Aspartame is deadly poison - drop that Diet Coke right now!

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/">http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/</a><br /><br />I don't use this "pulpit" to do much preachin' other than the good news of the Pocket PC, but after being at a BBQ last night and seeing the number of people drinking diet colas pumped up with aspertame, I felt really convicted to pass this URL along to all of you (Ashley found it). The <a href="http://www.holisticmed.net/aspartame/adverse.txt">stories from people who used aspertame</a> are very sobering, and thinking of the people I know who are heavy users, I see a lot of commonalities in the stories. Sugar is natural and tasty - but it's better to not drink a can of pop than drink one that will kill you. And if you think it's just about pop, take out that pack of gum you have and look at the ingredients. Wrigleys gum is one of the few types on the market without aspartame in it.<br /><br />"An analysis of peer reviewed medical literature using MEDLINE and other databases was conducted by Ralph G. Walton, MD, Chairman, The Center for Behavioral Medicine, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. Dr. Walton analyzed 164 studies which were felt to have relevance to human safety questions. Of those studies, 74 studies had aspartame industry-related sponsorship and 90 were funded without any industry money.<br /><br />Of the 90 non-industry-sponsored studies, 83 (92%) identified one or more problems with aspartame. Of the 7 studies which did not find a problems, 6 of those studies were conducted by the FDA. Given that a number of FDA officials went to work for the aspartame industry immediately following approval (including the former FDA Commissioner), many consider these studies to be equivalent to industry-sponsored research.<br /><br />Of the 74 aspartame industry-sponsored studies, all 74 (100%) claimed that no problems were found with aspartame. This is reminiscent of tobacco industry research where it is primarily the tobacco research which never finds problems with the product, but nearly all of the independent studies do find problems."<br /><br /><b>UPDATE:</b> Uh, nevermind... :oops:

[Xaximus]

I knew about aspartame in certain soft drinks, but hadn't thought about other products. Out of curiosity, I pulled out the pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit from my pocket... it's "sugarfree", and DOES contain aspartame.

[Charles Pickrell]

Asparatame is in everything, including toothpaste. My comment is that this site seems to be full of stories and conjecture, but I did not see any scientific studies. The people complaining of symptoms might also be the same people who see UFOs or Elvis.

[heliod]

Well, I've been in this movie before. :oops:

After I sent this same URL to some hundreds of people, my doctor showed me very convincing documents that not only aspartame doesn't do all that is written there, but also that just as we say that the existing documents are like the tobacco mafia, all the people signing the papers you see in these statements are connected to the sugar lobby.

Sorry to disappoint everybody, but I felt the same one year ago.

[flooder]

It is very interesting where this topic seems to come up. I would have never expected it here but here it is.

I think there is some valityity to the matter and have removed it from my diet for a while. (This post is going to have make me look a little deeper at ingredients though).

Keep up the good work Jason.

Haveing delt with people with fibromyalgia, I know that DRs don't know nearly everything. Since I have Hypoglycemia (antoher thing that most DRs don't know how to deal with correctly) I turned to Diet sodas and really like Diet Coke. It is going to be hard to keep away from it once the cooler temps roll around.

[michael]

I knew about aspartame in certain soft drinks, but hadn't thought about other products. Out of curiosity, I pulled out the pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit from my pocket... it's "sugarfree", and DOES contain aspartame.

Yep, Wrigley's Extra does as well. :?

[Hyperluminal]

Also, there's the fact that this could have just acted as a placebo, so aspartame may not have even affected those people.

[pt]

obecity is pretty much the #1 killer of people in the us, if you exercise, eat well, stuff like this really aren't anything to worry about.

that said, stop reading this, put down the super sized fries and big gulp and go outside ;-]

cheers,
pt

[cpoole]

A typical can/bottle of soft drink can contain over 200 calories. One bottle per day is the same as 20 pounds of weight per year (200 * 365 / 3500). Many people drink more than one bottle per day... so the effect on your weigh increases dramically. If a person is battling a weight problem, substituting a low calory drink can make a big difference. Life is all about choices and accessing the risks associated with those choices. Many studies and millions of users have determined that aspartimine is quite safe. Some people will have negative experiences with this product. Most products consumed today will have a negative effect on some part of the population... cafine, nuts, tree fruits, salt, peanuts, milk and MSG are just a few. If this product does not agree with you, do not use it.

[Dave Beauvais]

I figure if any of us actually knew what most of the ingredients in our food were, we'd never eat anything again. I looked at my Wrigley's Extra gum and see that it's sweetened with "Phenylketonurics," which contains "phenylalanine." 8O

As for drinks, I drink a lot of bottled water. I figure it looks clear and healthy, so it can't be all that bad. And it's about the only bottled food product on the planet that has only one or two ingredients.

You know what scares the hell out of me more than any artificial sweetner? "Meat" and "cheese" products that don't require refrigeration and have lists of ingredients longer than most EULAs. Read the back of a beef jerky package sometime. When something in your food contains an ingredient with thirty-seven letters, a hyphen, and then seventeen more letters, be afraid... be very afraid. :D

Actually, I thought of something equally frightning... Jelly Belly jelly beans. When I pop something round and chewy into my mouth and it tastes like popcorn... that's just a bizarre sensory experience.

--Dave

[Jason Dunn]

...all the people signing the papers you see in these statements are connected to the sugar lobby.

That could be, but we know that natural suger won't kill us. :D

[Jason Dunn]

This is quite interesting...it's not "scientific" Charles, but give it a read:

http://users.westnet.gr/~cgian/upi.htm

"The NutraSweet Co. also has paid up to $3 million a year for a 100- person public relations effort by the Chicago offices of Burson, Marsteller, a former employee of the New York PR firm said. The employee said Burson Marsteller has hired numerous scientists and physicians, often at $1,000 a day, to defend the sweetener in media interviews and other public forums. Burson Marsteller declines to discuss such matters."

You do NOT have a team that large and a budget that big for an INGREDIANT unless you know you have to defend it. Remember, it's not like these PR people are out there promothing the actual products using it.

The bottom line for me is that there are some things that mankind really screws up when they try to emulate nature - I think aspartame is one of them.

I turned this article series into an MS Reader file - download it and give it a read. (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/files/nutrasweet.lit)

[heyday]

Sorry to burst everyones bubles here but I can't beleive that everyone is falling for the "Aspertame" is bad for you mythology.

The truth is that all the facts they claim to say in the site are made up. If you tried to contact the source you will find that it is not true.

Doesn't everyone remember the "Aspertame causes MS" a few years ago? It even made the front page of CNN before it was pulled.

heyday

[MPSmith]

Check out this link to a discussion of this urban myth. Very interesting how these things get started!

http://www.snopes.com/toxins/aspartam.htm

[Jason Dunn]

A typical can/bottle of soft drink can contain over 200 calories. One bottle per day is the same as 20 pounds of weight per year (200 * 365 / 3500). Many people drink more than one bottle per day... Most products consumed today will have a negative effect on some part of the population... cafine, nuts, tree fruits, salt, peanuts, milk and MSG are just a few. If this product does not agree with you, do not use it.

I can't imagine having a can of pop (or more) every single day - that's the problem, not the fact that one can of pop has a lot of calories. I'd rather be a few pounds overweight than get a tumour from what I'm drinking. Grab a glass of water, juice, lemonade, iced tea...it's not like there aren't options.

As to your second point, it doesn't make sense: I have a milk intolerance, but I KNOW that I have it, and the dairy farmers don't try to disprove that some people can't digest milk products.

This is just like tobacco, and in 20 years we'll look back and realize how naive we were to trust the pimps selling their poison...mark my words.

[heyday]

Well if you want to start talking about what is bad to drink...

Did you know that Juice like lemonade, orange juice, etc.... can actualy have MORE sugar than pop!

heyday

[Wes Salmon]

that said, stop reading this, put down the super sized fries and big gulp and go outside ;-]Hehe, this coming from a guy who is afraid of sunlight in his own right! ;)

[Kirk Stephens]

You know what scares the hell out of me more than any artificial sweetner? "Meat" and "cheese" products that don't require refrigeration and have lists of ingredients longer than most EULAs. Read the back of a beef jerky package sometime. When something in your food contains an ingredient with thirty-seven letters, a hyphen, and then seventeen more letters, be afraid... be very afraid. :D
--Dave

Hahahhaha, I was in a gas station convenience store one time and saw beef jerky titled under the brand name "Damn Good Beef Jerky." The ingredients included "beef tongue" and "assorted cow parts". Does the body good I guess :twisted:

[Jason Dunn]

Sorry to burst everyones bubles here but I can't beleive that everyone is falling for the "Aspertame" is bad for you mythology.

The truth is, neither you nor I know for a fact whether or not it's harmful. I'm not a scientist, I haven't done the tests myself. Who do you trust?

Regardless of whether or not there's any scientific evidence, the sheer lobbying efforts of the NutraSweet people seems deeply suspicious to me. Powerful lobbies and lawyers are obscuring any truth there is to be had. Just like the cigarette issue, it will take a few decades before we know anything for certain. Same deal with MSG - it's everywhere, but it's so hard to find the truth about it. Yet when I have a food product prepared with MSG, I get quite sick. Similar food, prepared without MSG, and I'm fine. Go figure... :!:

For me at least, I don't need to drink diet pop or chew aspartame gum - better to be safe than sorry. The consequences of avoiding aspartame as much as possible as minimal. The consequences of sucking down four Diet Coke's a day and finding out ten years later that aspartame gave you cancer? Very high indeed.

[Jason Dunn]

Did you know that Juice like lemonade, orange juice, etc.... can actualy have MORE sugar than pop!

So? Why is sugar bad? Why is something natural bad, and something created in a lab better?

[heyday]

If you have a problem gaining weight you bettery worry about sugar.

More adults have type 2 diabetes and don't know about it then ever before. It really is a problem right now.

Just my 2 cents.


Heyday

[innersky]

I knew Coke Light was evil! :twisted:
(In Europe they may not call it Diet Coke for obvious reasons)

Well, maybe the same thing goes for cell phones causing cancer. Nobody seems to be able to confirm this, and it's also a billion dollar industry.

[Hawkeyes]

A typical can/bottle of soft drink can contain over 200 calories. One bottle per day is the same as 20 pounds of weight per year (200 * 365 / 3500)

That's assuming that you are hitting your daily caloric need on the nose every day, and that knocking off that one soda wil put you in a calorie defecit. Even then, it likely won't result in a 20 pound weight loss. when in a caloric defecit, the body turns to muscle for food first. I don't know the calorie density of muscle, but whatever spare you have is going first. Then we turn to fat for fuel.

That's an annoying way for me to say I hate these types of simplified calculations that have become so wide spread. I chew a pack of gum a day, at 5 calories per piece of gum, 14 sticks - that's 70 calories pe day! Why, if I stop chewing gum I'll lose over 7 lbs this year!

Slightly off topic....

[Hawkeyes]

Did you know that Juice like lemonade, orange juice, etc.... can actualy have MORE sugar than pop!

So? Why is sugar bad? Why is something natural bad, and something created in a lab better?

According to the site linked in the article:

Gradually reduce or eliminate:
White Sugar
Brown Sugar -- Brown sugar is usually white sugar mixed
with molasses or sprayed with caramel coloring.
Raw Sugar -- Raw sugar is often white sugar with coloring.
Fructose -- Betware the "natural" products with fructose.
It's not much better than white sugar (IMO).


So if we are taking their word on the rest of the sweeteners, we better buy into this as well. The only good "Sugar" is:

Sucanat -- Whole cane sugar with water removed. You can
get sucanat products mail order from Purity Foods
(800/997-7358). Nutra Cane (603/672-2801)
distributes sucanat in the US. Also, a company called
Florida Crystals seels this product. Still sugar as
far as diabetics are concered, but it contains a small
amount vitmins and minerals which helps reduce some of
the negative effects found in long term use of white sugar.

[sesummers]

Before you guys get too uptight about the nutrisweet, consider the fact that both diet AND regular softdrinks contain hundreds of times more Di-Hydrogen Monoxide than they do of any other chemicals. DHMO is a known killer- thousands of people die every year from various forms of exposure to it. Go visit http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html for the straight story- it's pretty scary.

What's worse is the long term, more subtle effects. I've read that fully HALF of the children who have long term DHMO exposure score below average on standardized intelligence tests. It's a serious crisis, and the fact that most people have NEVER EVEN HEARD of DHMO proves beyond any uncertainty that their must be a cover-up- most likely by the right wing conservatives in control of most of our government who are protecting their big business constituents who need the stuff in order to produce their products so they can make obscene profits.

I tell you, things are really falling apart. It's time we returned to the good old days- the dark ages.

[cpoole]

I think that everyone would agree that sugar is not a bad product. It is simply a concentrated source of calories.

Since aspartame has been in use since 1981, I guess we should see the 20 year tumors showing up pretty soon.

I am just suprised how we can focus on a single product such as aspartame and worry that it is bad. It has been tested and tested and tested. Obesity is a real problem today. Lots of people die due to the complications and effects of obesity. If aspartame can be used to help reduce this problem, then lets use it.

If you are not dealing with a weight problem, then go ahead and drink Coke with sugar. These are really empty calories since you did not get them from a food source that had any other nutritional value. Frankly, I tend to worry about the the effect of the other chemicals in Coke rather than the sweetner.

[Hawkeyes]

I think that everyone would agree that sugar is not a bad product. It is simply a concentrated source of calories.

Since aspartame has been in use since 1981, I guess we should see the 20 year tumors showing up pretty soon.

I am just suprised how we can focus on a single product such as aspartame and worry that it is bad. It has been tested and tested and tested. Obesity is a real problem today. Lots of people die due to the complications and effects of obesity. If aspartame can be used to help reduce this problem, then lets use it.

If you are not dealing with a weight problem, then go ahead and drink Coke with sugar. These are really empty calories since you did not get them from a food source that had any other nutritional value. Frankly, I tend to worry about the the effect of the other chemicals in Coke rather than the sweetner.

Wait a minute, that sounds like reason and logic! You can't do that! There has to be a bullet for the masses to attached to. Come on man, that's not sexy, it just doesn't sell!

[mwab]

Wow 8O I just popped the top of a diet pepsi before this surfing section and saw this story... freaky :?

[cpoole]

A typical can/bottle of soft drink can contain over 200 calories. One bottle per day is the same as 20 pounds of weight per year (200 * 365 / 3500)

That's assuming that you are hitting your daily caloric need on the nose every day, and that knocking off that one soda wil put you in a calorie defecit. Even then, it likely won't result in a 20 pound weight loss. when in a caloric defecit, the body turns to muscle for food first. I don't know the calorie density of muscle, but whatever spare you have is going first. Then we turn to fat for fuel.

That's an annoying way for me to say I hate these types of simplified calculations that have become so wide spread. I chew a pack of gum a day, at 5 calories per piece of gum, 14 sticks - that's 70 calories pe day! Why, if I stop chewing gum I'll lose over 7 lbs this year!

Slightly off topic....

I am sorry if I gave you the impression that you could simply loose all those pounds by switching to low cal sweetners. The simple fact is that people gain weight by exceeded their daily caloric need... If you are slowly gaining weight and you just need that coke every day, switching one or more foods to a low calory source will most likely help control the weight gain.

Indeed the best method to loose weight is a sensible diet and exercise. Over the past 5 months, I have lost 37 pounds. This was done by making good food choices, reducing calories and fat intake, burning about 600 calories of exercise a day and making sure that I get enough protein so that the weight loss is focused on the fat rather than the muscle mass.

[Brad Adrian]

Why is something natural bad...?

Duuuuuude. I used that argument with my parents YEARS ago [albeit in a different context], and it didn't work then, either.

[Brad Adrian]

...Di-Hydrogen Monoxide...

ROTFLMAO!!! :D How long before other readers remember their chemistry?

[Brad Adrian]

that said, stop reading this, put down the super sized fries and big gulp and go outside ;-]Hehe, this coming from a guy who is afraid of sunlight in his own right! ;)

...and who uses drug-infused soap?!?

[handheldplanet]

I'm not jumping on the bandwagon here. I haven't seen any bad effects of aspertame nor have I read any scientific research/studies that prove it's bad. Personally I believe people should be more worried about caffine and other chemicals they take into their bodies AND people should be more worried about the lack of exercise.

I personally haven't had ANY soft drinks for about 10 years now. I exercise daily (alternating between weight lifting and running). I eat mostly whole foods. I do take one day off each week (both to rest physically AND to enjoy junk foods to remind my body what I'm avoiding - and to give into my taste buds!). Most importantly I enjoy FEELING healthy and would encourage everyone to try it out.

As for the "symptoms" people claim to have when taking aspertame, I'd love to see them do it in a controlled test. How do they know exactly that it's the aspertame? Why not the caffine, the dies, the sucrose or whatever else might be found in those foods?

&lt;start cheap shot>
BTW, when are you going to post a link to that site that informs us about the email tax the government is planning on imposing?
&lt;end cheap shot>

JUST KIDDING!!!

For those of you that are looking for a solid plan for improving your physical fitness, check out http://www.bodyforlife.com. My wife and I just finished our first 12 weeks and it's been fantastic!

[handheldplanet]

Brad,

Your response to pt was HILARIOUS!!! I'm still laughing!!!

[Jason Dunn]

BTW, when are you going to post a link to that site that informs us about the email tax the government is planning on imposing?

Uh....that's up next. Why do you ask?


:wink:


Wait...you mean everything I read on the 'Net isn't TRUE?? Noooo...!!!

I still think aspartame is a nasty thing, and I'll avoid it whenever possible. To each his own, but don't say that I didn't warn you! :roll:

[Andy Sjostrom]

I saw a documentary on the subject about ten years ago. Nutrasweet settled million dollar lawsuits outside of court w people who suffered from severe brain damages related to aspartame. The substance was said to increase the brains ability to absorb certain types of acids. In some cases and for some people the brain starts to absorb too much, resulting in irreparable damage.

I am not taking any chances. Since ten years. And you may laugh at me. It's on me.

[Jimmy Dodd]

I read this thought with interest. I've seen the same info repackaged as spam several times over the last six years. The links never seem to be available and all of the references to people and places don't match up.

However, I know that at least for a few select individuals Aspartame is bad. In college, which was twelve years ago, I tried to improve my health. I started eating better, avoiding the junk food normally associated with college life, drinking less alchohol, and working out with weight training and running. Everything was improving at a pretty good pace. I then decided to drop one more vice - soft drinks. Too many calories I figured. I started drinking Diet Mountain Dews because that was the only one I could find that didn't taste horrible to me. A few weeks into the change I started getting headaches. Bad headaches. Then I would have periods of blurred vision. I figured it was just too much reading, too little sleep, etc. Eventually I passed out in Assembly Language class one morning.

At some point I got better. Then I got worse. I saw a doctor who had no idea what was going on, but he suggested it might be an alergy and to start logging my eating habits. Eventually a pattern emerged. When I wasn't drinking diet soft drinks (replacing it with water or regular colas) I improved. When I went back to the diet drinks I got sick. I now completely avoid aspartame. On the rare occasion that my symptoms return, I can usually trace it back to an accidental ingestion of the sweetner.

On an interesting side note, my sister suffers from the same "allergy." We were talking one day and she mentioned that she had found that she was allergic to aspartame. This was discovered without knowing I had the same problem.

Bottom line. It may not be a killer for everyone, but there are those of us for whom it is not an urban legend.



I figure if any of us actually knew what most of the ingredients in our food were, we'd never eat anything again. I looked at my Wrigley's Extra gum and see that it's sweetened with "Phenylketonurics," which contains "phenylalanine."


Actually, phenylketonurics are persons with Phenylketonuria which is a rare, metabolic disease in which an enzyme (phenylalinine hydroxylase) which converts phenylalanine (an amino acid) into tyrosine (another amino acid) is missing from their system. Buildup of phenylalanine is toxic to the central nervous system. Diet drinks (and other products with aspartame) have a warning that they do contain phenylalinine. See http://205.178.182.34/about/intro.htm for more info.

---
Bwana Jim

[sesummers]

A few weeks into the change I started getting headaches. Bad headaches. Then I would have periods of blurred vision. I figured it was just too much reading, too little sleep, etc.


I read somewhere that one possible reason some people get headaches from the stuff is the "Pavlov's dog effect". Your brain learns to associate sweetness with an infusion of blood sugar. High blood sugar causes you to release insulin. After a while, the SWEETNESS will cause your brain to tell your pancreas to release the insulin, without waiting for the sugar.

Then along comes aspertame (or any other aritficial sweetener). Same sweet taste, same insulin release- but NO BLOOD SUGAR! So what happens? Hypoglycemia. Low blood sugar. This causes carbohydrate cravings, headaches, sleepiness, nausia, and lots of the other symptoms attributed to aspertame.

It's like when you get a cold, and blame the bug for your runny nose. The virus doesn't make your nose run- your body does that to itself. Nutrisweet might not make you sick, but it can trick your body into making you feel sick, which is about the same thing.

[marlof]

"Selection of adverse effects from short-term and/or long-Term use
[...]
• death"

What? If I use this I won't live eternally?

[klinux]

The size of the sugar lobbying industry is way bigger than that of aspartame.

Furthermore, Coke (and I think most soda) in the US is sweetened by corn syrup as opposed to cane suger like in Mexico. Are we sure corn syrup is as safe as sugar? Plus, I don't want corn in my Coke! :lol:

[Will T Smith]

seizures and convulsions
dizziness
tremors
migraines and severe headaches (Trigger or Cause From Chronic Intake)
memory loss (common toxicity effects)
slurring of speech
confusion
numbness or tingling of extremities
chronic fatigue
depression
insomnia
irritability
panic attacks (common aspartame toxicity reaction)
marked personality changes
phobias
rapid heart beat, tachycardia (another frequent reaction)
asthma
chest pains
hypertension (high blood pressure)
nausea or vomitting
diarrhea
abdominal pain
swallowing pain
itching
hives / urticaria
other allergic reactions
blood sugar control problems (e.g., hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia)
menstrual cramps and other menstraul problems or changes
impotency and sexual problems
food cravings
weight gain
hair loss / baldness or thinning of hair
burning urination & other urination problems
excessive thirst or excessive hunger
bloating, edema (fluid retention)
infection susceptibility
joint pain
brain cancer (Pre-approval studies in animals)
death

-----------------------------------

Darn, I'd have to summarize that as "Everything Bad".

Anytime someone says xxx substance cures EVERYTHING, I am a skeptic. Conversly, when someone claims xxx substance CAUSES everything, I am equally a skeptic.

I perused these pages and found a lot of anachronistic citations. However, I found no properly controlled studies. For example, one page cited an optometrist that reported 25% of Aspartame users suffered vision problems. However, there was no control group to study the disease rate in the general population.

One could distribute sugar pills in a room and determine that they cause TB. That is, if you distribute them in a TB ward.

[BillG]

This is just like tobacco, and in 20 years we'll look back and realize how naive we were to trust the pimps selling their poison...mark my words.

Not only does your writing evidence you illiterate, now you demonstrate genuine stupidity. Please ban me. I cannot take it anymore. Your site is not worth the time it takes to read.

[Jimmy Dodd]

I read somewhere that one possible reason some people get headaches from the stuff is the "Pavlov's dog effect". Your brain learns to associate sweetness with an infusion of blood sugar. High blood sugar causes you to release insulin. After a while, the SWEETNESS will cause your brain to tell your pancreas to release the insulin, without waiting for the sugar.

So my "real" problem is that I have an impatient pancreas. Great! :roll:

---
Bwana Jim

[Jason Dunn]

Not only does your writing evidence you illiterate, now you demonstrate genuine stupidity. Please ban me. I cannot take it anymore. Your site is not worth the time it takes to read.

:lol: Oh my goodness...I would love to know by what force this site keeps drawing you back if it's so horrible! If I could package influence like that, I would be a rich man. As you have requested, your account is now deactivated. I would encourage you to take things less seriously - it's just a PDA web site! Surely there are more important things to get worked up about...and proper use of certain words isn't one of them either. :roll: :lol:

[Chad]

Well, I read all 43 posts and no comments from a single physician in the bunch.

Conjecture and heresay are what rumors are about .. the facts are that aspartame is safe for consumption at normal doses. Research attempts to detect the worst case scenario, feeding rats and mice hundreds of times the normal amount of a substance to assess it's effects. Remember too, that one person who has a side affect or reaction to aspartame is enough to warrant listing that as an "untoward effect". When in reality, it is most likely an exception to the rule. On the whole, the chemical is accepted as safe by a majority of the medical profession.

The discussion was a spirited one, but maybe the site should focus on what the contributors know best .. Pocket PC's .. that's what I come here to read!

-C.H., MD

[Dave Beauvais]

...I looked at my Wrigley's Extra gum and see that it's sweetened with "Phenylketonurics," which contains "phenylalanine."Actually, phenylketonurics are persons with Phenylketonuria which is a rare, metabolic disease in which an enzyme (phenylalinine hydroxylase) ...Thank you for clearing that up. I think I've always read that as though "Phenylketonurics" was just another ingredient which itself contained "phenylalanine." :oops: Now that I look at it again armed with the correct information, I see my error. :) Thanks! Who would have thought I'd learn about medical conditions on a PDA site!

--Dave

[aBrentk]

Jason, thanks for looking out for us! I don't personally know how aspartame effects me, if at all, but I'm always a little suspicious of man-made foods. There are too many diseases in this world with unknown causes (Crohn's for one, which one of my sons has), some of which are becoming more prevalent over time, to take the subject of man-made foods (and other chemicals that we either breath or somehow ingest) lightly. Should we say the sky is falling and hide under a rock, obviously not, but let's also not completely ignore others' alleged suffering while we wait for corporate-funded (or under-funded) labs to tell us what's safe.

And while on the subject of low-cal sweetners, let me play Andy Roony for a second and ask, "You ever notice how people drink diet sodas with their &lt;insert junk food here>?"

[twoggle]

Hello. Just wanted to add a few thoughts based on my understanding of this issue developed from discussions with researchers and reading the research. A few years ago I was asked to participate in a meta-analysis of the research, but the project never got off the ground -- everyone was too busy!

It wasn't until a few years ago that research in Italy showed that aspartame ingestion at relatively small amounts led to the accumulation of formaldehyde "adducts" (bound to protein) in the brain, liver, and other organs and tissues.

"These are indeed extremely high levels for adducts of formaldehyde, a
substance responsible for chronic deleterious effects that has also been
considered carcinogenic.
....
"It is concluded that aspartame consumption may constitute a hazard
because of its contribution to the formation of formaldehyde adducts."
(Life Sci, 63(5):337+, 1998)

Exposure to formaldehyde from aspartame ingestion can be calculated. However, this was the first study to look at formaldehyde accumulation.

About that same time, there were several other findings including 1) the fact that almost all studies independent of the manufacturer found problems with aspartame (including double-blind studies) while manufacturer-funded studies claimed safety; and 2) the claims that the manufacturer made for several years that the chemicals from aspartame were metabolized similarly to that of natural food products (e.g., tomatoes, fruits, meat, dairy, etc.) were disproven by their own research and by independent research.

Since that time, there have been independent human studies linking aspartame to fibromyalgia, memory loss, and one small study linking diet beverages to large brain tumors in certain population groups.

It is true that there are a couple of "urban legend" sites and some web sites created by the manufacturer or organizations funded by the manufacturer. However, the urban legend sites are put together by well-meaning persons who have no familiarity with the subject. In fact, one person (not me) made an attempt to discuss the science on the snopes.com message board, but the science of the issue was deemed to be off-topic (like this subject :-)).

The best place to get information on this any most related health subjects is from persons and organizations that are 1) completely independent of the manufacturer and the trade groups, and 2) familiar with the research (not just summaries/abstracts). Come to think of it, whever I want to buy an expensive product, I look for total independence and thorough knowledge of the subject. Of course, independence and familiarity doesn't necessarily mean that the information is accurate, but I do think there is a better chance of accuracy.

Here are a couple of sites I like:

http://www.additivesout.org.uk/
(click on aspartame link on left of page)

Government *scientists*
http://www.dorway.com/betty/fdainves.txt
http://www.dorway.com/gross.txt
http://www.dorway.com/bressler.txt

Scientific FAQs
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/aspfaq.html
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/abuse/

Statements by independent physicians
http://www.dorway.com/doctors.html

=============

Now I just need to find the right Pocket PC to help me in my work!

Cordially,

Twoggle

[dave]

is that aspartame under the screen of my jornada?

[teschall]

I once told my mother (a very heavy neutrasweet user) that aspartame caused memeory loss. About 4 hours later, she called me and asked "what did you say aspartame causes"!!! True story.

[lspinellijr]

I don't use this "pulpit" to do much preachin' "


and i dont visit this site (daily i may add) to hear you preach about anything other than pocket pc and related technologies. as a devoted reader i ask that you keep this info on your own personal blog.

thanks for understanding.

[Dave Beauvais]

and i dont visit this site (daily i may add) to hear you preach about anything other than pocket pc and related technologies. ...
I'd say that about 98% of the content of this site is Pocket PC-related. Besides, this thred is in the "Off-Topic" section of the forum and nobody is holding a gun to your head forcing you to read it. I'm not trying to start a flame war; if a topic doesn't interest you, ignore it and get on with your life. :roll:

--Dave

[kkyzar]

Jason, Thanks for the post regarding Nutra-Poison. I am a physician and treat a lot of people with Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Myofascial Pain Syndrome (Yes, they are real diseases in spite of what a lot of previous MDs have told some of my patients in their past search for some answers to their 'often weird' symptoms. This is a toxin that should have never been allowed on the consumer market. I see people daily with long term problems, both physical and emotional, that have a history of excess use of the aspartamine in their past. Hopefully the consumer public will become more aware of the many dietary sources of this Poison and stop using these products. The problem with using products like these is that the toxic effect is such a slow onset and with continued use, the toxic by products accumulate in the tissues (brain, blood vessels, ect) and the effect may not be seen for many months or years and then slowly, the symptoms increase, irreversably, until the patient is misdiagnosed with some disease state, whereas, they are actually developing permanant drug toxicity reactions! Please continue to spread some enlightenment on this subject. Thanks,
Kent Kyzar, M.D. Yazoo City, MS 8O

[Jason Dunn]

and i dont visit this site (daily i may add) to hear you preach about anything other than pocket pc and related technologies. as a devoted reader i ask that you keep this info on your own personal blog.
thanks for understanding.

I understand where you're coming from, but I have a solution that may help: we're trying to implement a feature that would let YOU decide what topics you want to see on the front page. Don't like the off topic stuff? You'll never see it. Don't like our Thoughts and just want the news? No more Thoughts.

I don't have a personal Blog, because in many ways THIS site is just that - it started out as a personal Blog, and I like to think that the personality the entire team injects into the site is part of what makes it popular.

To each his own, but I hope our feature makes it live soon - I think you'll appreciate it. :D I'd like to thank you for expressing yourself in a gentle manner rather than flaming me. :)

[Brian K]

That looks JUST LIKE the list of problems that monosodium glutamate supposedly causes...

I personally can't wait for the "topic filtering" to go into effect. sci.skeptic quite satisfies my desire to read, let's say... "fringe" theories (to keep it polite.)

Brian K

[lspinellijr]

i appreciate your understanding, by no means did i want to start a flame war, i was just giving my honest opinion. i often do enjoy the off-topic subjects but this one really was way out there.

just trying to give some constructive criticism.

keep up the great work.

[hollis_f]

...I looked at my Wrigley's Extra gum and see that it's sweetened with "Phenylketonurics," which contains "phenylalanine."Actually, phenylketonurics are persons with Phenylketonuria which is a rare, metabolic disease in which an enzyme (phenylalinine hydroxylase) ...

And phenylalanine is not a terrible artificial chemical - it's a naturally occurring amino acid (one of the building blocks of proteins). It is essential in the human diet; without it one will die - even people suffering from phenylketonuria.

Aspartame is a compound consisting of the methyl ester of phenylalanine joined to another essential amino acid - aspartic acid. In the gut this gets broken down to the two amino acids (perfectly OK for normal people, indeed, good for them) and methanol. Most of the Aspartame scare stories are because of the methanol that gets produced. However, the amount is tiny (about 1/40th of a gram per can of diet Coke - about 1/10th the amount of methanol in a bottle of brandy).

Frank (The Chemist)

[klinux]

Ditto with MSG as well. It is naturally occurring compound too although I do try to limit my intake of it e.g. asking the MSG to be withheld when ordering Chinese food. Most Chinese restaurants will honor the request.

- Klinux (not a chemist but does have a degree in chemistry)

[klinux]

BTW Jason, don't let the troll get your goat. It's your site - do what you want! 8)

We don't say it enough but I, for one, am glad that you and the PPCT site/team, is around!

[bbarker]

Anytime someone says xxx substance cures EVERYTHING, I am a skeptic. Conversly, when someone claims xxx substance CAUSES everything, I am equally a skeptic.

I perused these pages and found a lot of anachronistic citations. However, I found no properly controlled studies. For example, one page cited an optometrist that reported 25% of Aspartame users suffered vision problems. However, there was no control group to study the disease rate in the general population.

One could distribute sugar pills in a room and determine that they cause TB. That is, if you distribute them in a TB ward.
You stated it much more eloquently than I was about to.

I remember the saccharine scare years ago -- it was supposed to cause cancer or something. They banned it, costing its suppliers tons of money and forcing us to use inferior artificial sweeteners until something suitable came along. Much later those results were determined to have been flawed and saccharine shouldn't have been banned at all, as I recall. Something similar occurred with cyclamates, although I'm even hazier on that history.

I appreciate the comments of the doctor a little earlier in this discussion. Aspartame is considered safe by a consensus of the medical and scientific community in the amounts consumed by humans. That same community considers obeisity to be a contributor to a list of problems almost as long as the one of which aspartame is accused of being the cause.

[Andrew Duffy]

How many of the people who worry about additives like aspartame in their food use a mobile phone (the same radiation at similar levels is used to cook food), drive a car (particularly you North Americans and Australians with 5 litre engines in family cars) or eat chicken (full of antibiotics from their feed, leading to difficulty curing human diseases and the risk of antibiotic-resistant salmonella)?
We are all going to die eventually; if you want to live longer it would be best to exercise, live in the countryside and eat a good balance of healthy and enjoyable foods rather than worry about individual hazards - remember that stress is one of the biggest killers.
I wonder how long what must be the world's most fastidious person, Michael Jackson, will live. I'd put a big bet on that he'll be dead before he's 70.

[lspinellijr]

BTW Jason, don't let the troll get your goat. It's your site - do what you want! 8)

We don't say it enough but I, for one, am glad that you and the PPCT site/team, is around!

if someone has a product im sure he would like constructive feedback from their users. its called user sentiment and customer feedback. i wasnt trying to get anyone's goat and im sure others felt similar.

funny jason understood where i was coming from!?

notice they are coming out w/ a filter for this site, gee wonder why... others had same feedback?!

[Jason Dunn]

notice they are coming out w/ a filter for this site, gee wonder why... others had same feedback?!

Well...actually, you're the first person to complain about a post like this. :-) I just think the filtering thing will be cool. :D

[sesummers]

... a mobile phone (the same radiation at similar levels is used to cook food)...
Um, you're slightly off with that stat- by a factor of at least a thousand. Microwave ovens are measured in Watts of microwave energy. Old/cheap ones start at around 600. Good ones are in the 1200+ range. Cell phones, OTOH, peak at 600 milliwatts. So a good microwave puts out two thousand times more power than a cell phone.

Just thought I'd clear up that little decimal point shift. :wink:

[ironguy]

I found twoggles last post interesting where links called "Scientific FAQs" were listed, yet they are holistic medicine sites. Not trying to start anything but holistic medicine isn't necessarily scientific. Just .02 worth.

On to othere sweeteners...

Ever hear of Stevia? It's a nutritional supplement that is many times sweeter than sugar. It's derived directly from the Stevia plant, a herb that grows in SOuth America.

Check out www.stevia.net. There are some interesting conspiracy theories that accompany this so be wary. You can buy stevia at any number of nutrition centers. There have yet to be found any side affects. It's extremely sweet (as much as 200 times more than sugar) so use it sparingly.

Jason, white sugar is NOT natural. It's made from naturally occuring sugars found in a number of plants such as cane and beets. OK, it's natural, you say? Why, so is arsenic and many other poisons. Not that sugar is directly poisonous mind you, but it is the leading cause of adolescent obesity and diabetes II in this country ( actually it's the parents fault, but we're not on THAT topic).

As with anything, EVERYTHING IN MODERATION!

(except pocket pc'ing!)

[Jason Dunn]

As with anything, EVERYTHING IN MODERATION!
(except pocket pc'ing!)

I can agree with that! :D Except smoking of course. And crack is bad too... :wink:

[Ford Perfect]

This is bull****. I'm not saying aspartame is healthy, but neither is white sugar. This anti-nutrasweet document is compiled from the information of unknown/dubious origin.

Well at least it forced me to register.

*** Posted edited by site Admin due to language ***

[aBrentk]

if someone has a product im sure he would like constructive feedback from their users. its called user sentiment and customer feedback. i wasnt trying to get anyone's goat and im sure others felt similar.

funny jason understood where i was coming from!?

notice they are coming out w/ a filter for this site, gee wonder why... others had same feedback?!


Um, we're not Jason's "customer". He, so far, provides this site to us for FREE. Jason is an exceptionally generous person to volunteer both his time and money to provide a service such as Pocket PC Thoughts (even if he later decides to charge for the service). We should remember that when we think about complaining about something that we could just as easily ignore.

[lspinellijr]

Um, we're not Jason's "customer". He, so far, provides this site to us for FREE. Jason is an exceptionally generous person to volunteer both his time and money to provide a service such as Pocket PC Thoughts (even if he later decides to charge for the service). We should remember that when we think about complaining about something that we could just as easily ignore.

you dont have to pay for something to be a consumer of it.

it was just feedback get off my case. if you dont like my feedback you can easily heed your own advice and ignore. but for some reason you felt compelled to post a reply, same reason why i felt a reason to reply.

i dont want to hear medical advice from non-medical people. period.

[Jason Dunn]

Ok, enough guys - I don't mind the feedback, really I don't. Please stop arguing about it ok? :-)

[Dell Dude]

Dude! You're gettin' some aspartame! Run dude, run!

[lspinellijr]

Ok, enough guys - I don't mind the feedback, really I don't. Please stop arguing about it ok? :-)

yeah, seriously.... we wouldnt want the 20,000th post being a bitch session :) hehe

congrats on a great milestone.

[karen]

As to your second point, it doesn't make sense: I have a milk intolerance, but I KNOW that I have it, and the dairy farmers don't try to disprove that some people can't digest milk products.

This is just like tobacco, and in 20 years we'll look back and realize how naive we were to trust the pimps selling their poison...mark my words.

Don't get me started, Jason. Most nutrional information about dairy's 'healthly' qualities is sponsored by the Dairy boards, as is most MISINFORMATION about *needing* milk in an adult diet.

I believe that eating foods closest to their original form is a good thing, minimizing my intake of ultra refined foods...but you should realize that there is almost zero dollars for independent nutritional research. Almost all the money for food research comes from trade industries.

[Jason Dunn]

Don't get me started, Jason. Most nutrional information about dairy's 'healthly' qualities is sponsored by the Dairy boards, as is most MISINFORMATION about *needing* milk in an adult diet.

I have a simple philiosphy in this regard: cow milk is for baby cows, not humans. :-)

[jlp]

Interesting subject we have here.

First of all Monsanto is the company behind NutraSweet and they sold that division a while back. I guess if they didn't fear something they wouldn't have sold it, as it should be quite successful financially.

Then on the fact posts like this should be here or not, somebody said it right it's Jason's site and he can do as he pleases. Plus there's a saying that goes: "If you try to please everybody, nobody will like it."

So if you don't like it don't start reading it!!!

It is interesting to notice that it's after 4 pages that the person made that comment. So either he skipped to the last page to make his comment, and lost valuable information, or he read all/most of it, so it must have been interesting in the first place, else he wouldn't have read it!!!

Last comment, it's a known fact that cow milk is the closest to human milk in composition. Not only that but cows and humans have very similar metabolisms.

Also eggs are the nutrient of chicks to be born and we eat eggs as well, and lots of. Have you ever thought about everything that contains eggs, or parts of? Pancakes and other cakes, some bread, mayonnaise, some sauces, puddings, pasteries, etc. In the same manner, fruits and vegetables are the plant seeds "containers" to protect them and help them mature until they fall down and grow into plants/trees on their own. And honey is the bees' larvae's food as well.

So everything we consume is for another purpose as well.

The simple fact is that all these things (milk, eggs, honey, fruits and vegetables) have nutrient elements we need to survive, grow and breed, such is life.

I understand it's not for you Jason, but your argument is not solid enough to restrict milk to baby cows, honey to bees' larvae, etc. or else we wouldn't eat anything!!!

[hollis_f]

In the same manner, fruits and vegetables are the plant seeds "containers" to protect them and help them mature until they fall down and grow into plants/trees on their own. And honey is the bees' larvae's food as well.

So everything we consume is for another purpose as well.

Well, you've supplied a good example to counter that statement. Fruits are designed to be eaten by animals. That is their sole function. The plant wants its seeds to be eaten because it's a very effective means of spreading the seed.

[jlp]

In the same manner, fruits and vegetables are the plant seeds "containers" to protect them and help them mature until they fall down and grow into plants/trees on their own. And honey is the bees' larvae's food as well.

So everything we consume is for another purpose as well.

Well, you've supplied a good example to counter that statement. Fruits are designed to be eaten by animals. That is their sole function. The plant wants its seeds to be eaten because it's a very effective means of spreading the seed.

I'm not really sure if I understand exactly what you mean in your first sentence, if you mean that I supply this argument against my own statement or Jason's.

Anyway no plant wants to be eaten to spead its seeds; that would imply a higher degree of intelligence in plants, which happen they don't have. It just happens that animals eating fruits and vegetables is a good means to spread seeds. But read my sentence well it doesn't mean the same as you do. Please don't confuse the cause and the consequence.

[Jason Dunn]

Well, this thread is so insanely off-topic from Pocket PCs that we might as well continue it... ;-)

The simple fact is that all these things (milk, eggs, honey, fruits and vegetables) have nutrient elements we need to survive, grow and breed, such is life. I understand it's not for you Jason, but your argument is not solid enough to restrict milk to baby cows, honey to bees' larvae, etc. or else we wouldn't eat anything!!!

For meat least, I tend to look to nature for the most sustainable, healthiest way of looking at food. It seems logical to me. :-) Milk is provided by a mother for her baby, that food source lasts for "x" years, then when the baby animal matures, it's capable of finding it's own food like an adult. It's only through science and chemistry that we're able to keep cows lactating all year round, and only by laziness or unfair social stigma that mothers shun natural breastfeeding and opt to give their children milk from another animal.

Animals eat honey, steal eggs, eat plants, eat meat. Milk is only a part of that equation as it relates to a baby and it's mother. A predator doesn't steal milk. ;-) I see a certain logic put forth by some nutritionists that talk about the health problems that started to crop up once we turned into an agricultural society, and things have only gotten worse as we refined grain products even further. Of course, offsetting that is the fact that our life spans increased greatly because we weren't all getting killed hunting wild tigers. ;-)

I find the relation of diet to human healthiness completely fascinating. I certainly don't know all the answers, but there's no milk in my house and that's just fine with me. :-)

[Steven Cedrone]

A predator doesn't steal milk.

Maybe they just forgot how good it tastes :wink:

I don't know. But sometimes a nice tall glass of ice cold milk sure does hit the spot!!!

Steve

Not affiliated in any way to the Dairy Association Of America......Yet (But I can be bought!!)

[MonolithicDawgX]

Can someone answer this for me... has it been proven that eating "all natural" foods (vegans and health store naturals can reply) actually contribute to a healthier life? That statistically, you have less chance of getting cancer, or any other possible age-related disease such as parkinson's or alzheimers when the over-riding statistical figures are related to family medical history, age (in the case of Muhammed Ali, boxing :lol: )? Now I don't mean to imply that you contrast eating these "natural" foods with a healthy exercise regimen vs. an unhealthy, fat & calorie laden diet with no exercise. But compare that with a diet considered healthy by the medical community today that may include moderate doses of meat, dairy products, occasional soft drinks, vegitables and fruit with walking three times a week.

In either case, you are statistically more likely to get killed in a car crash than extend a "healthy" life by a factor of 2%. I never will argue with vegans about their diet because that is their choice. If they begin to preach about how much healthier it is, ask them to eat a veggie burger while behind the wheel of their Honda Civic and see how long they live. Humans are far scarier than what we eat. :2gunfire:

[DrtyBlvd]

You know, having read A)the original doc in question and B) the last 6 pages, I find I am suffering from a headache, hot flushes, itchy eyes and a burning sensation in my bladder.

Never realised PPCT could be so bad for my health :)

[DrtyBlvd]

Panic over! This site is actually aspart. free!

I just forgot to turn a light on rub my eyes go to the Loo and move my butt :lol:

[jlp]

Well, this thread is so insanely off-topic from Pocket PCs that we might as well continue it... ;-)

The simple fact is that all these things (milk, eggs, honey, fruits and vegetables) have nutrient elements we need to survive, grow and breed, such is life. I understand it's not for you Jason, but your argument is not solid enough to restrict milk to baby cows, honey to bees' larvae, etc. or else we wouldn't eat anything!!!

A predator doesn't steal milk. ;-)

Obviously if cows were laying milk bricks and jugs, predators would steal these too ;-).

Predators don't steal milk for only one practical reason: very hard to reach. Just like a behive in a tree hole: bears can all but get into it.

Eggs are the equivalent of milk for birds and reptiles, only they contain more concentrated nutrients. The bad thing for these species when eggs are stolen is that the baby is inside too.

[hollis_f]

Can someone answer this for me... has it been proven that eating "all natural" foods (vegans and health store naturals can reply) actually contribute to a healthier life?

Of course it doesn't. After all - a diet that consisted of lard, hemlock and deadly nightshade would be "all natural".

[ironguy]

If God had wanted us to be vegetarians, he wouldn't have made animals out of meat!


I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals, I'm a vegtarian because I hate plants!

[szamot]

and to that I will add that in 20 years I hope people will need a licence to have kids! It is easier to have a baby today than it is to buy a dog or a gun - there is just something wrong with this. If you don't believe me watch a news for 5 minutes and you will see. That is my hope and prophecy for 20 years. Amen.......yeah I not very religious but amen makes for a good strong ending...hee, hee.

[szamot]

[quote="Of course it doesn't. After all - a diet that consisted of lard, hemlock and deadly nightshade would be "all natural".[/quote]

well technically lard is already processed so while natural yes, it has been processed, and as we all know it process is usually what wreaks a good thing from the start.

[fulltilt]

I just had to buy in... :lol:

The truth is, if you fret about EVERYTHING and worry about what goes in your gob, then where is living life?

Seems to me that if you spend your life freaking about food or the air outside, what good will it do if you get wiped out by a bus on the first corner on the way to school/work.

Love, be nice and play friendly.
Much easier.

One eyed as ever...
---------------------------
Fulltilt.

[DrtyBlvd]

And to summarise 9 pages we have.... Drum Roll please.....

http://www.urbanlegends.com/ulz/nutrasweet.html

[Steven Cedrone]

I can't believe you brought this thread back to life... :roll: :wink:

Steve

[DrtyBlvd]

Mmmm - I did think about it for , oooo, musta been a second or so - but then I thought, well, seeing as so many people took the effort to post originally, it seem only fair to share what I tripped over!

I can't see it coming back to life - unless it mutates perhaps?? ... but future generations who find it will at least have a 'complete' story! :lol:

[SickofAspertame]

Asparatame is in everything, including toothpaste. My comment is that this site seems to be full of stories and conjecture, but I did not see any scientific studies. The people complaining of symptoms might also be the same people who see UFOs or Elvis.

First of all you have it wrong! And people who are dismissive of what they haven't experienced is one of the problems with this world. If personal testimony about something unusual isn't good enough then we might as well tell the courts to throw out the practice of using witnesses completely.

I am a very reasonable person and I can tell you for a fact that after chewing Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum with aspartame -- a gum that used to be made with real sugar only which tasted good before they ruined it -- gives me a headache. Now maybe I'm just an unlucky highly sensitive to the stuff, but what is responsible for this? Having had at the same time some sticks of the old Juicy Fruit as well as the New aspartame version at the time stores were running out of the old, I can easily tell which is one is which. The old one tastes great, the new one tastes like poison and then gives me a headache after chewing it for about a minute.

Now out of the following options, if you ask me which one is more important -- what a regular person reports after using a commercial chemical substance, or what those in the industry who are trying to make money off the substance says, I'm always going to believe the person who has nothing to gain is likely the correct authority to listen to.

Say NO to Aspartame!!!

[DrtyBlvd]

Well Steve, it stayed dead for a whole year! :lol:

[dh]

I only just found this thread and have not read all of it. so these points might have been made already.

There were some controversies when Nutrasweet was approved for sale. For a start the chairman of the FDA committee that approved it worked as a consultant to G. D. Searle, the drug company {now part of Pfizer) that made it.

It was known at the time that the product was potentially harmful. When it was sold as a sweetner (rather than as an ingredient in other products ) it had to be in single serve packs to discourage users from eating too much.

Nasty stuff.

[Steven Cedrone]

Well Steve, it stayed dead for a whole year! :lol:

You just had to go and do it, didn't you? :? Well, let's see what happens next. :wink:

Steve

[Janak Parekh]

You just had to go and do it, didn't you? :?
Actually, I think SickOfAspartame decided to renew this thread, not Mr. DrtyBlvd. ;)

--janak

[Steven Cedrone]

You just had to go and do it, didn't you? :?
Actually, I think SickOfAspartame decided to renew this thread, not Mr. DrtyBlvd. ;)

--janak

Oops! :oops: You are correct sir! Sorry DrtyBlvd!

Steve

[ironguy]

Someone posted a comment a while back that "well, we know that natural sugar doesn't hurt you"

I'd like to point out that Diabetes II has seen huge increases over the last decade or so - due to large sugar abd carbohydate intake.

Everything in moderation... except forum posting.

[Jimmy Dodd]

Everything in moderation... except forum posting.

And coffee! Don't forget coffee. :morning:

[PetiteFlower]

Jeez I didn't realize this was so old when I started reading it but now I have to comment.

Saying that "90% of the studies funded by the industry found no link to health problems but 90% of independant studies found links to health problems" means NOTHING unless you look at the actual studies. It's entirely possible that the studies funded by the industry were more scientifically sound then all the independant studies. And in fact I believe that is the case, though it's been a while since I looked up this research. You can not state that a study is valid based on its funding, you have to look at the methods and the sample size and all the other factors. A well designed study will produce reliable results no matter who funded it. So that argument is meaningless.

Look at it this way. BILLIONS of people drink diet sodas every day. Billions. That's a honkin lot of people! If aspartame was causing so many widespread problems, we would have heard of it from more reliable channels, there would be a public health outcry, and it would be off the market. Look how few deaths it took for the cold medicine PPA to be taken off the market a couple of years ago. People NOTICE these things, spam emails and alarmist web sites are not needed to spread the news.

I'm not saying some people aren't sensitive to it. Some are, that's a fact. Some people are sensitive to MSG too but to the majority, it causes no problems. If you're sensitive to it, avoid it, if you're not, don't worry about it. And don't go spreading alarmist pseudo-science about it!

Considering that obesity is the single greatest health risk at least in the US right now, if drinking diet soda will help someone lose weight without having to give up the sweet taste they crave, they are better off drinking it then anything with real sugar.

[GoldKey]

Considering that obesity is the single greatest health risk at least in the US right now, if drinking diet soda will help someone lose weight without having to give up the sweet taste they crave, they are better off drinking it then anything with real sugar.

Amen, I lost nearly 20 lbs in 2003. The biggest thing I did was switch from drinking regular soda (1-2 cans a day) to diet soda. I also increased the number of vegetables in my diet (but didn't really reduce anything else) and started minimal exercise.

[AllUrUtube]

I like to ponder the long term implications of humanities long term use of the many diverse chemicals we have invented and ingest regularly. I think it's a pretty scared proposition. Even if we've been studying a sugar substitute, anti-depressant, or artificial flavor for 70 years, that's still a drop in the bucket of time, and it doesn't tell us what these chemicals could be doing to our very DNA!!! Yes, just because we don't see the harmful effects of something now, doesn't mean we won't find them later. Some things you can only see WITH THE PASSAGE OF TIME. What if we are permanently altering, however subtly, our individual DNA, and the gene pool of all of humanity? Yeah, I'm just speculating, and some would call me an alarmist over reactionary, but the truth is NO ONE truly knows the LONG TERM EFFECTS. Only time will tell.

[ionen]

Should we all go organic? :)
Just saying...