Aspartame????

I am taking a bootcamp class and part of it is nutrition information... well I found out that aspartame (in diet pop, crystal light, equal packets, etc). can cause blindness and paralysis!!!!

I googled it and found this website...



Excuse me while I throw out my crystal light packets! Yikes!!!!

Depends on how many gallons of diet soda you can down in a day.

It is, however, a migraine trigger for me.

It tastes disgusting, you'll realize it after you quit then have a diet pop a year from now.
I'm part of the headache crowd. I'll take real sugar over aspartame any day.

Sigh, another one falls to the scaremongering


Is aspartame safe?

Yes. Aspartame has been tested for more than three decades, in more than 200 studies, with the same result: Aspartame is safe. In fact, the FDA Commissioner, upon approving aspartame, noted, “Few compounds have withstood such detailed testing and repeated, close scrutiny, and the process through which aspartame has gone should provide the public with additional confidence of its safety.”


Have other regulatory bodies reviewed aspartame's safety?

Yes. In addition to FDA, aspartame has been reviewed and determined to be safe by the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of the Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization, the Scientific Committee on Food of the European Commission, and the regulatory bodies of over 100 countries.


Have independent health organizations reviewed the safety of aspartame?

Yes. The American Medical Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Dietetic Association (ADA) have reviewed research on aspartame and found it to be safe. In fact, the ADA’s 2004 updated position paper states, “A comprehensive review of the safety of aspartame has recently been published. The review covers previous publications as well as new information that support the safety of aspartame as a food additive and negates claims of its association with a range of health problems...” Links to numerous other health organizations, which have confirmed the safety of aspartame, can be found at www.aspartame.org.

Can aspartame affect vision?

No. Although scientists know that huge amounts of methanol can affect vision, only small amounts of methanol are formed when aspartame and many fruits, vegetables and juices are digested. In fact, a glass of tomato juice provides about six times as much methanol as an equal amount of a beverage sweetened with aspartame. During the digestion of aspartame in the gastrointestinal tract, the released methanol is then easily further metabolized by normal body processes in the same way as when methanol is derived from other dietary sources. Numerous scientific studies have shown that the methanol from aspartame does not accumulate in the body and thus cannot reach harmful levels

Is there any truth to the negative information about aspartame on the Internet or in the media?

No. Allegations spread via the Internet and the media by a few individuals that aspartame may be associated with a myriad of ailments are not based on science. These have come to be called “urban myths.” Here is what the National Multiple Sclerosis Society had to say about such allegations:

“These stories claim that Aspartame is the cause of a variety of illnesses, including MS, lupus, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease, birth defects, Desert Storm syndrome, brain tumors, and seizures. However, please bear in mind the following:

The claims are not documented;
There is no evidence for “epidemics” of multiple sclerosis, lupus, and some of the other diseases as claimed in the articles;
There is no evidence that authors of the claims have any scientific, medical, or academic credentials; nor is there any evidence that they have done any scientific research to support their claims; and
No published, peer-reviewed scientific research exists that supports the claims being made in the articles.”
An October 2005 issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) carries an editorial concluding that aspartame has been “demonised unfairly” in sections of the press and on the Internet. The BMJ editorial states:

“Evidence does not support links between aspartame and cancer, hair loss, depression, dementia, behavioural disturbances, or any of the other conditions appearing in websites. Agencies such as the Food Standards Agency, European Food Standards Authority, and the Food and Drug Administration have a duty to monitor relations between foodstuffs and health and to commission research when reasonable doubt emerges…The Food Standards Agency takes public concerns very seriously and thus pressed the European Scientific Committee on Food to conduct a further review, encompassing over 500 reports, in 2002. It concluded from biochemical, clinical, and behavioural research that the acceptable daily intake of aspartame remained entirely safe-except for people with phenylketonuria.”

The safety of aspartame has been proven again and again, backed by more than three decades of research and over 200 scientific studies. Recently, several governments and expert committees carefully evaluated the Internet allegations and found them to be false, reconfirming the safety of aspartame. In addition, leading health authorities, such as the American Medical Association, the American Dietetic Association, and the American Diabetes Association, agree that aspartame is safe.

Excuse me while I take this and slap my old chemistry teacher in the face with it.

Some people suffer from allergies to it, or side effects. Most don't however. It certainly doesnt cause the things you described.

It's people. Aspartame is made out of people. They're making our food out of people. Next thing they'll be breeding us like cattle for food. You've gotta tell them. You've gotta tell them!