyperhydration, or if you have a genetic predisposition to a bad reaction to it.
  • Charlottesometimes23
    Charlottesometimes23 Posts: 687 Member
    The researchers say that women who consumed two or more diet drinks a day were more likely to be smokers, and had a higher prevalence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and higher body mass index....yet they still blamed the diet drinks. Sounds like great science to me...:wink:

    They controlled for this.

    They controlled for some of it. There were several other important risk factors that weren't controlled for such as family history, triglycerides, alcohol use, medications etc.
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    I'll just leave this here...

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1308408-why-aspartame-isn-t-scary

    Aspartame is a molecule which is formed by bonding phenylalanine and aspartate
    phenylalanine and aspartate are naturally occuring amino acids found in all proteins. Protein is about 5.46% aspartate and about 3.6% phenylalanine on average. So let us say you have a 4oz piece of chicken breast. A small 4oz chicken breast has about 24g of protein. That means that in that chicken breast there is .036*24*1000 = 864mg of phenylalanine and .055*24*1000 = 1320mg aspartate. That means to get the same amount of aspartate and phenylalanine from diet coke as you do from one 4oz chicken breast you would have to drink 18 diet cokes. In my diet I eat around 180g of protein in a day which means to equal the amount I get from my normal diet of whole foods I would have to drink 135 cans of diet coke.
  • FunkyTobias
    FunkyTobias Posts: 1,776 Member
    EL-OH-EL
    After an average follow-up of 8.7 years, the primary outcome—defined as a composite of incident coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, heart attack, coronary revascularization procedure, ischemic stroke, peripheral arterial disease, and cardiovascular death—occurred in 8.5 percent of the women consuming two or more diet drinks a day compared to 6.9 percent in the five-to-seven diet drinks per week group; 6.8 percent in the one-to-four drinks per week group; and 7.2 percent in the zero-to-three per month group.

    So moderate consumption is better than no consumption, according to these numbers.
  • Charlottesometimes23
    Charlottesometimes23 Posts: 687 Member
    EL-OH-EL
    After an average follow-up of 8.7 years, the primary outcome—defined as a composite of incident coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, heart attack, coronary revascularization procedure, ischemic stroke, peripheral arterial disease, and cardiovascular death—occurred in 8.5 percent of the women consuming two or more diet drinks a day compared to 6.9 percent in the five-to-seven diet drinks per week group; 6.8 percent in the one-to-four drinks per week group; and 7.2 percent in the zero-to-three per month group.

    So moderate consumption is better than no consumption, according to these numbers.

    Perhaps moderate consumption is protective...:laugh:
  • snikkins
    snikkins Posts: 1,282 Member
    EL-OH-EL
    After an average follow-up of 8.7 years, the primary outcome—defined as a composite of incident coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, heart attack, coronary revascularization procedure, ischemic stroke, peripheral arterial disease, and cardiovascular death—occurred in 8.5 percent of the women consuming two or more diet drinks a day compared to 6.9 percent in the five-to-seven diet drinks per week group; 6.8 percent in the one-to-four drinks per week group; and 7.2 percent in the zero-to-three per month group.

    So moderate consumption is better than no consumption, according to these numbers.

    Perhaps moderate consumption is protective...:laugh:

    Ironically, that is also what the data showed in the now infamous study done on the rats that "proves" aspartame will kill you. Good stuff. :drinker:
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    The researchers say that women who consumed two or more diet drinks a day were more likely to be smokers, and had a higher prevalence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and higher body mass index....yet they still blamed the diet drinks. Sounds like great science to me...:wink:

    They controlled for this.

    They controlled for some of it. There were several other important risk factors that weren't controlled for such as family history, triglycerides, alcohol use, medications etc.

    In that case, sloppy. But it still might be worth some followup.

    I don't have a dog in this fight, by the way. I think the stuff tastes disgusting and that is reason enough for me to avoid.
  • Kiyalynn
    Kiyalynn Posts: 128 Member
    I didn't reed the article... However, to those of you who think its safe, I have to disagree, from personal experience; it gives me Headaches, Anything that randomly give me headaches is BAD in my book.
    My husband does OK with it and uses it in his drinks... but I've found even a little and I feel bad... for a while I was drinking the 'low calorie' Gatorade... thinking they just had less sugar... only to find out they had aspertame... those didn't have enough to give me headaches... but once I stopped drinking them I felt much better overall. Its not just me either... My mother gets headaches from aspertame too. As well as, my doctors tell me ABSOLUTELY NO artificial sugar while pregnant. So I happen to believe aspartame is bad... Just limit your sugar and leave the aspertame alone.
  • pinkraynedropjacki
    pinkraynedropjacki Posts: 3,027 Member
    I'm just going to go grab my pepsi max if that's ok then come back & read it.
  • shining_light
    shining_light Posts: 384 Member
    I'll just leave this here...

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1308408-why-aspartame-isn-t-scary

    Aspartame is a molecule which is formed by bonding phenylalanine and aspartate
    phenylalanine and aspartate are naturally occuring amino acids found in all proteins. Protein is about 5.46% aspartate and about 3.6% phenylalanine on average. So let us say you have a 4oz piece of chicken breast. A small 4oz chicken breast has about 24g of protein. That means that in that chicken breast there is .036*24*1000 = 864mg of phenylalanine and .055*24*1000 = 1320mg aspartate. That means to get the same amount of aspartate and phenylalanine from diet coke as you do from one 4oz chicken breast you would have to drink 18 diet cokes. In my diet I eat around 180g of protein in a day which means to equal the amount I get from my normal diet of whole foods I would have to drink 135 cans of diet coke.

    THANK YOU. And by the way, you know what the deadliest ingredient in diet soda is? Water. If you drank enough diet soda to kill you, it would be because of having a seizure or heart attack due to water intoxication.
  • pinkraynedropjacki
    pinkraynedropjacki Posts: 3,027 Member
    I didn't reed the article... However, to those of you who think its safe, I have to disagree, from personal experience; it gives me Headaches, Anything that randomly give me headaches is BAD in my book.
    My husband does OK with it and uses it in his drinks... but I've found even a little and I feel bad... for a while I was drinking the 'low calorie' Gatorade... thinking they just had less sugar... only to find out they had aspertame... those didn't have enough to give me headaches... but once I stopped drinking them I felt much better overall. Its not just me either... My mother gets headaches from aspertame too. As well as, my doctors tell me ABSOLUTELY NO artificial sugar while pregnant. So I happen to believe aspartame is bad... Just limit your sugar and leave the aspertame alone.

    But sorry just cause YOU have a hard time does not mean everyone else has to leave it alone. Like you said the Gatorade didnt have enough to cause a headache for you... so perhaps it was not that after all? But even then it causes me no problems so I don't care. I don't drink Gatorade cause it tastes like crap... perhaps you should leave that alone considering it is nothing but water & salt with a little coloring in it?

    Just cause there are people who love trying to scare the population with stories like this does not mean it is either true or is for everyone.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    I didn't reed the article... However, to those of you who think its safe, I have to disagree, from personal experience; it gives me Headaches, Anything that randomly give me headaches is BAD in my book.
    My husband does OK with it and uses it in his drinks... but I've found even a little and I feel bad... for a while I was drinking the 'low calorie' Gatorade... thinking they just had less sugar... only to find out they had aspertame... those didn't have enough to give me headaches... but once I stopped drinking them I felt much better overall. Its not just me either... My mother gets headaches from aspertame too. As well as, my doctors tell me ABSOLUTELY NO artificial sugar while pregnant. So I happen to believe aspartame is bad... Just limit your sugar and leave the aspertame alone.
    The weather changing suddenly makes me get headaches. So by that logic weather changes are bad.
    Also people can die of eating peanuts if they're allergic to them. So are they bad?
  • Kiyalynn
    Kiyalynn Posts: 128 Member
    I didn't reed the article... However, to those of you who think its safe, I have to disagree, from personal experience; it gives me Headaches, Anything that randomly give me headaches is BAD in my book.
    My husband does OK with it and uses it in his drinks... but I've found even a little and I feel bad... for a while I was drinking the 'low calorie' Gatorade... thinking they just had less sugar... only to find out they had aspertame... those didn't have enough to give me headaches... but once I stopped drinking them I felt much better overall. Its not just me either... My mother gets headaches from aspertame too. As well as, my doctors tell me ABSOLUTELY NO artificial sugar while pregnant. So I happen to believe aspartame is bad... Just limit your sugar and leave the aspertame alone.
    The weather changing suddenly makes me get headaches. So by that logic weather changes are bad.
    Also people can die of eating peanuts if they're allergic to them. So are they bad?
    no... not really saying it is bad for everyone... my husband uses aspertame... I just don't believe its good for everyone... I possibly have a allergy to it... but then so does my mother... wouldn't be unheard of... but... that is not a normal allergic reaction so its just the aspertame gives me headaches. And yes... The weather is evil... it should be sunny every day.
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    I try and avoid it at all costs, personally, as it seems to cause issues with my moods.
  • Charlottesometimes23
    Charlottesometimes23 Posts: 687 Member
    The researchers say that women who consumed two or more diet drinks a day were more likely to be smokers, and had a higher prevalence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and higher body mass index....yet they still blamed the diet drinks. Sounds like great science to me...:wink:

    They controlled for this.

    They controlled for some of it. There were several other important risk factors that weren't controlled for such as family history, triglycerides, alcohol use, medications etc.

    In that case, sloppy. But it still might be worth some followup.

    I don't have a dog in this fight, by the way. I think the stuff tastes disgusting and that is reason enough for me to avoid.

    I would say very sloppy.

    This was a report at an annual conference, and from what I can see, not published in a scientific journal nor subjected to the scrutiny of reviewers and the scientific community.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    Look, it is a tool for many people.
    I personally have not had that stuff in ten years or so.
    I would rather drink a VERY RARE regular (full sugar / high calorie) soda.
  • LucasEVille
    LucasEVille Posts: 567 Member
    tl:dr article

    More sensationalism from a chem trail conspiracy site.

    I'm working on a good assumption that if aspartame is ever found to be dangerous (highly unlikely) that this sticky thread will be amended:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1308408-why-aspartame-isn-t-scary

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