Aspartame - who else?

[cartart]

http://aspartame.mercola.com/

I have been trying to find the cause of various small symptoms I am experiencing and have come accross this today. I have sweetener tabs in all my teas/coffees and have always drunk "diet" fizzy drinks plus all the other low cal stuff the missus constantly buys.

Anyone else on here have any opinions on this?

Ta

[pidsy]

people have been talking about the dangers of aspartame for years but i'm not sure if any serious testing has been done.

that just looks like an advert to buy a book.

[Stu R]

There is a HUGE amount of misinformation when it comes to aspartame. It's by no means great for you in excessive quantities, but if you're that concerned about it's effect, you may want to broaden your research a little - Certainly a lot of what that website claims to be the case is completely incorrect - it's utter garbage and if some of the claims were correct, you could bet that any MD worth their salt would submit it to peer review, not their publisher...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy...

[The Nur]

Judging by the amount of diet drinks containing Aspartame I subconsciously choose I think there must be something not quite right about it.

I try not to believe things until they are proven with facts though. Too much bullst in the world these days.

[RemainAllHoof]

The Nur said:

I try not to believe things until they are proven with facts though. Too much bullst in the world these days.

There definitely is a lot of ste being spouted in the health, food and fitness world without much proof. The question is whether we should continue to do what we want until it's proven dangerous or not do it until it's proven safe.

[The Nur]

RemainAllHoof said:

The question is whether we should continue to do what we want until it's proven dangerous or not do it until it's proven safe.

The former. If we didn't do anything until it was "proven safe" we could be so easily controlled it wouldn't be worth living.

[Terisis]

Try looking at phenylalanine. This is a component of aspartame and it is well recognised as causing problems. The most severe sensitivity is in the form of phenylketonuria.

[Mr Whippy]

cartart said:

http://aspartame.mercola.com/

I have been trying to find the cause of various small symptoms I am experiencing and have come accross this today. I have sweetener tabs in all my teas/coffees and have always drunk "diet" fizzy drinks plus all the other low cal stuff the missus constantly buys.

Anyone else on here have any opinions on this?

Ta

Any artificial sweeteners taste like crap... all chemically and, ummm, artificialy tasting.

I avoid them at all costs, mainly because they taste horrible. I'd rather have 1 unit of the real thing, than any amount of that fakey stuff.

Dave

[TheEnd]

I'm not a fan of sythno-sug, but I can see the almost urban legend like reactions, similar to when microwaves were new and people thought they were some sort of nuclear reactor, or the whole coke-lore stuff because there is a small amount of phosphoric acid in coke.

I would have thought it has been around long enough for anything major to turn up, and any risks or problems that it has can get over stated.

[BlackVanDyke]

I thought this might be a thread about the weird divide between people who can or can't taste the stuff, and/or like or hate it...

Me and my dad both notice it very quickly if it's in anything to eat or drink and absolutely detest the taste, both sisters genuinely prefer say diet Coke to real, I'd always go thirsty rather thank drink anything I could taste aspartame in. Wonder if there's a threshold below which you can't taste it?

[Munter]

BlackVanDyke said:

I'd always go thirsty rather thank drink anything I could taste aspartame in. Wonder if there's a threshold below which you can't taste it?

I can't taste it in most things. But the chest pains a few hours later generally indicate something I've consumed contains it. Then I just have to work out which one of the things I had, that it was, so I can avoid it in the future.

[Stu R]

Munter said:

BlackVanDyke said:

I'd always go thirsty rather thank drink anything I could taste aspartame in. Wonder if there's a threshold below which you can't taste it?

I can't taste it in most things. But the chest pains a few hours later generally indicate something I've consumed contains it. Then I just have to work out which one of the things I had, that it was, so I can avoid it in the future.

Screening by heart attack, think I'd go with reading the label

Do you find much stuff that's not declared it in the ingredients list?

[1]

Stu R said:

There is a HUGE amount of misinformation when it comes to aspartame. It's by no means great for you in excessive quantities, but if you're that concerned about it's effect, you may want to broaden your research a little - Certainly a lot of what that website claims to be the case is completely incorrect - it's utter garbage and if some of the claims were correct, you could bet that any MD worth their salt would submit it to peer review, not their publisher...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy...

You only need to look at the discrepancies between the FDA, EU and Food Standards Agency to see there is a huge amount amount of misinformation and manipulation in the food and drink industry as a whole.

I did a fair amount of reasearch into aspartame when my younger sister was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour in 2009 and while there doesnt appear to be any conclusive evidence either way it is something I now avoid.

Conincidently my sister drank alot of diet drinks and used sweeters containing aspartame.

[BlackVanDyke]

Munter said:

BlackVanDyke said:

I'd always go thirsty rather thank drink anything I could taste aspartame in. Wonder if there's a threshold below which you can't taste it?

I can't taste it in most things. But the chest pains a few hours later generally indicate something I've consumed contains it. Then I just have to work out which one of the things I had, that it was, so I can avoid it in the future.

That's a surprise - unless it's actually in many more things than I had thought, I generally find it overwhelms the taste of whatever it is to a huge degree. Is it possible for one person to have more sensitive tastebuds than another?! Maybe that explains why I'm such a complete pussy when it comes to chilli, too...

[Mr Whippy]

Morissons do a Blackcurrant drink, 'high juice', so about 50% real juice, but also 'no added sugar'

I made the mistake of buying it.

Compared to a 50% fruit juice with 'no added sweeteners', I can't taste any more sweetness in the Morissons stuff. All I can test is a chemical under-tone to the entire drink that makes it really not very appetising at all.

You can even taste it in Diet Coke really well.

Not sure why it's used because it really isn't a very good substitute for sugar.

Dave

[Composite Guru]

I've avoided sugar free products for years. Even things that aren't classed as sugar free have it in because it is cheaper than using real sugar, ie Value Tesco Lemonade etc.

I don't trust the stuff at all so continue to advise people not to consume it.
All i know is that i would prefer to consume something natural rather than something made from chemicals. If i worried about being overweight then i would just cut out sugar all together rather than using an alternative.

[redtwin]

I consume vast quantities of it on a daily basis. Minimum 4 litres of diet cola/lemonade and I get through about 20 of those tablet sweeteners too. I consider it a vital part of calorie controlled consumption when there are times I don't feel like having plain water. As for the health aspects, I am unable to do my own testing, so I rely on the various agencies to do it for me, much like many other aspects of life. If they get it wrong, I will die, if they get it right, I will still die.

I don't have an issue with the taste, I probably did at first but that was so long ago I can't be certain. To be honest with you, drinking non-"diet/sugar free" drinks now tastes odd to me.

[Marf]

redtwin said:

I consume vast quantities of it on a daily basis. Minimum 4 litres of diet cola/lemonade and I get through about 20 of those tablet sweeteners too. I consider it a vital part of calorie controlled consumption when there are times I don't feel like having plain water.

Wow.


I don't touch the stuff. Mainly because it tastes like st. It's in so much stuff these days, including "normal" non diet soft drinks.

[Firefoot]

My mother will get a migraine if she has anything with aspartame in it. I don't know anyone else that gets problems though.

[Mr Whippy]

Composite Guru said:

If i worried about being overweight then i would just cut out sugar all together rather than using an alternative.

Exactly.

All these substitutes may only really benefit you if you are having too much of something in the first place...

I avoid anything 'healthy' but classically bad for you, it's all just complete crap.

Moderation is the key.

What frustrates me mainly is that it's often hard to find the full-fat/sugar/salt stuff these days. All the juices at my local Tesco Express, bar one, is fakey crappy Aspartame horrible tasting crap!

Dave