Aspartame - no joke

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This is to all the coke-zero drinkers among other diet pop users (myself included)

http://www.spiritual-endeavors.org/health/aspartame.htm

 

1) I have no idea who Nancy Markle is and would have to question her authority to preach on this matter

2) Having said that, I do agree with overall sentiment of her message, namely that substance like aspartame are pretty artificial, and as a general rule (with some notable exceptions - like not eating a rotting carcass you find on the ground), it is much healthier to eat foods that are closer to being in their natural state rather than being heavily processed and full of weird chemicals. For example, better to eat an apple than an apple flavoured doughnut.

 

Y'know, Dfly, if ALL of that was true, chances are that with the gigantic quantity of diet sodas I swilled in my life, I would have died in atrocious suffering at least 5 times. But obviously, I am alive and well. I, however, question the credibility of the author.

It is true that the long-term effects of Aspartame are somewhat nebulous, I don't contest that. The part of formaldehyde IS definitively true, BUT *if* the cans are exposed to *extreme heat*. At room temperature, it is no threat.

The golden rule is to be reasonable in diet soda swilling. I used to guzzle up to 4 liters a day, and reduced the dose to two cans (for a total of 710 ml) every day, and I am in perfect health. Don't take everything printed on the internet as solid gold.

 

I have a headache... I just drank a coke zero. OH NO, I HAVE ASPARTAME DISEASE!

Come on! So if someone drinks alot of coke zero and has joint pain, depression, or headaches, they have a disease? Of course she wouldn't take into account what else that person does, such as cracking knuckles (popping joints, etc), or something common that would be a cause of any of these things...

How is it beyond coincidence? They have MS and drink Diet Coke? I don't mean to sound disbelieving, but one thing in common is not hard evidence.

If the patent has expired, then anyone can use it without legal reprecussions, right? So why does she make a big deal about it?

At least the other 102 countries are safe


A few other things:

Where is the evidence in all this stuff? She cites no sources, gives us no proof. She could have made this all up, or inflated the facts.

This sounds like it was written by a 12 year old. Stop WITH THE capital letters, FOR crying out LOUD. If you are trying to deliver an important message, make it sound like you spent more than five minutes typing it out, or at least make it sound adult.

 

O.k, maybe I didn't choose the best artical to link but there are a lot of different articals on the subject. It is late here so I won't be browsing any more tonight but tomorrow maybe I can link to a more reputable resource.

 

A few years ago we were warned against the evils of Saccharin. Yet when I checked with the National Diabetic Association they said there was no proof that it was harmful to humans. The secret of using anything of this type is...moderation.

/humor:
If you drink diet soda just don't heat it up to 86F.

 

The most harmful element of diet colas isn't the aspartame, but the caramel coloring. It discolors your teeth and coats your stomach lining. Other than that, drinks with aspartame are pretty harmless. Evidence that suggests that it only effects people with pre-existing heart conditions, and even then it requires extremely high consumption to be dangerous to their health. We're talking a 12 pack or two per day.

I understand your concern, Dragonfly - I too heard all the spook stories about the evil Aspartame. I work for a sports nutrition company who has several products containing aspartame, and have personally asked several nutrition experts about it's safety. The bottom line - based on all the clinical evidence currently available today - aspartame isn't anything to get your nickers in a twist over, unless you're in the 24-pack-per-day category - in which case Aspartame is the LEAST of your problems.

 

Also, in the same site.

 

Ok, first, I would never believe anything that came from "http://www.spiritual-endeavors.org" or any other religious fanatic site.

Second, no company on earth would put something in their products that caused medical conditions. Can you say 'class-action law suit'?

Third, I would like to see scientific proof that Aspartame converts to formaldehyde.

That's like reading a fortune cookie that says, "Something bad will happen to you, sometime within the near future." It's so random, that it applies to everyone.

At 21 years old, I have joint pain...but guess what; it's because of the carbonation in the Mt. Dew that has been eating away the calcium in my bones and because my regular diet doesn’t contain very much calcium...not because of a sweetener. Every normal woman on earth is going to have cramps, if you have a menstrual cycle you will most likely have cramps due to it....not because of a sweetener.

This article should be taken with a grain of sand until credible scientific proof exists. Until then…drink up Coke Zero fans!

 

Can you say 'cigarettes'?

 

Okay. While the article is badly written, it's subject isn't a joke. This information has been around for a while. Personally, I've known since mid-2003. To give you some history not included in that article, Aspartame was accidentally invented during a chemical - warfare experiment. It's 300 times sweeter than sugar, which is why you don't see results in clinical trials- the amounts are too small.

And the article also fails to mention what Aspartame actually does in large amounts. They give symptoms, but the actual effect is to create holes in the brain. That's right. Your brain can end up looking like a Swiss cheese.

Kitrax, that's very naive.

And Nakia? No proof. Not at the levels they demand. But in the trials, sodium saccharin appeared to give mice testicular cancer.

Just a little thought, lest you all dismiss this and judge the issue by it's seemingly illiterate author. If you want, wait for Dragonfly to link to a better site.

 

Ok, done some search:
Here.
And here.

In the second link, there are more links with some research. I think they prove to be reliable.

 

You are what you eat; I doubt it would make immediate change even if people actually heeded those words. Personally, I drink coke only when having a burger, so it doesn't worry me much.

But if I were a heavy-user, perhaps it would be time to check my habits not only because of the warning, but because of general health. Too much sugar, caffeine, and acid can't be good.

 

I question the credibility of all the sites posted. I really get tired of this 'my Gawd, it's man-made, it must be bad for you' garbage I keep hearing. You are not going to find any credible sites agreeing with the first post -- which is, in fact, a fabrication (the author was not even willing to sign her own name to it). You have found another urban myth:

Urban Myth - Aspartame

Just what is aspartame:

It takes a fairly large quantity of methanol to cause any adverse effects.

Here are a few credible sources for aspartame:

FDA - Is Aspartame Safe?
Health Canada Aspartame Page

European Scientific Committee on Food Opinion on Aspartame PDF

These and many more can be found at:
www.aspartame.net

[ January 16, 2006, 15:51: Message edited by: T2Bruno ]

 

Being diabetic I do not take this subject lightly. Last night I did some research and found the links Sydax gives. My reaction was that whether for or against the studies we have are biased.

cigarettes are not a modern invention. The native Americans got their revenge with those.

sodium saccharin - I did quite a bit of research on this one. The amounts used on lab mice were quite high.

Sugar is bad for me honey, a natural product, is bad for me. Fructose, a fruit sugar, is marginally better.

As I said before: moderation. In this day and age just eat an apple and we may be ingesting chemicals. Note: Even if I were sure the fruit was organic I am still only allowed 3 fruits a day. My point is that if you have a predisposition to a disease anything can trigger it.

 

While the original article might be an urban legend, what's fact is that my husband gets migraines from aspartame. We keep some packets on hand for guests, but that's it. When we have parties we have to remember to buy diet soda because we never drink the stuff ourselves.

When it comes to those reduced calorie-reduced fat premade products, I'm definitely in the camp of learning to do with less of the original ingredient instead of stuffing yourself with unlimited quantities of the artificial substitute. There might not be any research to specifically support the conjecture of harmful effects from such foods, but there's plenty of research to support the idea that some self-discipline with regard to eating is extremely beneficial. (*)

(*) Disclaimer: This position applies only to the average healthy individual, not to people with diabetes or similar disorders that make the processing of naturally-occurring foods impossible.

EDIT - Believe it or not, I was distracted in composing this message and did NOT see Nakia's post before hitting "Submit"!

[ January 16, 2006, 16:45: Message edited by: Rallymama ]

 

Dragonfly may have been alarmed at the misinformation she obtained -- but that was no reason for trying to alarm everyone else without adequately researching the subject first.

Nakia brought up a very good point -- she is diabetic (as are several members of my family). This is a very serious subject for many people. Shame on everyone here who chose to feed the fire instead of looking for reasonable answers.

 

Health and safety
Methanol is toxic, as its metabolites formic acid and formaldehyde cause blindness and death. It enters the body by ingestion, inhalation, or absorption through the skin. Fetal tissue will not tolerate methanol. Dangerous doses will build up if a person is regularly exposed to fumes or handles liquid without skin protection. If methanol has been ingested, a doctor should be contacted immediately. The usual fatal dose: 100–125 mL (4 fl oz). Toxic effects take hours to start, and effective antidotes can often prevent permanent damage. This is treated using ethanol or fomepizole[1]. Either of these drugs acts to slow down the action of alcohol dehydrogenase on methanol, so that it is excreted by the kidneys rather than being transformed into toxic metabolites. Though it is miscible with water, methanol is very hard to wash off the skin; it is best to treat methanol like gasoline.

Symptoms of methanol ingestion are similar to those of intoxication: headache, dizziness, nausea, lack of coordination, confusion, drowsiness, followed by unconsciousness and death.

The ester derivatives of methanol do not share this toxicity.

Ethanol is sometimes denatured (adulterated), and thus made undrinkable, by the addition of methanol. The result is known as methylated spirit or "meths" (UK use). (The latter should not be confused with meth, a common abbreviation for methamphetamine.)

Pure methanol has been used in open wheel racing since the mid-1960's. Unlike petroleum fires, methanol fires can be extinguished with plain water (while methanol is lighter than water, they are miscible, and the addition of water will cause the fire to use its heat boiling the water). The decision was made shortly after the death of two drivers.

 

Darkstrider: Do you have a point to your post or are you just trying to use a scare tactic? The reference you are citing is for massive ingestion of methanol (such as exposure to a major spill or drinking poor quality moonshine).

Methanol is produced in our bodies during digestion and removed by the kidneys (just as ethanol is). Methanol is also ingested from fruit and alcoholic beverages. The body is capable of handling a fairly large quantity (100-125 ml is a lot, fatal dose is nearly 1 gram per kilogram weight of the person imbibing). The amount from aspartame is negligible -- a less than 25 milligrams per diet soda. This is a lower concentration than found in alcoholic beverages and fruit (such as apples and oranges).

Rallymama: Your husband probably has an allergic reaction to aspartame (or has a sensitivity). This is very much like the sensitivity some people get to MSG -- in fact, migraines are a common complaint of those sensitive to MSG.