Diet Soda Warnings

My mom's best friend drank those diet sodas for 35 years. She was there from the time I was a toddler and she helped raise me. About 6 years ago she started showing signs of dementia--in her mid 50s-- and now she has full-blown Alzheimer's. The doctor said it was from 35 years of daily aspartame consumption. She weighs about 80 pounds now and doesn't recognize me, my mother, her children, or her grandkids. You don't have to believe me, but this is reality for us.

Please don't drink those awful things. I'm not interested in my friends' waistlines. I'd rather they were able to grow old with me.

With several other medical opinions. Mainly that aspartame is a neurotoxin.

Aspartame is fine for your brain, yes. Your brain has a barrier designed to protect it. In many ways, it's a separate compartment- isolated from the rest of your body. Some things can get past that barrier, but a lot of things can't.

"We know aspartame damages DNA and we know it destroys neurons. Dr. James Bowen, of course, explained it so it's easy to understand. And he said: "Aspartic acid, the excitotoxic component of aspartame does not cross the blood brain barrier but is secreted into the cerebral spinal fluid by the choroid plexus located in the ventricles of the brain. There, in the brain's lower area and upper terminus of the spinal is where Lou Gehrigs, Parkinson's Disease and Multiple Sclerosis damage is most prominent. These critical locations are bathed in the toxin as it removes from the blood. From the third to fourth ventricle there is a narrow canal called sylvian aqueduct which fills with this secretion and washes the roof of the hypothalamus."

http://www.wnho.net/aspartameandgulfwar.htm

I don't know anything about the doctor who stated this, but I was curious about what you said, so I Googled. From his/her perspective, it seems there could still be a disease risk.

Hmmmm. I'll look into this then, see if I can verify it with some pubmed sources.

I'm still pretty skeptical, but I'm always open to new data, and if it turns out to be true, I'll re-evaluate my stance.

But even if it does get into the brain in a round-about-way, concentration matters. Aspartic acid is not excitotoxic at the appropriate concentrations. It's present in your brain, just like glutamate and other amino acids. It doesn't cause problems until it reaches higher levels.

To know whether it has any effect at all on the brain, I'd need to know how much the aspartame in a typical diet beverage raises the blood-concentration of aspartic acid and how much of that makes it into the CSF (if it actually does). Only then would I know whether it's toxic at all.

Aspartame is a poison. Research it. I would never touch a diet soda (or anything w/nutrasweet in it).

fun fact that I learned is that the carbonation in soda slows down metabolize for 3 hours after intake

I suffered from hives nightly for years, had to take benedryl every night just to sleep. I read an article on the effects aspartame had on the body, so I quit using it. Two days later--no hives! I read labels carefully and haven't had them since. I stopped drinking diet sodas and lost a ton of water weight. I have one every once in a while, but for the most part, just water. As for people drinking them anyway, I'm reminded of the old saying.."You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

This site is full of advice for people looking to change their lives, but you can't force them to take it. Live and learn!

Hmm. I am allergic to penicillin. By your logic, this makes it bad for everyone else too.

I don't break out in hives when I drink diet soda and I have stopped drinking it on more than one occasion and saw no weight loss. If YOU have a reaction to it, by all means, stop drinking it, but I don't see why everyone else should follow suit.

Well actually... while I don't particularly believe the doctor's claims, I'm willing to set aside my bias and look because... when it comes to brains, amino acids can be toxic.

But only at the right concentration.

I wrote my dissertation on the toxic effects of glutamate in the brain. When nerve cells are damaged, they release excess glutamate into their environment and that glutamate over-excites near by neurons and kills them. So it happens. It's not so crazy that I'll say instantly "no way".

But... again... the right concentration.

And again... I'm pretty skeptical that aspartic acid is elevated in the blood to any significant extent by aspartame. I mean... it's kind of like putting a cup full of salt in the sea, I'd imagine. I just don't think aspartame is going to make a dent... but I could be wrong.

And then, of course... does it get into the brain through some round-about-way (since I already know it doesn't cross the blood brain barrier)?

So I'm not saying the doctor is right. Just saying... i don't know what I'm just saying... I guess that the idea isn't completely totally crazy.

That doctor loses all credibility by calling aspartic acid toxic. Aspartic acid is an amino acid (aka protein) that is found in every protein source humans consume. Not only that, but aspartic acid is a nonessential amino, meaning we don't have to get it from our diet because the human body manufactures it already.

So basically this doctor says the human body regularly manufactures a substance that's highly toxic to the brain, especially odd, seeing as the body would be unable to survive without it.

Well actually... while I don't particularly believe the doctor's claims, I'm willing to set aside my bias and look because... when it comes to brains, amino acids can be toxic.

But only at the right concentration.

I wrote my dissertation on the toxic effects of glutamate in the brain. When nerve cells are damaged, they release excess glutamate into their environment and that glutamate over-excites near by neurons and kills them. So it happens. It's not so crazy that I'll say instantly "no way".

But... again... the right concentration.

And again... I'm pretty skeptical that aspartic acid is elevated in the blood to any significant extent by aspartame. I mean... it's kind of like putting a cup full of salt in the sea, I'd imagine. I just don't think aspartame is going to make a dent... but I could be wrong.

And then, of course... does it get into the brain through some round-about-way (since I already know it doesn't cross the blood brain barrier)?

So I'm not saying the doctor is right. Just saying... i don't know what I'm just saying... I guess that the idea isn't completely totally crazy.

Basically this found that people who drank diet soda had other unhealthy behaviors. I think people do this because they justify eating more because they had a zero calorie drink.

Since we're all on MFP keeping track of our habits anyway, I think it's safe to say we're doing just fine.

That's just it, though, concentration. There is more aspartic acid in a 4 ounce piece of chicken breast than you would get drinking an entire 12 pack of diet soda. 4 ounces of chicken breast contains 3.1 grams of aspartic acid (3,096 mg) and a 12 pack of diet soda contains about 1.2 grams of aspartic acid, if my math is correct (one can is about 200 mg of aspartame, aspartame from what i've read is 50/50 aspartic acid/phenylalanine, so 100 mg aspartic acid per can or 0.1 grams,) so wouldn't this make eating chicken, or beef, or tofu, or nuts, beans, really any protein source more toxic than drinking diet soda? They all have a much higher concentration per serving of aspartic acid.

Would, or could, an excess of histamine increase the toxicity of aspartic acid?

I have no idea

I'll have to make that my next project.

Soda in general is bad for you; crazy amount of sugar and carbs.

Diet soda is cool though. I wouldn't replace water with diet soda, but I'm not going to deny myself a coke zero.