The Side Effects of Aspartame
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San2
Mod
I don't have one. I don't follow a certain 'debate' style, or engage in 'debates' regularly on this forum. You made a statement:
I questioned that statement because it seemed a little far fetched, and unsubstantiated to me. Not to mention extremely arrogant, basically accusing everybody who sees any health benefits in chemically derived products (whatever they may be) as lacking in common sense.
If I had really wanted to 'parse words', believe me, there would have been a lot more in your statement to disect. As it is, I asked a question, and you went off on one. And never actually refered to the orginal point.
But, as you said before.....whatever.
Jeanette401
New member
Honestly, you're coming across as rather hostile toward anyone who doesn't share your view on avoiding chemicals. Maybe you don't see it as negative personal comments, but when you imply that it's just common sense to agree with you, it pretty much gives the impression you have a low opinion of the brainpower of those who disagree.
Just my 2 cents.
The thread is about the side effects of this sweetener. I added my view about it. Doesn't mean I dont eat processed foods and get sucked into consuming processed food w/ chemicals too, but MY PERSONAL VIEW is that sweetners are not a wise substitute to sugar. Obviously people are free to share their opinions about the topic as I felt free to do. I stand behind my view that common sense would dictate that consuming certain chemicals may not be the healthiest thing. Just sayin..
3 years ago my 15 year old son was diagnosed with a brain tumour and to cut a long story short we were told there was not a lot that could be done and to hope for 3 years.
I hit the internet and researched everything, family genes, water pollution, sewage pollution, the weather, the climate...... aspartame.
We cut aspartame out of our diet immediately, and I mean everything, if it's not absolutely fresh then every label is read (it's 'e' number is E951 by the way).
Within 6 months the tumour had stopped growing, and here we are three years later... it's still not growing, not only that but he has come off of his anti-fitting medication and he is no longer fitting, in fact he is a perfectly healthy 18 year old young man with a benign brain tumour, the specialists now say that if he is unlucky he will only have 10 years.
Coincidence? I think not.
I hit the internet and researched everything, family genes, water pollution, sewage pollution, the weather, the climate...... aspartame.
We cut aspartame out of our diet immediately, and I mean everything, if it's not absolutely fresh then every label is read (it's 'e' number is E951 by the way).
Within 6 months the tumour had stopped growing, and here we are three years later... it's still not growing, not only that but he has come off of his anti-fitting medication and he is no longer fitting, in fact he is a perfectly healthy 18 year old young man with a benign brain tumour, the specialists now say that if he is unlucky he will only have 10 years.
Coincidence? I think not.
San2
Mod
I think so.
Jeanette401
New member
I guess I don't understand why 'natural' and 'organic' is good, while 'chemical' and 'human created' are bad.
Take imitrex - a migraine medication. It is a chemical, it is man created. And I am extremely grateful for it.
On the other hand, take cyanide. All natural, found in plants - and lethal.
Not to mention the minerals in my multi-vitamin or who knows what else.
I'd just rather get the data on a specific chemical or organic product and make my decision based on the specifics rather than generalities - especially since it's almost impossible to avoid all chemical food additives, so it seems to make sense to know which ones are the most and least safe.
Take imitrex - a migraine medication. It is a chemical, it is man created. And I am extremely grateful for it.
On the other hand, take cyanide. All natural, found in plants - and lethal.
Not to mention the minerals in my multi-vitamin or who knows what else.
I'd just rather get the data on a specific chemical or organic product and make my decision based on the specifics rather than generalities - especially since it's almost impossible to avoid all chemical food additives, so it seems to make sense to know which ones are the most and least safe.
So in your mind cyanide is meant to be ingested? Or are you just splitting hairs and pretending you dont know what organic food that is meant to be ingested is. You are one of the few people that sees no general benefit in avoiding as many chemicals as possible (i.e. eating organic to the extent possible). Not saying its not someone's own choice (which is also effected by the pocketbook), but most people are at least aware of and acknowledge the benefits..
Jeanette401
New member
Actually, I'm not 'pretending' anything. I'm just pointing out that natural does not automatically imply healthy. Nor does 'chemical' or man-made imply toxic - especially when it comes to my migraine medicine. And if we argue that Imitrex is 'meant' to be ingested... well, so is aspartame.
But for the record, occurs in small doses in cassava plants and apple seeds and can naturally make it's way into soil and water. It's in separating it out as a sole chemical that we can say it's not 'meant to be ingested' but it can naturally be present in things that are. Fortunately, our bodies can usually filter small doses out - that's why moderation is good, small doses are things you can normally handle.
I'm not sure why you believe that not caring about avoiding 'as many chemicals as possible' is an uncommon view - perhaps not many post about it, but if the vast majority of people preferred to eat organic to the extent possible, why are all of these foods so prevalent? (Not to mention that technically speaking, water is a chemical).
Either way, that's not what I said at all. What I said was that given that eating foods with man created chemicals is virtually unavoidable, I prefer to pick and choose which ones I favor based on the specific health risks and benefits rather than just eating them and then shrugging it off as unavoidable.
To that end, it's difficult to distinguish between additive choices if the only information available is 'It's a chemical, therefore bad'. I prefer to know more.
Kori
New member
Me neither!
How very scary and horrible for you all, I am very happy to hear that your son is doing well after the removal of Aspartame from his diet! May he continue in good health and make a full recovery
I refuse to let my son drink anything artificially sweetened, having watched numerous documentaries and read extensively about the dangers of them, he has soda approximately once a week (sometimes less) and that is full sugar, the little sugar he eats overall in his diet, means an occassional treat like that is perfectly fine.Personally I think the best thing anyone who desires to be healthy can do is to wean themselves off the addiction to sweet stuff of any kind, losing your sweet tooth is one of the best things you can do for your body. It is something I am working on, I have removed most, but still can't get rid of that one sugar in my coffee >_<
Guys, I got used to aspartame a year ago when I was on a hard diet. I was supposed to replace all type of sugar with sweeteners that have aspartame. I have heard of these side effects before, but I honestly took the risk. I still use sweeteners with my morning coffee, but otherwise just replace sugar with brown sugar, which I think is the better solution. Noone puts on extra pounds from adding some brown sugar instead of a sweetener, so I think it's a good replacement, and appropriate for people who are on a diet.
Sesha
New member
Do you have information to back that up, or is that your personal opinion, because it certainly is not scientific fact. Recent studies have made connections between artificial sweeteners and Alzheimer's disease along with certain cancers. Scary. I'll never put that stuff in my body again!
San2
Mod
Breathing is dangerous. Studies about air quality have made connections between breathing and lung cancer. Sunlight is closely connected to skin cancer....erhm....do you want to live in a cave and stop breathing as well?
Of course less is more in this case, like with a lot of other things, but a cup of tea with a sweetener in it will hardly kill you.
I don't know why people insist making it sound as if aspartame was the root of all evil to be honest. A lot of other things are just as dangerous, if not more. And the stuff that you think today is healthy will turn out to be dangerous tomorrow anyway. *shrug*
Of course less is more in this case, like with a lot of other things, but a cup of tea with a sweetener in it will hardly kill you.
I don't know why people insist making it sound as if aspartame was the root of all evil to be honest. A lot of other things are just as dangerous, if not more. And the stuff that you think today is healthy will turn out to be dangerous tomorrow anyway. *shrug*
Sesha
New member
I think the difference here is that breathing is not 'optional' and sunlight is out of our control, consumption of artificial sweeteners is not.
Jeanette401
New member
Well, it's arguable as to whether or not sunlight is optional If I worked really hard at it, I could probably avoid it.
But lets use high mercury fish as another example. Eat too much, you can get mercury poisoning - very bad stuff. Perfectly fine in moderation. Aspertame - all the scientific studies I've seen have not been able to show a statistical link between moderate doses of aspertame and any illness.
Now, it's very likely that some people have a bad reaction to it and should stay away from it - but then again, there are people who could die from eating strawberries or shrimp. That doesn't mean they need to be taken off of the market. It means the people who are sensitive to them shouldn't eat them.
Just like the people who are sensitive to aspertame shouldn't have any.
But that doesn't mean that aspertame is particularly more evil or deadly than being overweight from the extra calories they get from sugar/hfcs. Although I'm certainly interested in seeing any of the studies that link aspertame and Alzheimer's. I haven't been able to find the scientific studies myself.
If I worked really hard at it, I could probably avoid it.But lets use high mercury fish as another example. Eat too much, you can get mercury poisoning - very bad stuff. Perfectly fine in moderation. Aspertame - all the scientific studies I've seen have not been able to show a statistical link between moderate doses of aspertame and any illness.
Now, it's very likely that some people have a bad reaction to it and should stay away from it - but then again, there are people who could die from eating strawberries or shrimp. That doesn't mean they need to be taken off of the market. It means the people who are sensitive to them shouldn't eat them.
Just like the people who are sensitive to aspertame shouldn't have any.
But that doesn't mean that aspertame is particularly more evil or deadly than being overweight from the extra calories they get from sugar/hfcs. Although I'm certainly interested in seeing any of the studies that link aspertame and Alzheimer's. I haven't been able to find the scientific studies myself.