All About Artificial Sweeteners

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  • EpiGaiaRepens
    EpiGaiaRepens Posts: 824 Member
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    aslo, the study on rats that I cite is from 2005 and it wasn't injected to any rat body part, it was included in their feed. And the tumors developed in multiple organs. Just FYI.
  • EpiGaiaRepens
    EpiGaiaRepens Posts: 824 Member
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    Donald Rumsfeld had a hand in getting Aspartame pushed for approval by the FDA. Enough said.

    I also think this is a really good point. There is a problem in how our governmental agencies work, which is that the "specialists" who are deemed qualified to work at these agencies tend to job swap back and forth between working for the federal agency and working for the mutli-million dollar companies that produce the products which need to be approved by the FDA. I think that's an entirely new element of this whole thing....one that is really problematic. So I find myself wondering "who is approving this stuff and who do they plan on working for next year?" This was a problem with the FDA approval of GMO foods, for example.

    And also when I look at the government website, I find myself wondering who decided how to present the results of the study here?

    As I said, i did some scientific research that got published. It was a study on 4 different products. We did the research and the statistical analysis ranked the products in order of efficacy. Each and every company who's product we tested used our study to show that their product was the best intheir advertisements after that. They cleverly selected how to interpret and cite our study to say so, even though the study itself really said A was #1, B was #2....so I also have a hard time just reading someone's presentation of a study and their spin on it and accepting that as a legitimate presentation of the study.

    Lawyers and marketing specialists can take a definitive scientific study and spin it however they want!
  • EpiGaiaRepens
    EpiGaiaRepens Posts: 824 Member
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    oh geez. I know I'm really going off here but I had just one more thought- someone here said how we are the first generation to be raised on the stuff and I think that is also a really good point. sometimes the effects of something don't show up for quite some time- ie. a lifetime. A good 60 years of daily consumption. Those studies on rats are conducted in a matter of months. I'll be honest and say I don't know how much of a difference that makes if it's a rat's life time or a humans, but it's an important question and is another reason I won't risk it.

    I keep thinking of those videos from the 1950's when kids' were sitting on their front lawns eating their sandwiches as the DDT sprayer machine went by and the voice over is reassuring everyone how safe DDT really is.
  • _GlaDOS_
    _GlaDOS_ Posts: 1,520 Member
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    I think it’s kind of interesting that when people are thin, exercise, and think they are “fit”, they start thinking they can consume whatever they want because it’s not making them fat anymore. There are many food-like substances out there that are doing short-term and long-term damage to our bodies on the inside. People who exercise and stay at a healthy body weight still get cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

    http://www.fooducate.com/blog/2010/01/03/three-reasons-to-rethink-that-diet-coke-youre-about-to-drink/

    Actual science: http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/302/22/2477.full
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,692 Member
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    http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=289

    What caught my attention: So how much artificial sweetener can an adult safely consume each day, according to these ADIs established by the FDA? Here's an example: To reach the ADI for aspartame (which is 50 mg/kg body weight per day), a 150-pound adult would need to consume 20 (12-ounce) cans of diet soda OR 42 (4-ounce) servings of sugar-free, diet gelatin OR 97 packets of tabletop sweetener in a single day.

    I consume only 2 artificial sweetener per day that I add to coffee. I don't crave sweets the whole day and it keeps my sugar intake to a minimum. What are your thoughts on artificial sweeteners? Is it really THAT bad or it's a-okay?
    They are fine IMO. We've had them since the 70's and before. We're a fat nation now because of over consumption.
  • candicole007
    candicole007 Posts: 120 Member
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    I agree with Mary d523. I don't touch the stuff...because it causes cancer and is not safe for pregnant women or children to consume. Why would I put that in my body? In addition, I don't think it helps with "weight loss." Sure, it has no calories but it still does something funky. People who drink diet soda all day long will lose weight if all they do is switch to drinking water. I'm no doctor, but I seen this happen. So what gives? I dunno...but I wouldn't touch the stuff.


    Diet sodas are high in sodium, which leads to major fluid retention. Hence the weight loss just switching to water is actually just purging all that fluid out of the body with the excess salt :)
  • EpiGaiaRepens
    EpiGaiaRepens Posts: 824 Member
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    Diet sodas are high in sodium, which leads to major fluid retention. Hence the weight loss just switching to water is actually just purging all that fluid out of the body with the excess salt :)

    I also think that when someone is sucking down a diet soda all day instead of drinking water that just can't be good. Our bodies need water. So yeah, there could be more going on here than just the artificial sweetener.
    also, the person I have in mind that I've seen this happen to didn't just lose water, she lost inches....so i go back to thinking about that theory that fat cells are sometime used to store toxins to protect the body...and that's when I go back to thinking I wouldn't want aspartame in my system. I"m not advocating for high fructose corn syrup, either! I just think old fashioned sucanat or honey and a bit of self control is better than relying on something we don't really know what it'll do over a lifetime of use.
  • scapez
    scapez Posts: 2,018 Member
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    I personally wouldn't touch chemical sweeteners with a ten-foot pole. Why would anyone want to put that tumor-inducing disgusting stuff in their bodies?

    ^ This
  • gbell4
    gbell4 Posts: 12
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    I recently took a nutrition class in college, my teacher being a dietician involved in making a lot of the official dietary reccomendations for americans. From what I remember artificial sweeteners can cause cancer but you'd have to have a ton of it. I'm talking like 20-30 packets of sweet and low every day. I don't use the stuff myself because I think it tastes aweful but if you got a real sweet tooth that's causing your weight gain than they could be helpful. Now if you're drinking a case of diet soda every day you could be pushing it, plus a lot of the low cal juice type drinks have that stuff and I'm not sure how much. Basically thery'renot as bad as some people think.
  • dmbnj
    dmbnj Posts: 15 Member
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    Don't forget real sugar is bad for you too.
  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
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    And I'm sure the FDA has never made a mistake and is always objective is its analyses . . .

    Why would you eat something artificial? Why not just have the real thing in true moderation? Or as several have mentioned, when you go without something for a while, your tastebuds readjust and you don't want it anymore.
  • Michellerw1
    Michellerw1 Posts: 367
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    It is really just a personal choice. Yes, if I have one diet pepsi every day I will not die from that diet pepsi, but I personally feel there are not enough long-term studies to make consumption safe. Also, I have had kidney problems in the past and some information was brought to my attention suggesting that long term use of artificial sweeteners (just one serving a day) can have a negative impact on kidneys.

    In non-soda items, i just really hate the taste of artificial sweetener!

    However, props to you for doing research and making an informed decision for yourself! :)

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