I am now convinced that the Aspartame scare is a scam!

[Quixote1818]

I know I will get a number of people telling me that I am going to die and that Aspartame causes Rats to grow tumors the size of pumpkins and that I am a fool. I have been drinking diet drinks now for six months and recently a friend sent me an article about how it was going to kill me. Well having been raised by two Ph D's one in Chemistry and the other in Physics I did as they always told me to and investigated if the claims were based on real science. My conclusion after two days of worrying and researching is that it's about as harmfully as my 99 year old grandmother. AT BEST it MAY cause some people to get headaches.

I was skeptical about this claim but the idea of a tumor growing in my head was enough to get me to research the problem and check out BOTH sides with as much detail as possible. I literally found hundreds of websites, some telling me it was deadly and would cause cancer and head tumors and blindness and so on and so fourth. It's funny but I kept seeing the same names pop up in all these websites. It's like ten or twelve fringe scientists or for that matter just regular doctors armed with absolutely NO study or published journal put together this scare and now hundreds of websites use these same fringe scientists as references.

I discovered that the following organizations think it's totally safe:


The American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs, the
American Diabetes Association, the American Dietetic Association, the
American Cancer Society, The Epilepsy Institute, the US Food and Drug
Administration, and the US Centers for Disease Control.

Of course I am sure some of you think they are all corrupt and evil and people involved in all these health organizations really want you all dead. Give me a break! And the Holocaust never happened. A very large number of well-known and well-respected medical organizations and health professionals have publicly stated that aspartame is safe. Others disagree but you wont see their findings in the American Medical Journal or any other reputable Journal.

In my opinion the most unbiased websites give the best summary of all this. The best website I could find which really sums it all up is the following.

http://netsquirrel.com/combatkit/nutrasweet.html

Here are a few other good ones:

http://www.snopes.com/toxins/aspartame.asp

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blasp.htm

http://www.junkscience.com/news/nutrasweet.html

Lets face it probably a half billion people have been drinking this stuff for 20 years. If it were really that bad half the country would be dead by now. Almost EVERYONE I know drinks diet sodas like water and they have been doing it for years and not one has claimed it was killing them. The lawyers would be lining up if their were any substance to this but their simply isn't. Sorry but the stuff is as safe as Aspirin. Buy the way did you know Aspirin was deadly http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/01/23/painkiller.risks.ap/
I bet you can find that basically everything is deadly some place on the Internet.

[Maple]

1. I agree....

'scare of the week', and junk science to boot.

'Everything in moderation' and you will be fine.

[dwckabal]

2. Excellent post...

You've really done your research. Of course, you'll get plenty of responses, just like you said, telling you that the AMA is totally evil and only cares about making money, etc. But I think you've hit the nail on the head.

I've also seen the same type of stuff written about Splenda (sucralose). Much is made of the fact that it is a chlorinated sucrose molecule. However, salt (sodium CHLORIDE) is ingested at the average rate of 10-12.5 grams PER DAY! And like you said, everything is deadly somewhere on the Internet (even salt!)

BTW, I have gotten headaches from diet sodas, but only on cans or bottles that were past the expiration date. I ALWAYS check that carefully now. Most stores will pull the product if it's expired, but some don't.

[Quixote1818]

7. Splenda is the safest. Has no side effects, not even headaches

Not All Sugars Are Created Equal

By David Schardt
Nutrition Action



Sucralose

Also known as: Splenda.
What is it? Sugar (sucrose) chemically combined with chlorine. It’s “made from sugar” label slogan is technically true, but misleading. Why it’s low-calorie: Our bodies can’t burn sucralose for energy.
Safety: Sucralose passed all safety tests in animal studies.
Comments: There is no reason to suspect that sucralose causes any harm....



Aspartame
Also known as: Equal, NutraSweet, NatraTaste.
What is it? A synthetic derivative of a combination of the amino acids aspartic acid and phenylalanine.
Why it’s low-calorie: Only tiny amounts of aspartame are needed to sweeten foods.
Safety: People with the rare disorder phenylketonuria (PKU) can’t metabolize phenylalanine, so they should avoid aspartame. Whether aspartame causes headaches is unclear. An industry-funded study of people who complained of aspartame-induced headaches concluded that it doesn’t. But an independent test in 1994 of 26 similar people found that the sweetener was linked to symptoms in the 11 who were “very sure” they were sensitive. That suggests that some people react to aspartame, though fewer than the number who believe they do. The most serious charge—that aspartame increases the risk of cancer—has never been proved. Among the many animal studies on aspartame, only one hints at an increased risk. There’s no foundation to claims floating around the Internet that aspartame causes everything from Alzheimer’s disease to multiple sclerosis.
Comments: Clouds hang over both aspartame and acesulfame, but researchers have done more—and better—studies on aspartame. Even so, because aspartame is used in so many foods, the FDA should err on the side of caution and require non-industry-funded studies to resolve any questions about aspartame’s safety. People who believe they suffer from headaches or other symptoms after consuming foods that contain aspartame should avoid the sweetener.
Probably safe, but certain people should avoid...



Acesulfame
Also known as: Sweet One, Sunett, acesulfame potassium.
What is it? A synthetic chemical.
Why it’s low-calorie: Our bodies can’t metabolize acesulfame.
Safety: The safety of acesulfame (pronounced ace-SULL-fame) rests on three animal studies conducted in the mid-1970s. The first was inconclusive because it found a variety of tumors both in mice fed acesulfame and in control mice fed acesulfame-free diets. The second was so plagued with sick animals that the FDA tossed out the results as unreliable. In the third study, female rats fed acesulfame were twice as likely to develop breast tumors as control rats. While most of the tumors were benign, there were some malignant tumors—one in the 60 control rats, two in the 60 rats given low doses of acesulfame, and three in the 60 rats given high doses of acesulfame. The sweetener’s manufacturer argued that acesulfame seemed to cause more tumors only because the control rats happened to remain unusually tumor-free. The FDA bought the company’s interpretation and refused to require more safety testing.
Comments: Acesulfame should be better tested. Until then, try to avoid it.


Stevia

Also known as: Sweet Leaf, Honey Leaf.
What is it? An extract from a shrub that grows in Brazil and Paraguay.
Why it’s low-calorie: Our bodies can’t metabolize stevia.
Safety: When male rats were fed high doses of stevioside (stevia’s active ingredient) for 22 months, they produced fewer sperm and there was increased cell proliferation in their testicles, which could cause infertility. And when female hamsters were fed large amounts of a derivative of stevioside, they had fewer and smaller offspring. That—combined with the absence of other animal studies that are normally required for food additives—led the FDA, Health Canada, the European Union, and the World Health Organization to conclude that stevia shouldn’t be allowed in food.
Comments: Stevia can’t be used as an ingredient in food. But it can be sold as a supplement, since safety rules for supplements are looser than for foods. Stevia is promoted by the health-food industry as a natural alternative to synthetic sweeteners like saccharin, aspartame, and sucralose. But “natural” doesn’t automatically mean “safe.”

Saccharin
Also known as: Sweet ‘N Low.
What is it? A synthetic chemical that was discovered in 1879 when a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore noticed that a compound he spilled on his hand tasted sweet.

Why it’s low-calorie: Our bodies can’t metabolize saccharin, and only tiny amounts are needed to sweeten foods.
Safety: In 1977, the FDA tried to ban saccharin because animal studies showed that it caused cancer of the bladder, uterus, ovaries, skin, and other organs. Bowing to pressure from the diet-food industry and dieters, Congress intervened to keep saccharin on the market, though with a warning notice on the label.
(At the time, saccharin was the only high potency sweetener.) In the late 1990s, the Calorie Control Council—which represents the low-calorie food and beverage industry—convinced the FDA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that the main health concern about saccharin was bladder cancer in male rats, but that people didn’t develop bladder cancer through the same mechanism as the rats. In 2000, over the objections of a number of scientists, the NIH removed saccharin from its list of carcinogens and Congress removed the requirement for warning notices. Yet last year the National Cancer Institute noted that one of its own studies—the best human study of saccharin use ever done— had found “some evidence of an increased risk of bladder cancer” in heavy saccharin users, “particularly for those who heavily ingested the sweetener as a table top sweetener or through diet sodas.” “Heavy” meant “six or more servings of sugar substitute or two or more eight-ounce servings of diet drink daily.”

Comments: Just because saccharin no longer carries a warning doesn’t erase the evidence that it may cause cancer in humans.

[Dogmudgeon]

3. Just be careful of Junkscience.com

It's a notorious RW/Industry site. Basically, a mishmosh of Drudgeism with spray-painted-on veneer "Skepticism".

Aspartame has its problems, but the Great Aspartame Scare has done nothing but polarize the issue.

--bkl

[LifeDuringWartime]

4. ive gotten an upset stomach from nutrasweet

really weird upset stomach too, but thats about it. and a horrible horrible taste in my mouth. that stuff is gross

but as far as ive heard theres only been one study done on its effects, and that was done by the manufacturer years ago. there should be a series of new studies to shut everyone up and find the truth

[Quixote1818]

8. There have actually been several hundred studies that show its safe

Over the past thirty-five years, several hundred studies have concluded that aspartame is not associated with ANY serious adverse health effects.

http://netsquirrel.com/combatkit/nutrasweet.html

[smirkymonkey]

5. Whew!

Thanks for easing my mind. Thought I was a goner.

[sendero]

6. There is no question...

... that some people are sensitive to aspartame. A close friend gets a spacey feeling (sort of like some antihistamines) when he drinks a diet soda, so he doesn't eat the stuff any more.

There is also no question that this stuff breaks down when exposed to heat. Now, this is an "analog" function, how much heat and how long before you really shouldn't eat it? Who knows.

As far as properly stored and consumed product for the average person, well there is probably no problem. But you have to admit that the way it got approved leaves a lot to be desired. I'd prefer that politics did not play a role in food and pharmaceutical regulation, but alas it apparently does, and that sucks.

[Quixote1818]

9. Again their have been hundreds of studies that show it's safe

http://netsquirrel.com/combatkit/nutrasweet.html

But I agree that it may cause some side effects in some people. I actually think I get more headaches since drinking the stuff. I plan on switching to Splenda.

[redstateblues]

10. Probably Just Your Imagination.