The "other" truth about artificial sweeteners.

Well. I can only say from own experience that artificial sweeteners (especially aspartame) give me HORRENDOUS headaches. Like to the point where I can't function. I avoid them because I don't want to have a headache and I tend to only get them when I consume them (same with high fructose corn syrup - everytime I eat it I feel like crap...).

We all make decisions about what we put into our bodies. I, for one, would rather put plain ole sugar into my system than something artificial -- not just because I don't really know how it is made or that it is a chemical.. simply because my body doesn't react well to it and THAT is what is important to me.

That is wonderful that you were able to pinpoint what causes your headaches and are able to avoid those triggers. My brother is deathly allergic to strawberries and my daughter, strangely enough, is allergic to pineapple. They have bad reactions to them and I would never encourage them to eat them just because I do not have a bad reaction to them. I suppose one of the points I was trying to make, though, that they would also not tell the rest of us NOT to consume strawberries or pineapple just because they have an intolerance for them. :flowerforyou:

If someone asks me if they should eat/drink/etc something -- then I will tell them. But, only because I feel by asking "Should I drink diet pop?" you want my opinion. My thoughts on it. Whatever. Will I walk up to someone say "WHY ARE YOU DRINKING THAT?" No way. I have too many people who are critical of the foods I eat, I sure as heck won't do it to someone else. I know what works for me and I'll happily offer my experience with something to someone who asks. But, to preach about someone else drinking diet pop or regular pop? Nah. It's your body. Do as you want with it. Just because *I* don't do it doesn't make it wrong or right for everyone!

Just because you can eat something and still lose weight does not make it good for you. To each their own, you can put whatever you want in your body, but I wouldn't "encourage" people to eat things that are no good for them just because you do. That's just me though.

I guess I am still waiting for the part where someone explains to me WHY they are no good for me or HOW THEY KNOW they are no good for me. Because they are man made? Because you can't pronounce the name? Because someone made fifty lab rats eat 10 times their body weight of it day after day after day until one of them became sick? Or because one or two people had a bad reaction to it (strawberries anyone)? You told me they are "no good" but didn't state why or how you know. Ya know what I mean?

it all depends on the person and the effect it has on them. for one, atrificial sweeteners give me bloat. especialyl in my mid section. i still drink pop and want to stop because of that reason. my cousin gets a stomach ache from it. no, it won't kill you. like you said, moderation. processed foods are OKAY soemtiems as long as they're accounted for and 5 out of 7 days a week you try to stay away from them ( i should walk the talk, i have such a hard time with it!) deoending on what kind of body shape you're looking for. clean foods that are grown and come from the earth help show those carved muscles. processed things leave your fat hangin on. and the cleaner you eat, the less you will crave those sweet things. just soemthing to keep in mind. but you are right! if you want itHAVE IT! jsut not all the time!

As someone who has dealt first hand with aspertame poisioning, I can tell you that I will tell people only because I do care. It's not like i go down the road yelling at people for drinking or eating something that's bad for them, it's people I know and love. But here's the thing, my husband and I had never heard of such a thing until he was being diagnosed with all sorts of crazy things, like chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. I mean WTH! These are crazy things right? But not at all what he had! If you look up aspertame poisoning and see what the symptoms are you might rethink your statements. But if not that's totally up to you. My point is that if your friends or family said something to you about it, it might be they just know something you didn't and were trying to protect you from being paralyzed or dying, cause those are actual symptoms of aspertame poisoning. And I would tell you just so you could make an informed decision, that's all, cause people tell people these things not to throw it in their face but to keep them safe and that's all. :flowerforyou:

AMEN!! Like PP have said, ALL things in moderation. Diet soda gives me a headache too, if I consume too much of it. To each their own!

Sorry, can't help myself! Penicillin is derived from bread mold and aspirin from willow bark. Just a little trivia.

Bingo.

There used to be an old Monsanto ad from the 70's.
It was a picture of an orange and the list of ingredients was right next to it.
This was not a man made orange, or a frankenstein orange.... just a natural orange.
(course this is kind of ironic since Monsanto was the number one producer of one of the most toxic agents ever... the generic dioxiin called "agent orange"; along with their current reputation of onerous seed monopolies, GM foods, and debatable food supply controls)

Nonetheless, there is an important chemical lesson here.
Hundreds of chemical components make up all foods.
Natural? Organic? That is a great way to MARKET toxic cigarettes and all sorts of other things, including food.

I am certainly not against understanding how food is produced, and minimizing unnecessary exposure to any "cidal" agent.. I just think that often the views are not balanced by epidemiological and scientific evidence.

So just what is in an orange?
Get ready....

Carbohydrates represent most of soluble solids in citrus fruits; they are present both as simple sugars and as polysaccharides. Citrus soluble solids are on the average made by a 70% of sugars, whilst pulp solids are made by a 40% of sugars and by a 50% of polysaccharides. Citrus flavor is due to the blend of sugars, acids and specific flavor compounds, some of which are sugar-containing substances known as glycosides. Contribution to fruit color may be made by sugar-containing anthocyanidins while texture is controlled by the structural carbohydrate polymers.

Between monosaccharides, major components are glucose and fructose.
.
Galactose is present just in some phenolic glycosides and in polysaccharides. There are no free
pentose sugars; the aforementioned are only present in hemicelluloses and arabinans.
Among other constituents of citrus pectic substances, one finds 6-deoxyaldohexoses in the form of fuctose and rhamnose.

Saccharose is the main naturally occurring oligosaccharide in citrus fruits.
Polysaccharides are mainly represented by pectic substances (galacturonans) (1-4) linked D-galactopiranuronic acid units in extended chains; their carboxyl group is partially or completely neutralized with one or more cations and some may be esterified by methanol to form esters (carbometoxy gropus).
Pectic substances can be classified as follows
Protopectin: the term is applied to the water insoluble parent pectic substance which occurs in plants and which upon restricted hydrolysis yields pectin or pectinic acids.

Pectinic Acids: the term is used for colloidal polygalacturonic acids containing more than a negligible portion of methyl ester groups. Pectinic acids, under suitable conditions, are capable of forming gels with sugars and acids or, if suitably low in methoxyl content, with certain metallic ions.

Pectin: the term designates those water soluble pectinic acids of varying methyl ester content and degree of neutralization which are capable of forming gels with sugars and acids, under suitable conditions.

Peptic Acids: the term is applied to pectic substances mostly composed of colloidal polygalacturonic acids and essentialy free form methyl ester groups.
Peptinic acids, the most useful of the pectic substances because of their jellying power, are divided into two groups of pectins for commercial gel making.

1) High-methoxyl (above 7% methoxyl) will form jams and jellies with the proper proportion of sugar and acids.
2) Low-methoxyl pectins (3 to 7% methoxyl) will form stable gels with small quantities of polyvalent cations such as calcium without the additional soluble solids and acids.
Pectin changes during maturation, as the fruits ripen, the insoluble protopectin of mersitematic and parenchymatous tissue changes into water-soluble pectin and pectinates; as the fruits continue to ripen and become over-ripe these products are converted into low-grade pectin and insoluble pectates. Furthermore, juices and other by-products of the fruit processing need to be kept under control to prevent anomalous changes due to lack of control over processing parameters.
Pectin changes may be enzymatic or chemical. Because enzymes are an important factor in the pectic changes that occur in citrus, only two pectic enzymes will be considered:
Pectinestarase (PE) is an enzyme capable of demethylating pectin and 2) Polygalacturonase (PG) is a pectic depolymerizing enzyme. Only PE occurs naturally in citrus.
Let's consider now organic acids. Organic acids are: 1) Citric Acid; 2) L-Malic Acid. 3) D-Isocitric Acid (found in small concentration, but determining quality and purity). Oxalic Acid, Succinic Acid, Malonic Acid, Quinic Acid, Tartaric Acid, Adipic Acid, 2-ketogluratic Acid are found only in small traces. Total acidity range has an extremely wide range between different species and different locations of the orchards.
The isocitrico acid is contained in small succinico, malonico, chinico, tartarico, adipic, 2-chetoglutarico and benzoic concentration while they are present ossalico acid traces.

The nitrogenous compound in citrus are contained in rather low concentration but are important for assessing purity of the juices. Within of the nitrogenous substances without doubt more important ones are free amminoacids, representing approximately 70 % of the total nitrogenous substances. Citrus juices contain almost all important amminoacids, the most abundant are praline, asparagines, aspartic acid, serine, glutamic acid and arginine. Citrus contains small amounts of proteins which are basically enzymes (oxidoreductases, transferases, hydrolases and lyases, isomerases and ligases). Nitrogen bases and nucleic acids contents are extremely low.

There are three classes of Citrus lipids: non-polar, polar not ionic and polar ionic. Between non-polar lipids there are aldehydes, ketones and alcohols with long chain, carotins and their esters and some triglycerides. Non-ionic polar lipids usually contain sugars like glucosilglucerides. Polar ionic lipids contain reactive functional groups like aminic, carboxylic or phosphoric; free fatty acids and phosphatidic acid belong to this group. Despite their small content, lipids are important because they are involved in “off-flavors” development during juices storage.

Carotenoids derive their name from the main representative of their group, beta-carotene and pigments widely spread in nature responsible for bright shades ranging from yellow to deep red. Carotenoids are tetraterpenes formed by joining together of eight C5 isoprene units; the units are linked in a regular head to tail manner, except in the center of the molecule where the order is inverted tail to tail, thus making the molecule symmetrical.

A group of complex chemically related substances, triterpene derivatives, have been named limonoids; all components have a furan ring attached to the D-ring at C-17.
Between limonoids, the most important is limonin, known as citrus constituent since 1841.
Limonin is not directly present in fruit tissues, it is contained in the aslimonoic acid A-ring lactone, that is not bitter. When the fruit is macerated, during juicing, the combined action of fruit acids and an enzyme converts the aslimonoic acid info limonin, which is extremely bitter. In citrus products this is usually known as “delayed bitterness”. The absence of bitterness in the intact fruit and the delay in the onset of bitterness after juicing differentiate limonin bitterness from that due to the flavone neohesperidosides, such as naringin of grapefruit or bitter orange. In the latter case, the intact fruit is bitter and so is the fresh squeezed juice from it. Flavone neohesperidosides do not occur in many citrus species like sweet oranges (Citrus Sinensis), lemons (Citrus Lemon), limes (Citrus Aurantifolia) and in mandarins and tangerines (Citrus Reticulata); limonin, on the other end, is ubiquitous in all citrus species, although it may not be present in sufficient quantity at maturity to cause delayed bitterness of the juice. Delayed bitterness is most noticeable in the juice of the Navel orange and the Shamouti orange. There is no way, after juicing, to stop the reation. There is a direct relationship between limonin concentration and bitterness; generally speaking less than 6 ppm = not bitter; more than 9 ppm = bitter; 24 to 30 ppm = extremely bitter. Obviously, variations in acidity amd sweetness influence subjective responses to bitterness. In fact, a 1 ppm solution of limonin in water is considered bitter.
Flavenoids
Flavonoids are very abundant in Citrus and have a very complex pattern. Three types of flavonoids occur in Citrus: flavones (including 3-hydroxyflavanones), flavones (including 3-dydroxyflavones) and anthocyanins. Depending upon whether or not a glucosyl residue is present, the flavanones and flavones are further divided in O-glycosyl, aglycones and C-glycosylflavones. Anthocyanins are only known as constituents of blood oranges. The most important flavanones are hesperidin, naringin, poncirin, neoheriocitrin and neohesperidin. Between flavones, the most important are rhoifolin, rutin and diosmin. Between aglycones, of mention are sinensetin, auranetin, tangeritin. Without taking into account anthocyanins, there are 56 flavonoids in citrus. Some are bitter. Some, like diosmin, hesperidin and rutin, show pharmacological activity. In fact, Vitamin P, a very effective factor for reducing capillary permeability was discovered in 1937 by Szent and Gyorgyi while working on lemon peels. Pharmacological use is important in vascular and trombotic diseases like varicose veins. Diosmin, in particular, reduces capillary damage induced by histamine. Recent research shows that some flavonoids act as regulators in 1) prostaglandins synthesis (prostaglandins are a class of natural compounds physiologically very active at the level of muscles and involved in the inflammatory processes), 2) platelets aggregation, as well as other processes. Some flavonoids act as inhibitors and others as enhancers of enzymatic biosynthesis. Some flavonoids, like hydroxyethylrutinosideres are anti-inflammatory, others are immunosuppressive and other show antiallergenic properties. New research points to anticancerous properties of tangeritin by delaying metastasis of a primary cancer to a secondary or tertiary stage. Hesperidin, naringin and nobiletin have lower therapeutic potential. Dihydrochalcones derivatives of flavonoids are low calorie sweetners. Flavonoids are found mainly in the albedo and their concentration in juices depends upon the juicing technology. Due to their bitterness, it is desirable to remove flavonoids (such as limonin) through a process known as absorber resins.
With respect to anthocyanins, the most abundant is cyanidin-3-glucoside, then cyanidina-3.5-diglucoside, peonidin-5-glucoside, delphinidin-3-glucoside and petunidin-3-glucoside.
Coloring agents, generally anthocyanin (cianidyn-3-glucoside, cianidyn-3,5-diglucoside, peonidina-5-glucoside, delfinidina-3-glucoside and the petunidina-3-glucoside) Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid). Pholacine, Vitamin B6, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Biotin, Pantotenic acid, Vitamin A

I like the way this was put.

Personally, I don't have a problem with seeing the posts about things being 'bad' for me, particularly when they're backed up by links to reputable sources. I treat them like public service announcements, because while I may know all the info that's out there, not everyone does and it's good to keep people informed... with both sides of the argument.

I know some people don't respond well to aspartame. But there are a lot of people it doesn't bother. As it stands with the information out there I think it's a middle or the road issue, maybe down the road enough info will come up to clear it, or damn it, but right now it hits me simply a matter of personal choice.

Artificial sweeteners don't bother me, therefore I don't worry about it when I seem them listed in a product I choose to eat. I don't have a problem if other people choose not to eat it. I do have a problem with anyone who might continually preach at me because I don't live by their lifestyle choices.

Best post of the day!!! All so very true. I never thought about the fact that you can seriously OD on water and kill yourself. Too much of anything can be bad but moderation is always key. I love my Pepsi Max, Aspartame and all!!! :laugh:

Great thread. I too love my artificial sweeteners (I am a Splenda user). That being said, I have an extremely healthy diet consisting lof lots of fresh veggies and fruits, lean meats (mostly chicken and fish), whole grains, healthy oils like olive and fat free or low fat dairy. I rarely EVER eat processed foods, but if I want something that happens to come in a box, bag or can I don't feel bad about it. But that's primarily because I don't eat that much of it and I agree with the others who say "everything in moderation." (However I wouldn't advise anyone to try and exist solely on a diet of artificial and processed foods.) But when something has to be sweet, I use Splenda.

Sugar is empty calories. Maybe it's not going to kill you, unless you're experiencing health problems brought on by overweight from the overconsumption of it, but it's not giving you any nutrition either. So when I have to make a choice between a 120 calorie soda, which gives me bupkus in the way of nutrition, or for the same 120 calories I could have a couple of ounces of lean turkey on a slice of high fiber bread, telling me that chosing the diet soda is a bad idea is going to pretty much fall on deaf ears.

I do concede that aspartame, or any other substance for that matter, bother some people. I have a friend who's son is deathly allergic to peanuts, but for the rest of the population peanuts are a good thing. I don't judge anyone for wanting to avoid certain foods, whatever their reasons.

The following I wrote in a previous thread on the same subject.... just one more perspective to consider.

I choose Splenda, hands down.

If you can ween yourself from the desire for sweets, then that's great and the occassional sweet treat isn't going to do you that much harm. But if you have a sweet tooth, and it takes large amounts of sugar to satisfy it, you are going to have a very difficult time taking off the weight.

I have seen a lot of opinions and theories about artificial sweeteners, and although the FDA has made claims that saccharin and aspartame are in fact dangerous, I have not found any evidence of that regarding Splenda or Stevia. I agree that Stevia tastes funky, so Splenda has been my sweetener of choice for years now. I use it in everything.

My feeling is, I don't know if Splenda is harmful, and maybe they will prove that it is sometime in the future. But here's what I DO know, I know that by continuing to eat a high sugar diet, I was grossly overweight. I DO know that as a result of that overweight I was on blood pressure medication and that I was at risk for developing diabetes, as I am currently the only living member of my family who does not have it. I know that my hips and knees hurt and I could barely get up a flight of stairs, and I know that I was miserable and depressed.

So when I compare what I don't know, but someone speculates might be true (that Splenda may be harmful?) against what I definitely DO know, (that being overweight due to a high sugar high fat diet was probably going to kill me at the rate I was going), I am going to take the risk, enjoy the incredible good health and vitality I have now, as a result of losing 76 pounds, largely due to either doing away with or using substitutes for fat and sugar and I am going to dance, and ride my bike, and go for long walks on the beach and play hard with my grandchildren, and enjoy my family and whatever other opportunities come my way.

I remember in the movie Steel Magnolias, Julia Roberts said "I would rather have 15 minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special." Being thin and having my health back is giving me my wonderful, being overweight and in ill health was definitly nothing special.

Only you can decide what you are willing to trade to achieve your goals, what you think the quality of your life is now, what health risks you are currently taking by being overweight, whether they are in fact worse than the risks you MIGHT be taking with the little yellow packets and then you'll know what you can live with, happily or unhappily.

Thanks for listening!!