Like I needed a reason not to drink diet soda(other than the fact it tastes horrible).
Artificial sweeteners make me feel depressed. I've given it several attempts -- and without exception, I get depressed.
Aspartame gives me an instant headache. I avoid it like the plague.
Guess I'll stick with seltzer. I don't like regular soda has high fruitose corn sweetner. What about splenda?
I miss the Coca-colas from my childhood, when they used cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. It used to burn going down - man was it good!
Now that at least one study has demonstrated that aspatame may cause cancer, California regulations will mandated food items containing aspartame no carry the "may cause cancer" label. Anyone who now gets cancer in California can now sue the heck out of the soft drink companies. It could be the next 'asbestos' in trial litigation.
Feed rat batch #2 the same quantity of refined sugar.
Let's see which rats die first.
Artificial sweeteners are bad news, but aspartame is truly scary stuff. This is not the first study to come to such a conclusion. Brain tumors, too. Avoid, avoid.
I'm hesitant about splenda (sucralose) too, given that it is a chlorinated hydrocarbon-- chemically related to insecticides.
Ironically, the safest artificial sweetener on the market seems to be saccharin. Then there's stevia, which is a natural sweetener, but even it presents possible health issues.
Frankly, folks should avoid artificial sweeteners anyway. Try flavored sparkling waters from Crystal Geyser instead-- refreshing, zero calories. Need a kick of caffeine? Have some coffee or tea.
But avoid the fake stuff.
ADM was responsible for the fraudulent study against saccharin...and spread a LOT of money to Congress/Senators/FDA to get saccharin pulled in favor of it's new proprietary sweetener Aspartame..that had NO LONG TERM STUDIES as to what it might possibly do to a body long-term! Aspartame also cannot be HEATED (That Aldehyde thing again...), unlike saccharin and Sucralose (Splenda)!
They also tried to do the same to Sucralose(Splenda)...until McNeil Speciallty fought back!
Now ADM is spreading around HUGE $$$ to push Ethanol fuels...and funny, but that good 'ol Oil Boy GWB is on board! After telling America that we are "Addicted to Oil"!
Funny, but Rush has ALWYAS maintained that Oil is the fuel for the Engine of Freedom. Seems like someone is out of step here...
ADM is a BIG problem in food additives, and corruption of politics! I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't pro-Illegal as well...to cut down on that overhead!
These studies are rife with correlations but can never seem to isolate the cause. I'm sure Soffritti's study will create enough fear to generate huge amounts of funding for future research though.
From the article:
"BUT Dr. Kenneth E. McMartin, a methanol expert and professor of pharmacology, toxicology and neuroscience at the Louisiana State University Medical Center, said he believed that it was unlikely that someone could consume enough aspartame to let harmful levels of formaldehyde build up in the body."
McMartin is absolutely right. There is no evidence that formaldehyde from methanol has ever injured anyone. Aspartame is extremely sweet and only very small amounts of it are used. The amount of formaldehyde metabolized from methanol is so minute that it is easily detoxified by the liver. There has been concern that the formic acid from formaldehyde causes metabolic acidosis. This is more nonsense. There is no way formaldehyde can create enough acid for the liver to be unable to handle it.
The liver readily detoxifies large amounts of alcohol, which is a poison, so it can easily remove the small amounts of formaldehyde from aspartame. But, like anything else, if you overwhelm the body with something all sorts of bad things can occur.
Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition advocacy group (read: Toxic Terrorists), said he did not think that Dr. Soffritti's study could be considered definitive, but that it should prompt an "urgent re-examination
These two quotes tell me everything I need to know about what motivates these studies.
Although the evidence is considered "anecdotal," many more ailments are caused by aspartame. In my case I suffered from major pain in my joints that was diagnosed as arthritis. Some days I could barely walk or hold a pen to write. I was in my early 40s.
Then I came across a website that said aspartame could be responsible for such symptoms. My brain put two and two together when I realized that my pains had started after I began chewing a lot of sugar free gum.
I quite consuming all diet products. After six months the pain disappeared.
Ten years ago my Doctor told me not to drink diet drinks. He said they were worst than the sweetened drinks. It seems like the biggest contributor of money to the FDA are the drink companies. They do not have the guts to tell the truth to consomers!
both anecdotally and from reading I think there is certainly a basis to be concerned about consuming aspertame. Like most on FR i am not a chemist or researcher but I personally know people who had symptoms associated with diet cola and other first-hand stories that made me skeptical enough to read more.
This is a good example of what happens when most of an industry endorses a product and tries to keep the lid on any damaging research that may come out.
Bookmarked for later read......
Hmmmm ... lay person here but doesn't that last line about the aging process mean that most long-term effects are simply dismissed without a second thought? Holy long-acting substances, Batman, that can't be right!
bump