Aspartame - A Neurotoxin Never Tasted So Sweet

i'm with you Narran.
Not only these symptoms, but a study was conducted that showed artificial sweetners tended to make the users crave sweetners even more than normal sugar would.

I've read that, as well. Thank you for the reminder. Meanwhile, for those who think they're "saving their teeth" by drinking diet soda, my dentist said that diet soda is even worse for your teeth than regular, because of the acidity. He said people come in with cavities, and they're "shocked" to learn that drinking diet soda is the likely culprit. I just stay away from the stuff entirely.

Bogus list, Naran. Drink enough water and you'll end up with many of those symptoms too. A lot of studies indicting common chemicals are highly questionable w/ regard to methodology and direct applicability. Ask Mainemom (not Gov. LePage) for some examples on BPA.

Not saying anyone should be forced to use the stuff. But the risks of artificial sweeteners are speculative, and the impacts of refined sugars are WELL established.

(PS - as someone who stays low carb, I can tell you - anecdotally, of course - that I don't crave sweets at all. In fact, when I tase something with real sugars in them, I almost invariably find them TOO sweet, because my body isn't used to them anymore)

I love diet coke. I love sweets, too! I'm too old to die young. Aspertame does, however, cause me to use short sentances.

This site reaches the same conclusion as eagleisland.

I agree about the lousy taste.

Diet soda is not an effective weight loss tool anyway.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

This reminds me of the time when I was in college and I passed out literature asking people to ban DHMO:

http://www.dhmo.org/

Don't care; hate the aspartame stuff, think it's poison in a can/bottle/bag/splenda container.
:)

Diet Coke uses Aspartame

Splenda uses Acesulfame which is in Pepsi One

Thank you for the clarification. They all taste lousy to me, but that's just me.

Properties

Acesulfame K is 200 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar), as sweet as aspartame, about 2/3 as sweet as saccharin, and 1/3 as sweet as sucralose. Like saccharin, it has a slightly bitter aftertaste, especially at high concentrations. Kraft Foods has patented the use of sodium ferulate to mask acesulfame's aftertaste.[4] Acesulfame K is often blended with other sweeteners (usually sucralose or aspartame). These blends are reputed to give a more sugar-like taste whereby each sweetener masks the other's aftertaste, and/or exhibits a synergistic effect by which the blend is sweeter than its components.

Wiki Acesulfame

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I do like Stevia, which is a plant-based sweetener. It tastes pretty good, has no calories or sugar, and comes in bulk or in packets. Available at health food stores and most larger grocery stores, these days. www.stevia.com has good information.

Stevia is a South American herb used as a natural sweetener for centuries. The leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plant have a refreshing taste, zero glycemic index, zero calories and zero carbs. It is 25-30 times sweeter than sugar, and far more healthy!

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Vic Berardelli has mentioned several times how much he likes Agave syrup, which is a sweet liquid distilled from the Agave plant.

Agave nectar (also called agave syrup) is a sweetener commercially produced in South Africa and Mexico from several species of agave...Agave nectar is sweeter than honey, though less viscous. ...

Agave nectar's glycemic index and glycemic load are comparable to fructose,[8][9] which in turn has a much lower glycemic index and glycemic load than table sugar (sucrose)....

Agave wiki

Naran, you can find scary stuff about anything out there:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/8-stevia-side-effects/

Oh, boy, Butch, thanks!
lol

I kind of wondered if wandering around town chewing on the Stevia leaves might get me in trouble, too.

From Butch's link above:

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

Stevia side effects

Numbness

Some users have reported numbness, although this is not long-lasting either.

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(Insert bad joke about liberals and crunchy types here....)

Naran, there are lots of things we should be concerned about as far as what we eat or what we have in our homes. Sometimes though people take it to extremes, such as vegans who complain that bovine flatulence is destroying the world and want to ban cattle farming.

There are also people who are allergic to aspartame, and maybe it's possible you might be one of them?

Not sure. I just don't like the stuff. it tastes lousy. Myself, I haven't experienced any of the side effects rumored as caused by Aspartame, because I avoid the substance.

My thread was posted merely as a friendly, caring warning to other AMG members. If the allegations are inaccurate, I apologize.

I still think the "Numbness" allegations are amusing, and could explain some of the voting we see from certain portions of Maine.

Naran, I think there are other "natural" substances that might explain some of what you mention... ;-)

I have absolutely no idea to what you're referring...
:)

"If the allegations are inaccurate, . . " The allegations are settled science. Aspartame is bad. Many thousands of purveyors make untold millions slinging the stuff. That might have something to do with the volumes of material that speak in support of it. Kind of like flouride.

To each their own. I personally find stevia to have a bitter aftertaste.

According to what I've read, the same problem happens with sucralose and aspartame, leading some manufacturers to combine a bunch of different artificial sweeteners, in order to counter-act the bad taste of each. Pretty funny - bunches of lab coat people working diligently to make something almost, but not quite, entirely like sugar.

Reminds me of the series of prescriptions the Doc used to write out for my mom.

Take this to help for this, and this to help for what that does, and this for that..............

Any recipe which calls for sugar or a sweetener, I use Agave. It comes in several forms, including a wonderful substitute for maple syrup.

I put Agave instead of sugar in my muffin recipe. I don't tell guests. They rave at breakfast and ask for seconds.

As I drink my coffee (decaf) black, I do not know how it works as a coffee sweetener. But i dribble a little Agave in tea and it is fantastic.

Agave is basically sap from cactus plants. If you've ever been to the Southwest, you've tasted cactus candy. It is delicious and usually contains no sugar because the Agave is sweet enough on its own.

Agave Nectar is actually worse for you than high-fructose corn syrup. It has MORE fructose than HFCS. There has been some very bogus and dangerous advertising around agave nectar.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/07/02/agave-a-tr...

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-truth-about-agave

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/03/30/beware-of-...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dBnniua6-oM

aspertame makes me jitter and gives me a headache even in small doses and I plain think it tastes gross so I avoid it! It seems everytime you turn around there are new products that may harm us in one way or another. For most moderation is the key. The problem is a lot of people don't practice moderation.

Bazinga: EVERYTHING, even pure water as noted above, can be a problem to someone. We would have to be hermits eating and drinking nothing and not breathing the air if we wanted to avoid all hazards. But where does that get you? An early grave!

I detest refined sugar and the alternatives. The Agave alternative is the best available alternative unless one never wants to offset tartness or have a sweeter taste. I do not buy packaged foods with the first ingredients showing: (in any order) sugar, salt, high fructose, refined flour or artificial addititives or flavorings. It means I go to health food stores or the health foods section of the supermarket more frequently. Shopping carefully (and carrying a magnifyer to read ingredient lists), I even found sugar free ketsup (Organicville brand) which uses Agave instead of sugar to offset the tomato tartness. It tastes fine. Since adapting this diet, my glyceimic levels are more steady, I have more energy and I think my health is better.

Again, EVERYTHING will have literature somewhere citing a hazard. The secret of success is to weigh one against the other and find the best and safer alternative to fit your own needs.

And, of course, consult with your medical provider. Mine has the wisdom of Solomon. After comparing my prior eating habits to this new regimen, he put aside the learned papers full of "sky is falling" warnings and simply said, "If you can lose a little weight, eat sensibly, balance metabolism to feel better, eat more pure natural food and fewer enriched or chemically-enhanced packaged products and flush the junk of years of bad eating habits out of your system, then anything in moderation is a good thing."

I always thought that sucralose (splenda) was a less harmful sweetner than aspartame. Sucralose really isn't used in any diet sodas but is in that Hannaford bottled flavored water, which I drink all the time. My doctor told me to avoid diet sodas because it has been shown that they actually cause you to crave more food and eat more. I'm not sure if I agree with that.

One other story I'd like to share and ask for someone to confirm for me. I had heard that the strange "Gulf War Syndrome" that soldiers were coming back from Iraq was caused by aspartame. The story goes that huge skids of Diet Coke would be delivered to Iraq and sit outside in the heat. After a while, the heat would make the aspartame toxic. The soldiers would then drink it and get sick. Anyone else hear that story?

At the very least, the acid in the soda might leach metals from the can, which would then be ingested when drinking the stuff. No thanks.

One real ingredient in Coca cola is phosphoric acid. The content is the source of the stories about Coke as rust remover. It is in both fat and diet. Citric acid is in most fruit flavored sodas. Carbonic acid is the product of dissolved CO2 in water -- even in seltzer. I cannot think of one that lacks acid.

Acid, in and of itself (like many other substances) isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, soda packs a lot of the stuff, and in conjunction with the sweeteners, causes significant tooth decay. Just quoting my dentist, who knows far more than me.

Diet soda is about as acidic as orange juice, and less than stomach acid. Modern cans have a liner to prevent leaching.