Aspartame in Diet Drinks?

DDD

Well-Known Member
I was looking for an old email and ran across a 1/07 email that an old friend had sent me about Aspartame. I thought of you all....that must be the reason I "saved" it.

The bottom line of the long report is that Aspartame is under identified as the cause or trigger for major health problems that are often not diagnosed correctly. MS, systemic lupus, fibromyalgia etc...can appear to exist when it is artificial sweeters that is the problem.

Do I know if this true? I sure don't. I just know that alot of CD family members have those problems and on the slight chance that artificial sweeters and diet drinks are causing grief, I am sharing. DDD
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
My sister in law is currently is the head of obstetrics at a university hospital. She swears by the negative effects of artifical sweeteners on the brain. If she uses anything but sugar, its only splenda.

I've listened to her comment on enuf similar studies that I dropped the diet drinks.
 
F

flutterbee

Guest
I just did some quick research. It seems to be a heavily divisive subject.

Some like Dr. Mercola think it is the root of all evil. While others think it's safe.

As far as claims that corporations have bought off the FDA, well they would have had to buy off Australia, New Zealand, the European Union, the United Nations and the World Health Organization, too, as they all approved and re-approved Aspartame for safety.

However, I do drink a lot of Diet Coke. I have tried Diet Coke with Splenda and didn't care for it, but I will do a small study on myself and switch to Diet Coke with Splenda for a while and see if I feel any better. Can't hurt to try.
 

smallworld

Moderator
I know this is an important topic, but I'm moving it to the Watercooler because it's not related directly to difficult child issues.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I first heard this several years ago and because I was a very heavy diet coke drinker I switched to Diet RC with splenda. It made no difference in how I felt. I tried this experiment for over 6 months with no change.

I have heard people who swear getting off the aspartame has made them much better but it didnt work for me.
 

dreamer

New Member
I do not and have not ever used any artifical sweeteners-----do not drink soda pop- diet or otherwise-----and the few times I have tasted anything, my reaction has been YUK- so I never get far enough to know if it affects me in any other way-----

BUT my best friend- may she rest in peace- used Equal- 4 packets (YIKES) per cup of coffee or glass of iced tea (YIKES)
and always had. she did have MS and she did get melanoma and she died from it. (quite gruesomely, I might add)

I stay away from artifical things in general.
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
I debated where to post. No problem, of course, with it being moved AND I don't even know if it is helpful. It does seem like alot of our members have mentioned some of those problems and recently at least one member was going thru a bunch of extensive tests to identify why she wasn't well. I figured...can't hurt. DDD
 

WhymeMom?

No real answers to life..
Well, I have been drinking diet soda for over 30 years. I can no longer drink regular soda because it tastes like syrup to me. I tried for a while to switch to diet rite cola because it contains no aspartame, no sodium, no calories--what's left?
But it became to difficult to find it. I really haven't had health problems. Certainly I would think a more natural diet would be healthier, but probably unlikely to be eaten by most people. I enjoy drinking diet soda and probably will not give it up, I just haven't been convinced it is harmful to me.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
This debate will probably be around for a while. We don't buy the diet drinks or keep the sugar-free version of anything around because difficult child, thank you and I are violently ill when we get ANY of the aspartame or splenda. thank you and I both get breathing problems and difficult child and I both get vicious migraines with ANY artificial sweetener exposure.

It is bad enough for me that even a small drink of a diet soda makes me very ill.

I do not know about the other problems, but I do know that nothing works for everyone.

I hope none of you get problems from this stuff.

Susie
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
One of the health classes required for my credential had a guest speaker who did not believe in any artificial sweeteners, said they turned into formaldehyde when they reached body temperature, and people who drank them were basically poisoning themselves. I don't like soda in any form, never have, so I didn't really worry, but chewing gum has that artificial sweetener too. It also gave me horrible stomach cramps and I was unable to leave the bathroom for a very long time. No more aspartame, xylitol, or any of that business for me any longer.
 

skeeter

New Member
since formaldehyde has an oxygen (double bonded) to a carbon with two hydrogens, and aspartame is composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, I suppose it's possible that when aspartame breaks down, you could get a formaldehyde molecule.
But you could get that (taking into consideration that the double bonded oxygen to carbon is hard to produce) from anything that is composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, including vegetable oil.

And just as with anything that goes into your body, some people have no problems with aspartame, others react to it. My son is allergic to casein, so cannot have anything that has any milk, whey, casein or sodium caseinate in it.

But please keep in mind that MOST of these "reports" are taken from scientific journals that aren't saying these are facts. The point of publishing in scientific journals is to propose a theory and have peers either confirm or prove the theory, or to disprove the theory. But you never read about the follow up reports when the theory is disproven. Unless you have access to the original publication, you also cannot see how the research was conducted - was there a control and what was it, what was the dosage and does it in any way equate to "normal" consumption, etc.

What I'm basically saying is take these types of reports with a LARGE grain of salt (unless you have high blood pressure - oh - wait, now they are saying that doesn't matter!).
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
at Skeeters post -

(blink), (blink, blink), (blink), (WHAT?), (blink, blink).

Thank you very much
Mrs. Wizard.

:try2fly:
 

susiestar

Roll With It
i wholeheartedly agree that it is very difficult to tell if things have been disproven or not. And that it is tough to see if the study was properly conducted.

Susie
 
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