For those of us who've battled anxiety... new study says look at Aspartame.

[WarGamer]

https://studyfinds.org/artificial-sweetener-aspartame-anxiety/

Aspartame was originally approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a sweetener in 1981. Fast forward to today, and close to 5,000 metric tons of aspartame is produced annually. Upon ingestion, aspartame becomes aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol. All three of those substances are known to have potent effects on the central nervous system.

This latest research, led by doctoral candidate Sara Jones, entailed providing a group of mice drinking water containing aspartame. The water given to the rodents registered at approximately 15 percent of the FDA-approved maximum daily human intake. That dosage, which is roughly equivalent to six to eight 8-ounce cans of diet soda a day for a human, was provided to the mice for 12 weeks, but the greater study spanned four years.

Starting with directly exposed males, pronounced anxiety-like behaviors were observed in the mice through a variety of maze tests across multiple generations. “It was such a robust anxiety-like trait that I don’t think any of us were anticipating we would see,” Jones explains. “It was completely unexpected. Usually you see subtle changes.”

Also see here:

https://news.fsu.edu/news/university-news/2022/12/08/fsu-research-links-common-sweetener-with-anxiety/

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2213120119

Looks like this stuff may cause permanent damage to DNA and pass down to your kids...

If true... it should be banned ASAP.

to add... I'm probably 20-30oz daily of Diet Coke for 30+ years.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. How very interesting.

Count me as someone who is highly skeptical of things like fake sweetners. Real sugar is not poison, no matter what some say. Nor is salt.

[Happy Hoosier]

18. I'd place a caveat on that...

Sugar and other refined carbohydrates are fine in moderation for metabolically healthy people. But overconsumption of refined carbohydrates, including sugar is the primary cause of insulin resistance. For those of us battling that, non-sugar sweeteners are important.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

26. Over consumption is the key.

There's also evidence that the artificial sweetners don't really satisfy a craving for something sweet. The stereotype of an overweight person drinking a diet soda and eating two donuts is alas, too true.

Personally, I stopped drinking soft drinks of any kind about twenty-five or so years ago. It's mostly water these days. Well, I also enjoy beer or wine.

[pecosbob]

2. Sweeta, circa 1969...sodium cyclamate

[wishstar]

3. Mice faired very poorly on sugar too so I guess its a case of pick your poison

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130813111722.htm

"When mice ate a diet of 25 percent extra sugar -- the mouse equivalent of a healthy human diet plus three cans of soda daily -- females died at twice the normal rate and males were a quarter less likely to hold territory and reproduce, according to a toxicity test developed at the University of Utah.

"Our results provide evidence that added sugar consumed at concentrations currently considered safe exerts dramatic adverse impacts on mammalian health," the researchers say in a study set for online publication Tuesday, Aug. 13 in the journal Nature Communications."

Too bad we don't have more choices of sugar free soft drinks without aspartame. I drink Diet White Rock Ginger Ale because it doesn't have aspartame but only one store in my area carries White Rock. It has Splenda but I've read more bad reports about aspartame than splenda.

High sugar messes up my nervous system with highs and lows of blood sugar causing anxiety and shakiness plus headaches. I do better with just a little honey or maple syrup. But I can tolerate sugar in just a moderate amount in something like dark chocolate with almonds.

[Starfury]

4. You may wish to try Zevia sodas.

I switched to them a few years ago, figured they can't be any worse than the current alternatives using artificial sweeteners.

Zevia sodas

[hlthe2b]

7. Yes. Stevia sweetened Zevia is a rare indulgence for me. But, rare.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

27. Three cans of soda a day is a LOT of extra sugar.

I'm still not convinced that substituting diet versions is any healthier.

[judesedit]

5. It also caused me to develop herpes in my eye, which is ulcers on the cornea

I used to use Equal regularly. For a period of multiple months I was diagnosed with herpes in either one of my eyes on a regular basis. Talk about misery. Well, I ran out of Equal one day and hadn't had a chance to replace it. My eye cleared up. Didn't connect it yet. Bought some Equal and used it per normal. Herpes came back like the next day. i knew the feeling, cause at first it's like scraping sandpaper on your eye when you blink. I finally thought maybe it was connected to using Aspartame, so I stopped using it. I have not had herpes in either of my eyes since. I told my opthomologist to tell any of his patients coming in with ulcers on their eyes to stop consuming products that contain Aspartame. I now use regular organic sugar or organic stevia.

I know this sounds funny, but it is no picnic. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

[hlthe2b]

6. I quit Diet Coke and all aspartamine-containing products almost 15 years ago

for unsweetened teas, coffee, water, and on very rare occasions a Stevia-only sweetened rootbeer called Zevia.

I still use Splenda-sweetened syrups occasionally in smoothies, so I watch for issues with it. But aspartame? We've known ever since Rumsfeld invested so heavily that that product was suspect--not because of his investment but because it was pushed to market with so much fanfare. And suspect medical studies have followed every year since.

Just no.

[Karma13612]

12. You can replace

Splenda with stevia in many situations. I have transitioned to stevia for any sugar replacement. I refuse to chew gum that contains aspartame, etc which means virtually no gum at all!

And WHY WHY WHY do some “nutritional” drink companies insist on filling their beverages with CHEMICAL FAKE SWEETENERS???? Aspartame and acesulfame. They should replace with stevia for heavens sake. No excuse.

[pecosbob]

16. Hydration drinks or mixes without artificial sweeteners can be really difficult to find

[Happy Hoosier]

19. I wished I liked stevia.

But to me it had a nasty taste. I tend to use Erythritol and Allulose instead. Both occur in nature, but are also synthesized.

[Meowmee]

8. I don't eat that and I still have anxiety

I doubt your food or artificial sweeteners have anything to do with it. They do cause intestinal upsets in many. Sugar is ok actually, in moderation. It used to help my migraines. It still does but now they are vestibular induced due to sever low blood sugar.

[alittlelark]

9. Thank Donald Rumsfeld for aspartame.

Without him it would be banned.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-rumsfeld-and-the-s_b_805581

https://www.hbs.edu/leadership/20th-century-leaders/details?profile=donald_h_rumsfeld

https://news.yahoo.com/former-head-fda-says-rumsfeld-190325438.html

[berniesandersmittens]

23. 👆

Yup

[ZZenith]

29. Exactly right.

Fuck that guy.

[Maeve]

10. Six to eight 8oz cans of diet soda a day??

First, soda cans are 12 oz for the most part, but.....dang, who does that to their body???? (48-64 oz)

[GoCubsGo]

15. Multiple sources say that Trump drinks 12 cans of Diet Coke per day.

Which would explain a lot, given the article in the OP. I'm sure all that Diet Coke is making an already-horrible person even more horrible. I can only imagine what it's been doing to his teeth and bones. Might as well drink battery acid.

Trump is far from alone in consuming large amounts of soft drinks every day, diet or not. The are a whole lot of people that don't drink anything else, not even water. Every time I go grocery shopping, I see at least two or three people with shopping cards full of Coke, Pepsi, Mt. Dew... And, that's just on a Thursday morning. It's a good part of the reason we have an obesity epidemic, as a lot of folks AREN'T drinking diet soda. They're consuming the sugar-sweetened stuff. They're basically guzzling can after can of liquid sugar.

[Karma13612]

11. I have consumed

My share of chemical sweeteners in my younger days. But by 30, I stopped nearly all* soda pop and things sweetened with saccharine and aspartame,etc.

I transitioned from Splenda (processed from sugar) to stevia (natural plant that produces lovely sweetness).

I hate ingesting artificial colors and flavors and sweeteners as much as humanly possible.

My mom discovered you could remove calcium deposits from our ice cube trays with coke when I was a kid. That got my attention! But it took a few more decades to sink in. I lived on Tab in my twenties!

*Still have ginger ale and root beer ONCE IN AWHILE.

[Lucinda]

13. Aspartame made me mean.

I am a pretty happy camper as a rule, but after my own tests, I found that aspartame made me short tempered and mean.

[mountain grammy]

14. Pretty sure I was addicted to Diet Coke.

Gave it up at least 10 years ago thank goodness. Craved it for a long time.

[GoCubsGo]

17. Same here.

I was lucky that I realized that it was mostly the bubbles for me. Switching to seltzer was a big help, but I still had cravings for a few months after I quit. Cutting back on artificial sweeteners, in general, was a lot harder.

[Happy Hoosier]

20. Coke zero for me...

But other than the cravings, I haven‘t noticed any negative effects.

[Chainfire]

21. I have a natural protection from artificial sweeteners; I can not stand the taste

and aftertaste. I do, however, love my sugar.

[milestogo]

22. I drank diet pepsi for years and years and it did not give me anxiety.

I quit early this year and do not feel any difference at all.

[gulliver]

25. Loved my Coke Zero and still drink it now and then

But now I mostly drink just seltzer or plain water. I just started thinking that the "sweet taste experience" itself was something I should moderate. That experience definitely has an emotional impact, so I'd wonder if that impact, by itself, wouldn't cause some anxiety as the experience fades (or is remembered or desired).

Then, the sweet taste could also have metabolic consequences. I believe the jury is out on whether the mere taste of sweetness (independent of real sugars) is enough to increase insulin levels, thus reducing blood sugar. I try not to drink diet sodas unless I'm also eating something at the same time.

[bedazzled]

28. Searle's clinical research process was totally flawed...criminal really

I was working at a pharmaceutical house in the eighties, and read that FDA inspectors found irregularities in results from their birth control clinical trials. Replacing dead rats, etc. Therefore, I made it a point to avoid aspartame. I am glad I did because it really seems that general intelligence levels and ability of self control in the populace is declining severely..

No paywall

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1984/04/15/the-most-tested-additive-lingering-questions/cdea8f1b-f57d-4220-9ea6-56a66cfe0180/

[roamer65]

30. I love Diet Mountain Dew.

The aspartame and Ace K blend is good. Not way overly sweet and lighter taste.

Way too much HCFS in the regular version. Nasty heavy syrup aftertaste and it screws up my sugar level far worse than the real sugar sodas.