Asperatame

Or just search the internet in general. A quick search shows this site which talks about all the studies that back up aspartame: Aspartametruth.net

I'd like to know how your coworker has determined that cancer rates have gone up and what time period he is talking about.
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I'd like to know how your coworker has determined that cancer rates have gone up and what time period he is talking about.</div>

I didn't refute the fact that cancer rates have gone up because that's the truth. However, it's a fuzzy statistic due to lack of medical knowledge in past generations. He was talking about the past four generations in the USA, and how childhood cancer is more and more evident. Once again, I could think of other reasons to not blame it on the food supply -- i.e. that tests for cancer were unavailable or inefficient in the past.

I am not a hater of the organic food crowd, and I can see where their points lie (pesticides, injected chemicals in chicken/cow, additives), and I don't have too much in the FDA like them, but I am a realist, and I like to see both sides before I can stick to a certain point of view.

Totentanz, thanks for the website. There's some independent researching backing the approval of aspartame. That's one duck down...
 
Aspartame is deadly: Really?

The following is from scopes.com:

“After reviewing scientific studies, FDA determined in 1981 that aspartame was safe for use in foods. In 1987, the General Accounting Office investigated the process surrounding FDA's approval of aspartame and confirmed the agency had acted properly. However, FDA has continued to review complaints alleging adverse reactions to products containing aspartame. To date, FDA has not determined any consistent pattern of symptoms that can be attributed to the use of aspartame, nor is the agency aware of any recent studies that clearly show safety problems.

Carefully controlled clinical studies show that aspartame is not an allergen. However, certain people with the genetic disease phenylketonuria (PKU), and pregnant women with hyperphenylalanine (high levels of phenylalanine in blood) have a problem with aspartame because they do not effectively metabolize the amino acid phenylalanine, one of aspartame's components. High levels of this amino acid in body fluids can cause brain damage. Therefore, FDA has ruled that all products containing aspartame must include a warning to phenylketonurics that the sweetener contains phenylalanine.”

“ Sir - Patients at our diabetes clinic have raised concerns about information on the internet about a link between the artificial sweetener aspartame and various diseases. Our research revealed over 6000 web sites that mention aspartame, with many hundreds alleging aspartame to be the cause of multiple sclerosis, lupus erythematosis, Gulf War Syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, brain tumors, and diabetes mellitus, among many others. Virtually all of the information offered is anecdotal, from anonymous sources and is scientifically implausible.

Aspartame, a dipeptide composed of phenylalanine and aspartic acid linked by a methyl ester bond, is not absorbed, and is completely hydrolysed in the intestine to yield the two constituent amino acids and free methanol. Opponents of aspartame suggest that the phenylalanine and methanol so released are dangerous. In particular, they assert that methanol can be converted to formaldehyde and then to formic acid, and thus cause metabolic acidosis and neurotoxicity.

Although a 330 ml can of aspartame-sweetened soft drink will yield about 20 mg methanol, an equivalent volume of fruit juice produces 40 mg methanol, and an alcoholic beverage about 60-100 mg. The yield of phenylalanine is about 100 mg for a can of diet soft drink, compared with 300 mg for an egg, 500 mg for a glass of milk, and 900 mg for a large hamburger (1). Thus, the amount of phenylalanine or methanol ingested from consumption of aspartame is trivial, compared with other dietary sources. Clinical studies have shown no evidence of toxic effects and no increase in plasma concentrations of methanol, formic acid, or phenylalanine with daily consumption of 50 mg/kg aspartame (equivalent to 17 cans of diet soft drink daily for a 70 kg adult) (1, 2).

The anti aspartame campaign purports to offer an explanation for illnesses that are prominent in the public eye. By targeting a manufactured chemical agent, and combining this with pseudo-science and selective reporting, the campaign makes complex issues deceptively simple.”

From American Council on Science and Heatlh:

“The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) is now receiving daily inquiries regarding one such health hoax about aspartame (see below).The hoax links the sweetener to multiple sclerosis-like symptoms and systemic lupus using quasi-medical jargon. Like most of its kind, this Web scare appears to be credible, pointing to impressive-sounding names like the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, the &quot;World Environmental Conference&quot; and the mysterious &quot;Dr. Espisto.&quot; Also like its compadres, this article is packed with misinformation that could frighten those, such as diabetics, who rely on aspartame.

In fact, aspartame, known as &quot;NutraSweet&quot; and &quot;Equal,&quot; is safe. Aspartame is one of the most thoroughly tested substances in the U.S. food supply. Numerous authorities, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of the FAO/WHO, the European Community, and the American Medical Association have concluded that aspartame is a safe product, except in the rare cases of phenylketonuria. For more information on aspartame, please refer to ACSH's peer-reviewed booklet Low Calorie Sweeteners. And beware of Internet health hoaxes.”

From MIT (Massachessets Institute of Technology):

“Even daily large doses of the high-intensity sweetener aspartame, also known as NutraSweet, had no adverse effect on study subjects' health and well-being, a visiting scientist at MIT reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition last week.

&quot;We conclude that aspartame is safe for the general population,&quot; said Paul A. Spiers, visiting scientist in the Clinical Research Center (CRC).
Mood, aggression and selected cognitive functions were tested during a study in which some of the subjects consumed doses of aspartame nearly 20 times the daily amount taken by the vast majority of the general population.
During a four-month period, subjects received either aspartame, sugar or a placebo and underwent physical and psychological testing. Some subjects were given doses of up to 45 milligrams per kilogram of body weight--the equivalent of 17 to 24 12-ounce diet beverages for males and 14 to 19 12-ounce drinks for females. In the general population, most Americans who consume aspartame take in 3 milligrams per kilogram of body weight a day, the equivalent of one or less 12-ounce diet beverage.

Despite the high consumption of aspartame, the 48 normal subjects showed no changes in mood, memory, behavior, electroencephalograms (which record the electrical signals of the brain) or physiology that could be tied to aspartame, Dr. Spiers found. Although some subjects reported headaches, fatigue, nausea and acne, the same number of incidences were reported by subjects taking placebo and sugar as those taking aspartame.”

2007 Review

“……Acute, sub-acute and chronic toxicity studies with aspartame, and its decomposition products, conducted in mice, rats, hamsters and dogs have consistently found no adverse effect of aspartame with doses up to at least 4000 mg/kg bw/day. Critical review of all carcinogenicity studies conducted on aspartame found no credible evidence that aspartame is carcinogenic. The data from the extensive investigations into the possibility of neurotoxic effects of aspartame, in general, do not support the hypothesis that aspartame in the human diet will affect nervous system function, learning or behavior. Epidemiological studies on aspartame include several case-control studies and one well-conducted prospective epidemiological study with a large cohort, in which the consumption of aspartame was measured. The studies provide no evidence to support an association between aspartame and cancer in any tissue. The weight of existing evidence is that aspartame is safe at current levels of consumption as a nonnutritive sweetener ( Magnuson et. al. 2007).” They couldn’t find any association much less causation. My advice try not to drink over 17 cans of aspartame containing drinks per day.

MR Weihrauch (2004) stated “..despite some rather unscientific assumptions, there is no evidence that aspartame is carcinogenic”

Anything consumed in extreme excess can be detrimental. Just as individual responses can vary their can always be exceptions.

Thanks,
Coach Hale
www.maxcondition.com
 
For the first time ever, I believe I am having a side effect from aspartame. Upon drinking 12 oz of Diet Pepsi, my vision has been blurred, especially on the peripherals. I am eating lunch and drinking water hoping to dilute the effect. I hope this is temporary as this is a common side effect from aspartame.
 
It subsided, and I am not sure if it was because of a headache or aspartame intake. I hardly ever get headaches, and I never had a problem with aspartame before.

I am not sure what to think?
 
Could be coincidental, but I was using Equal in my coffee for a long time, then suffering from fatigue which went away after I switched to saccharin/maltodextrin packets. Therefore, I'd concluded that it was the aspartame, reinforced by all the hoopla over it. I guess I was another anecdote.
 
<div>
(quadancer @ Mar. 19 2008,16:50)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Could be coincidental, but I was using Equal in my coffee for a long time, then suffering from fatigue which went away after I switched to saccharin/maltodextrin packets. Therefore, I'd concluded that it was the aspartame, reinforced by all the hoopla over it. I guess I was another anecdote.</div>
Well, I really cannot make any conclusion from it, but it isn't hard for me to eliminate aspartame. I am giving it a go already, but I am still consuming artificial sweeteners in the form of sucralose and maltodextrin.

Problem is, I believe there is no such thing as a free lunch. You lose the calories, then what else do you unfortunately gain?
 
This &quot;home-made&quot; study on rats and aspartame (that were not inbred) did not show too happy results. The doses were not abnormally high, something similar to a human drinking 1 sweetened soda/day.
They are still rats though and not humans and we don´t know how much the information can be trusted.

http://www.myaspartameexperiment.com/index.php

About sucralose, I have not found anything pointing to that it is dangerous consuming. But it seems to not break down at all in the body, but passes out in the environment, stays there and accumulates and can now be found in some water streams, that cant be a good sign can it?
 
<div>
(Sniggel @ Jun. 18 2008,3:04)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">The doses were not abnormally high, something similar to a human drinking 1 sweetened soda/day.</div>
Dosage: Two packets of NutraSweet per eight ounces of water (about 80 mg of aspartame per each eight ounces); about 34 mg/kg of aspartame for males; 45 mg/kg for females.

For me it would be 2.936g/day or 16.3 cans of diet soda.
 
<div>
(bgates1654 @ Jun. 18 2008,3:29)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(Sniggel @ Jun. 18 2008,3:04)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">The doses were not abnormally high, something similar to a human drinking 1 sweetened soda/day.</div>
Dosage: Two packets of NutraSweet per eight ounces of water (about 80 mg of aspartame per each eight ounces); about 34 mg/kg of aspartame for males; 45 mg/kg for females.

For me it would be 2.936g/day or 16.3 cans of diet soda.</div>
With Splenda (sucralose, not aspartame, I know) in everything now, it may not be that hard to get that amount in your daily diet.
 
Quote:
&quot;The consumption of aspartame has vastly exceeded expectations at the time of the original toxicology testing in the early 1970s, by the Illinois-based and patent owning, Searle &amp; Company. Sold in 1985 to the St Louis-based Monsanto Corporation; today it sells close to one billion dollars annually, through its subsidiary NutraSweet. Many would argue that the current ingestion of aspartame products by over half the adult population in the United States constitutes an imminent public health hazard. Even so, the industrial-medical complex fails to warn even high-risk groups about potential dangers. You may wonder how this stuff was ever approved by the FDA in the first place.&quot;

http://aspartamekills.com/lydon.htm


Monsanto Corporation, Your DNA Is Ours
 
didn't realise maltodextrin was an artifical sweetener, i always thought it was simply another more complex polymer form of dextrose, both are types of sugar i thought??
 
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