Read this article!

[MinimedPumper07]

Did u know? i got this in the email? - Yahoo! Answers (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AuyGiQvb_o7D3c826raX0uQjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid =20060731182547AApl1qK)

Okay its not really an article but for some reason I don't doubt anything it says. I have been drinking diet sodas and eating diet foods for over a year and I have been suffering from anxiety and panic attacks. I will stop and see if it helps. What do you guys think?

[Evermont]

...What do you guys think?

I think artificial stuff is not good. It might be worse for some people than for other people due to genetic and/or other differences. I'm not sure that anyone really understands this stuff and I'm highly skeptical of the web page you pasted and any other claims that these things are understood. But I still think artificial stuff is not good. I think natural stuff is good. That's what I think.

[lisa821]

Go to Snopes.com--this appears to be fake:

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Aspartame -- Sweet Poison? (http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp)

Also, count the number of exclamation points in that email. It's usually a dead giveaway that the person who wrote it is either hysterical, uninformed, or both. ;)

I myself think aspartame is probably no good, but I have a hard time believing that somebody with MS symptoms would stop drinking diet sodas and 32 hours later miraculously be healed, HEALED, I tell you! But there are people who are allergic to aspartame--maybe that's what you're dealing with? Or maybe caffeine is your culprit? Hope you figure out what's making you feel bad. I get anxious just by reading the paper every morning. Maybe I should stop!

~Lisa

[BlueSky]

If you are having panic attacks, food colorants are more likely to be the problem. Stop consumption of sodas and other processed food in a controlled fashion to see if you get relief.

[duck]

I cut aspartame out of my life for eight months and it did **** to make me feel any less anxious...

[Mich]

I too went to SNOPES.com They are usually pretty reliable researchers on internet hoaxes.

Who knows if artificial things have effects on us. Best to stick with natural. But what's natural? Stevia? Juice from a plant. Nutrasweet made from a natural amino acid (protein)? Splenda, made from sugar?

I like sweet things now and then and prefer to keep the carbs down so I use them. I am keeping my eye on developments though.

[xMenace]

I use sugar as my sweetener. Always have and always will. I don't trust anything processed. I've learned to go without. Food tastes so much better without or with reduced sugar.

I don't dis-believe the story, but I'm not sold. A lady in my D group gave up her diet pops last month and her neuropathy and other conditions diskapeared in a couple of days. I always hesitate to link causes with effects thoogh.

[Hammer]

I have heard many times from many sources that aspartame can cause all sorts of health problems. I don't know if it can, but I'd say that if anyone is having unusual health problems and consumes a lot of it, then go off of it for a while and see what happens.

I drink Diet Sprite....oh sorry, they changed the name to Sprite Zero, like that makes a difference, and I don't drink that much of it now, but I did drink a lot of it. I've found one thing that is true about any diet drink that contains aspartame....it doesn't quench your thirst, and in fact, makes you thirstier. The more you drink, the more you want to drink.

The thing that bothers me about aspartame is that it's in so many foods. Heck, it's even in toothpaste! There isn't anyone who doesn't ingest some aspartame every day, and most people aren't aware that they do. A lot of low cal foods use aspartame in place of sugar to get the product to be low cal. Reading the label is the only way to find that out. It's as if they want to keep it a secret. Years ago when they first came out with aspartame, they'd plaster it all over the food products. Now it's hidden in the ingredients....as if they don't want you to know.

I don't know if aspartame is okay to eat or not, so I won't say one way or the other whether or not anyone should use it. The thing is, you only have two choices when it comes to soda....the sugared version or the aspartame version, and since we can't have sugar, we're stuck with the aspartame version. I have diabetes, among other things, so if the aspartame isn't causing me any problems, then I'll stick with it for now, since most likely the diabetes or complications from it, will kill me first.;)

[KCP]

Sugar is also processed ;)

[shiftzor]

Sugar is also processed ;)

True, but while sugar has been used since 350 AD and even before then, aspartame has only been discovered since 1965 and its effects are a lot less documented compared to sugar. I personally go without adding sugar/aspartame to things. I feel better without using aspartame as i have tried it a few times.

[Evermont]

...The thing is, you only have two choices when it comes to soda....the sugared version or the aspartame version, and since we can't have sugar, we're stuck with the aspartame version...

I actually have a third choice when it comes to soda: None.

Also, it appears that I CAN have sugar. I just think it's a bad idea to over-do it. This is true for a lot of things though, not just sugar.

[REDLAN]

Oh no not another, aspartame is deadly!

howsabout some real facts rather than hysterical rantings.

The contention is that aspartame is dangerous because a proportion of it is broken down into methanol by the gut, and then converted to formaldehyde - both are dangerous and toxic in sufficient quantities.

All of the above is perfectly true. However Aspartame is not the only source of methanol in the human diet. Another source is pectin.

so lets compare...

the typical daily dose of aspartame is around 2-10 mg/kg per day. Assuming I'm typical and take 5mg/kg that would mean my total consumption of aspartame would be 400 mg or 0.4g. Aproximately 10% of the aspartame is turned into methanol, or a daily dose of 40mg.

now then lets take a source of pectin. I eat 1 apple each day with my lunch. They weigh around 115g, about 1% of this is pectin i.e. around 1g. When this pectin reaches my gut around 5% is turned into methanol, or 50mg of methanol. That's just ONE smallish apple.

and I found this from a report by the united nations on the safety of methanol.

Methanol occurs naturally. It is a natural constituent in blood, urine, saliva and expired air. Mean blood methanol levels of about 0.73 mg/litre in unexposed individuals have been reported. A mean level of 0.25 µg methanol/litre is expired by unexposed humans. The two most important sources of background body burdens of methanol (and its metabolite formate) are diet and metabolic processes. Methanol is available in the diet principally from fresh citrus fruits and juices, vegetables, fermented beverages and diet foods (principally soft drinks) containing the artificial sweetener aspartame (which on hydrolysis yields 10% by weight of the molecule to free methanol that is available for absorption).

what's that?

it's in fruit juices AND vegetables, AND in fermented beverages.

and here is another quote from a review of aspartame safety.

Several scientific issues continued to be raised after approval, largely as a concern for theoretical toxicity from its metabolic components--the amino acids, aspartate and phenylalanine, and methanol--even though dietary exposure to these components is much greater than from aspartame.

and here's the crux.

if you seriously believe that aspartame consumption is dangerous, then you will also have to stop eating fruit, vegetables and drinking beer and wine.

For phenylalanine I thought this list might be helpful...

L-phenylalanine is found in most foods that contain protein such as beef, poultry, pork, fish, milk, yogurt, eggs, cheese, soy products (including soy protein isolate, soybean flour, and tofu), and certain nuts and seeds. The artificial sweetener aspartame is also high in phenylalanine.

D-phenylalanine is synthesized in the laboratory is not found in food.

and as for aspartate...

nah I really can't be bothered :)

[steamfan261]

Thanks so much for devastating the anti-aspartame crowd's silly arguments! What a breath of fresh air. Facts rather than speculation.

[REDLAN]

just one little extra addition...

according to the canadian diabetic Association, 1 can of diet coke (355ml) contains 131 mg of Aspartame.

That will give your body 13mg of methanol to metabolise.

now then...

apple?

OR

Diet Coke? ;)

[shiftzor]

just one little extra addition...

according to the canadian diabetic Association, 1 can of diet coke (355ml) contains 131 mg of Aspartame.

That will give your body 13mg of methanol to metabolise.

now then...

apple?

OR

Diet Coke? ;)

An apple every time :eek: aspartame may not have be proven to be a “dangerous” substance, however I have noted some physiological effects from eating it although I can’t prove it. An apple is far better for you than aspartame which contains no nutritional content. An apple satisfies that sugar craving while aspartame works for a short period but ultimately leaves you craving more sugar :D. I would still prefer to drink herbal tea or water.

[Eddy]

Sugar is also processed ;)

Sucanat? Evaporated cane juice? Turbinado sugar? All much tastier than ueber-refined trash. :)

Aspartame gives me annoying eye twitches. I avoid the stuff. Sucralose makes me drowsy. I avoid it, too.

I limit my sugar intake. Beyond that, I just do without... unless I'm making something where I can add stevia. (In this paragraph, I include rice syrup, agave syrup, maple syrup, and other non-cane simple CHO suppliers under the umbrella of "sugar".)