Aspartame - Healthy or Not?

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   JaxsonRaineposted 12 years ago

   I'm looking into Aspartame, and I plan on sharing any interesting studies I can find, but what do you think of Aspartame?

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      couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Chemical name: N-L-alpha-Apartyl-L-phenylalanine 1-Methyl Ester
      
      Acute Health Effects: Harmful if ingested or inhaled. Minimize exposure to this material. Severe overexposure can result in injury or death.
      Follow safe industrial hygiene practices and always wear proper protective equipment when handling this compound.
      
      Chronic Health Effects: Repeated exposure to an highly toxic material may produce general deterioration of health by an accumulation in one or
      many human organs.
      
      Accidental Release Measures: Harmful material. In case of a spill or leak, always shut off any sources of ingnition, ventilate the area and exercise caution. Use a shovel to put the material into a waste disposal container. Rinse contaminated surfaces with copious amounts of water. Consult federal, state or local authorities for assistance on disposal.
      
      Use MSHA/NIOSH approved respirator, splash goggles and protective clothing when handling this substance.
      
      https://www.spectrumchemical.com/MSDS/TCI-A0997.pdf
      
      http://www.chemspider.com/Chemical-Stru … 18630.html
      
      And the FDA has approved this for human consumption.
      "The additive meets the specifications of the Food Chemicals Codex"
      
      http://cfr.vlex.com/vid/172-804-aspartame-19708156
      
      Really? The world government is full of dangerous people. Protect yourself. Join the revolution against processed foods, chemicals, cosmetics.

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         SandyMcCollumposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         That just CRAZY!!! Crazy

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      Trish_Mposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I try to keep it out of my home

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      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm not convinced by the health concerns. If you feed anything in large enough quantities to a rat, it will cause damage. 
      
      However for me, there's a much more persuasive reason for avoiding it. 
      
      It increases appetite!
      
      So if you drink an aspartame-sweetened soda, you're going to feel hungrier after it,which means you're likely to eat all the calories you were trying to avoid.  Pointless.

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      caleb89posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Honesty it is better to just consume sugar. Aspartame is extremely bad for you and actually used in the morg to preserve dead bodies. I do not know all of the effects that it has on our bodies, but that is enough info to make me stay away from it.

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         schoolgirlforrealposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         It's in so many foods/drinks too!

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      galleryofgraceposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Aspartame should be banned! We do not survive on chemicals.

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   relacheposted 12 years ago

   For me, aspartame falls into the "not" category.

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      JaxsonRaineposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It does for me as well, but that has more to do with things I've heard than actual research I've done. I always feel weird when I have a strong opinion about something, but can't substantiate why to myself.

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         schoolgirlforrealposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I heard Splenda is bad too?

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   JaxsonRaineposted 12 years ago

   Here's the first study I'm looking at.
   
   http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetc … /ehp.10271
   
   Three groups of rats were observed from birth to death. One group was given no aspartame, one was given a dose of 400ppm aspartame in their food, and the last given a dose of 2000ppm aspartame.
   
   
   
   Cancers
   
   Control Group - 24.2% of males and 44.2% of females had at least one tumor at death.
   400ppm Group - 25.7% of males and 44.3% of females had at least one tumor at death.
   2000ppm Group - 40% of males and 52.9% of females had at least one tumor.
   
   
   Survival Rate
   
   Between 64 and 112 weeks of age(mid-life for these rats), the survival rate for the 400ppm and 2000ppm groups was 10-20% lower than the control group.
   
   The paper mentions that the toxic effects are worse for the rats if they start them on it at a young age, and raises concerns over aspartame-containing drinks that human children often drink. It also shows indirectly that the effects take time to build up, as differences in the groups didn't really show up until 64 weeks.

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      couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That's only a little over a year.

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   jennzieposted 12 years ago

   Although I have heard bad things about aspartame that haven't been proven, I do think it is possible that consuming it in excess can cause negative effects on health in the long-term.
   
   Obviously sugar can cause health problems as well, but at least it tastes good.

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      schoolgirlforrealposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      *like*

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         Robertr04posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Well lets see. Aspartame has been banned in Japan. It has been found to cause blurred vision, migraine headaches, memory loss, ringing in the ears heart palpitions,emotional disorders, and shortness of breath. In addition, testing on mice revealed that it produced microscopic holes and tumors in the brain and testing on monkeys of this sweetener produced seizures. Now would you want to sweeten your food with something that caused such harm to other living organism?

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            JaxsonRaineposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I've heard things like this, but now I'm looking for the primary sources for these studies.

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            schoolgirlforrealposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            As one of my hubs written recently, I touched upon the fact that diet and environment contribute to mental health/illness.
            
            It's very important to avoid asparatame, good info. Good to write a hub on.

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      JaxsonRaineposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      There are many concerns with it, even in moderate amounts(1 soda per day). I've got a list of over 50 studies I'm going to go through.

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   innersmiffposted 12 years ago

   In addition to those studies, the fact that it gives me headaches and its addictive nature says to me that I should avoid it. It's just common sense in the way that people avoid tobacco because of the health issues. There really is no difference between their dangers, but the mainstream media doesn't touch upon Aspartame, so it is ignored to a large degree.

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      JaxsonRaineposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm currently trying to get off of soda, I have a mild addiction and get headaches if I don't have any. But, I'm not sure what ingredients are causing that...

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         couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Caffeine, sugar and artificial sweeterners, artificial coloring are all harmful but it's probably the caffeine withdrawal that's giving you headaches. If you're used to waking up to caffeine, try 20 grams of fast digesting whey (protein) powder with some nitric oxide booster and 20-30 grams of slow digesting carbs (fruit) in a morning shake. You'll wake up naturally. You can add some cold coffee in diminishing amounts (if you like the flavor) or some low dose caffeinated boost drink like Red Bull until you get weaned off caffeine. But some caffeine is not all bad. It acts as a vasodilator so keeps things flowing easily. The source of your caffeine should be coffee beans, though, loaded with over 1,000 phytochemicals and suspected of acting on improved intracellular signaling.
         
         All roasted coffee destroys some polyphenols but Life Extension puts out a coffee that removes the polyphenols using water, then roasts the bean, then puts them back in the water to reabsorb the polyphenols. They claim the resulting bean contains 186% more chlorogenic acid (polyphenol) then conventional coffee.

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      jimmylesaintposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Innersmiff the difference is everyone now knows smoking is harmful and bad for you. Aspartame isn't labelled as such and should be. I believe it was blamed for the Gulf War Syndrome(all those diet pops being shipped over) The Aspartame breaks down at temperatures over 27celcius and people experience MS type symptoms.
      JaxsonRaine, perhaps the real investigation is how much the FDA got bribed to ok Aspartame?

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         couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Wow. Good stuff.

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   brakel2posted 12 years ago

   It is addictive and poisons the body. A relative has an addiction and numerous Health problems from diet coke. Please drink water. It is so goof for the body.

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      jimmylesaintposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes i know of someone who drank buckets of the diet coke and ended up being "MS"
      You see the cop out here is drink in "moderation" which hands the ball in your court, the people;although vaguely, because what is moderation? One can,5 cans or 10 litres? It gives you, the individual, to choose(what we call freedom/democracy/capitalism) just like smokers choose to smoke.
      What to do? Boycott the product and then it won't be a cost effective poison.
      As for that term "in moderation" "eat and drink things in moderation".... hogswash. I drink 2litres of water a day, if i go for a 10km run i drink about 2 litres straight afterwards. This should apply to vitamin deficiency dependent diseases....ooh let me stop i could write forever:)

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         JaxsonRaineposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         The problem is that there aren't many studies into long-term effects of low dosages. Just because something doesn't kill you in small doses right away, doesn't mean it's not killing you slowly. The study of the rats suggests that aspartame is harmful even in small dosages.

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         brakel2posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I wish they could put a warning on diet pop or all soda pop about the danger of drinking more than two per day. But it would never work, because of the marketing factor and the large industry that it is. The best bet is to join a consumer group trying to get the FDA to take action. At least some of the soda pop has been removed from the schools, I hear. Don't get me started about aspartame. I could go on and on. People who are addicted just don't believe anything will happen to them.

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            couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            It didn't work for cigarettes and it won't likely work for soft drinks. Products should never be allowed to be developed to the point where they're legal but need warning labels. The FDA sucks at their job.

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   Mighty Momposted 12 years ago

   I have yet to hear anyone argue that Aspartame is healthy.
   But here's a report that doesn't condemn it, coming out in the decidedly 'neutral' category.
   
   http://www.time.com/time/health/article … 16,00.html

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      jimmylesaintposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      hi Mighty Mom. The article was interesting, but very poor. It detailed the effects of sweetners as causing deformities and cancers then closes with, there is no evidence that faux sweetners make you fat??! Well i think that is the least of ones worries, and seems to present to the reader that they are safe. The other tests, over 200, did they test one cold can of 330ml(aspartame breaks down into its' poisons over 27celcius--what's the average human body temp?) In which case, yes the tests would be favourable to aspartame(a memeber of the cyanide family) In fact if you smoked one cigarette a day, you'd get the same confirmation that smoking is not harmful, or fattening:) This is what they call controversy in the business, i.e setting up studies to show a predetermined result.       Take for instance i am an alcohol baron alcohol is in danger of being banned, i can create a double blind scientific study giving the active participants 25ml(one tot) of vodka a day only--what would be the outcome?....alcohol does not make you drunk. (i could even add...when drunk in moderation)

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   Express10posted 12 years ago

   I don't think that aspartame is safe. If it is something that one drinks or eats just once a month or year, I doubt it would cause harm, but there is no proof that it is safe. Until something is proven either way, it is probably best to avoid it. I must note that manufacturers are not 100% honest and many will hide this ingredient and many others under various names or simply not list it in the ingredient list at all. Buyer beware.
   
   Sweet things, particularly those that are man made, tend to make you crave more sweet things making it more likely that one can overeat and become overweight. Once this happens all sorts of medical problems arise. The closer to natural that you eat and drink, the better. It is very difficult and the manufacturers and advertisers job is to make it difficult, however, it is your health at stake and it's not important to anyone but you and your loved ones.

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   Lisa HWposted 12 years ago

   I don't really think it takes a lot of studying to figure out that no sugar at all is healthiest, but that modest amounts of real sugar is still better than stuff that isn't natural (or even stuff that started out natural and was altered, like sucralose).
   
   Besides, there's obviously something very wrong with a product that causes the kind of freakish digestive issues that Aspertame and some of the other fake sugars cause to people who consume even just a little bit of them.  I know people who eat and drink "everything but kitchen sink" (when it comes to junky foods and beverages) without a hint of digestive issues.  If these same people eat three hard candies or one six-ounce glass of something sweetened with "fake sugar", three hours later they feel like they're either having a heart attack or a baby - and then Aspartame has its own set of things people have to be concerned about on top of whatever other issues "fake sugar" brings.
   
   No study in the world will ever convince me that that junk is at all safe.

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    Beth100posted 12 years ago

    @ Jaxson Raine -- my cousin who holds a PhD in kinesiology, performed this same experiment when aspartame was first introduced into the market.  Her finding were much more detailed than this, including neurological damage to amounts found within soft tissue during the course of the experiments.  The experiments were performed on more than 3 groups of rats for an extended period of time.  I had read her results, and will not ever touch anything with aspartame in it.  You might as well take up smoking or drink a bottle of cyanide. 
    
    Frankly, anything that is synthetically produced or chemically/biologically altered is not healthy for the body.  Once again, it is buyer beware, or in this case, consumer beware. 
    
    The profit that companies gain from this industry is astronomical and the power that they hold will prevent any type of "hazardous to your health" labelling.  Look at how much time, lobbying, illness and death it took before tobacco took the hit. 
    
    If you think that aspartame is unhealthy, you should check out margarine.  Did you know that it is only one molecule away from being a plastic?!?  Yet, people eat this on a daily basis -- perhaps several times a day.  Then there is microwaved food -- the microwaves actually change the molecular structure which redefines what the substance is.  It may resemble what we put in on the surface, but on the molecular level, it is no longer the food that it was originally.  As a result, when the body digests this product, not only does it find it difficult, it has carcinogenic results.
    
    Oh, I could go on and on and on.... like you.   (think about wearing a bluetooth which is emitting radio frequencies over your ear drum and brain.... there's studies on the effects of this too, yet, it is being hidden by all the hype of "safer driving", "hands free driving", "hands free gaming" and so on.)  I digress..... sorry. 
    
    I'll be waiting for your hub on your findings!!

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       schoolgirlforrealposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       what about using a cell phone?

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          couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Hello, Verizon? I'd like to order a case of Aspartame. hahaha

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             schoolgirlforrealposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             

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          Beth100posted 12 years agoin reply to this

          There's finding in Sweden that prove cell phone use increases the chances of tumors in the brain and surrounding areas.
          
          Did you know that your keyboard, mouse and laptop emit a low frequency which can be one of the leading causes of carpel tunnel syndrome?  Yet, we sit and type all day long at work and then head home to type some more.  Gee, wonder why carpel tunnel is not so rare anymore..... 

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             schoolgirlforrealposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             sure.

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    shoaibgmailposted 12 years ago

    Didn't know much about it but interested to know more..

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