HI everyone,

I'm having a great day and I hope you all are too. I have a question but I'm not sure where to post. I would like to know if anyone consumes a lot of aspartame and if so, have you noticed any memory loss? I read an article a long time ago stating that aspartame lead to memory loss and I've eaten or I've drunk lots of drinks with aspartame and I find my memory is failing me. Either it's too much of that or I have something wrong. I can't remember the names of people i see regularily and other things people say. I'm not stressed and I try to pay attention to people when they speak to me but yet I don't remember whole conversations. I even forget my PIN number for my bank card which I use all the time. I'm going to cut out aspartame and see if there's any difference. Does anyone know anything that can help me out???
Robin

I can't remember if I have memory loss or not! No, seriously, I would be curious to know myself. My doctor did tell me at my last check up that it does cause water retention.

hey thanks for letting me know about the water retention. Lord only knows how I don't need that either. I'm going to stear clear of it from now on.
Thanks

I drink diet sodas with aspartame and was not aware of a memory loss connection, but I have fibromyalgia which does cause memory loss. My neurologist prescribed folic acid (vitamin B9 - 800 -1200 mg per day). The memory problems disappeared within a couple months, and I didn't change my aspartame consumption. I wonder if aspartame depletes or interacts with folic acid, or if it's a coincidence that people who drink alot of aspartame get less folic acid in their diet, or if it's unrelated. Anyway, that's what worked for me.

No... but when I STOPPED eating/drinking aspartame I noticed a definite increase in memory and general overall feeling better.

I think that there are a lot of wives tales out there regarding aspartame usage, but as with anything else I imagine that it affects different people differently. I work at a psych hospital and we had a very bright intern a few years ago who read a thing that was being passed around the hospital about the horrors of drinking diet sodas with aspartame and he said that most of it was not true, that studies had been done and showed no link between the things the story was saying and aspartame. But, like I said, there are people who are sensitive to peanuts even though peanuts in and of themselves are not bad for a person. I would definately get to a Dr if you are experiencing so many problems with your memory.

Have you had kids? That'll suck the brains cell right out of you!

ok, That was my smart-*** reply - my other reply would be to go off the sweetner then check with your doctor - and see if you have any sort of memory loss history in your family. My mom has short term memory loss and I swear I have a hard time remembering things like I used to. Or maybe that's just the kid thing again ; )

Perhaps try the folic acid.. it can't hurt. I also seem to have heard ginko biloba is good - but who knows if it'll work for you until you try it....

I went off caffeine for nearly a year, almost eliminating diet sodas and aspartame. I did it because caffeine often aggravates fibromyalgia, but for me it didn't seem to have any affect on the pain and fatigue. A year later when I was still having terrible fatigue problems, I asked the doctor about provigil (a non-stimulant stay-alert drug created for narcoleptics). He told me it had relatively few side effects for most people (they often prescribe it for over-the-road truck drivers). but that you do build a tolerance to it, so he suggested I try drinking caffeinated beverages instead. I don't like coffee or unsweetened teas, and by this time I'd heard all the hype against aspartame so I asked, and he said unless I notice neurological symptoms like headaches and such, not to worry about the aspartame. So I'm back on the diet soda, and haven't had any problems. I've kept a health journal for years, so I can "connect the dots" between symptoms and a variety of factors (the weather, TOM, what I eat and drink, stress...)

I recommend that very highly. I bought MemoryMinder Personal Health Journal from amazon, but then modeled my own journal page based on what I needed (more room for food journal, larger pages, and I don't use the pain diagram as much anymore....).

You really start to notice trends (some surprises, some confirming your suspicions). I knew that weather affected me the most, but in the journal I could actually see that I started feeling poorly the day BEFORE a storm, since I don't watch weather reports, it proved the phenomena wasn't imaginary (which one doctor claimed - he said people just feel worse because they hate bad weather, not because the weather causes more pain - he was young and stupid. I've never heard an older doctor disagree that weather often plays a big role in pain disorders).

I also learned that I crave carbs (which I knew) and red meat (which I didn't) at TOM, and that both tended to worsen PMS symptoms and menstrual cramps. What kind of twisted biological design is that, your body craving what is going to make you feel worse?

Say what you will... I did a HUGE study myself on aspartame and found that classic symptoms were things I had but had no idea what was causing it... symptoms which stopped when I quit using it. The stuff is poison... they are not wives' tales... IMO.

I just read this here, so I gotta post it (I really don't think this site is really a 3FatChicks competitor, but who knows)
http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/20...sweeteners.php
I only post it cause it gives a good overview and some extra info based on feedback.

It can also be found here on a longer, and boring researcher toned voice here at the fda (if u trust them it's up to u) site posted in july august 2006 http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/200...weeteners.html

They say it's all safe- fda. Others say it ain't esp. if taken in large amounts.If u fear asp. u should also worry about spleda eventhough it may be a sugar derived sub. how it is composed matters.

There are indeed alot of wives tales about aspartame, check out snopes.com.
One of the most widely-distributed scare-warning letter regarding aspartame and its many permutations are mostly fiction, or twisted fact.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp
(seven or eight articles debunking aspartame myths)

That does not mean that some people may not have adverse affects from it, as MelodyL admitted, only that the claims that it is generally unsafe and that there is a huge government conspiracty to cover it up is untrue.

If our country could not keep wiretapping and abuses of suspected terrorists a secret, I hardly think the hidden dangers of artificial sweeteners could be kept under wraps. But as with all conspiracy theories, there's no stopping them once they get started.

If aspartame, caffeine, milk, chocolate, potatoes, strawberries, peanuts or broccoli seems to give you a headache, memory loss, personality change, rash or other symptoms, then stop ingesting them. The leap that any of those things are poisonous for the general population is irrational, but rather than believe the same of aspartame, it is somehow easier for some people to believe that all of the study results have been tainted.

I read a reader's digest article about a man who suddenly underwent large personality changes and became suddenly abusive to his family. He went into rages, and had migraine headaches.... and finally using a symptom journal like I mentioned earlier, they discovered he had a severe and unusual reaction to dairy products. He had rarely eaten dairy in the past, but had begun using it in his cofee instead of non-dairy creamer.

Personally, I think the unproportional aspartame terror (unlike peanuts and other allergens) is largely a result not of the real symptoms that some people have, but the magnifying psychological effects of the "warning" on the labels of food containing aspartame. The warning is meant only for people with PKU. I wrote a graduate school paper on the PKU diet, so I understand why aspartame is a hazard to people with the disease, once the leading preventable cause of mental ******ation in the US. It is a disorder in which the person cannot digest certain proteins properly, and in children the byproducts build up in the brain causing ******ation. The person with PKU must follow an extremely restricted (and very unpleasant) diet until they reach an age where brain development is complete (some doctors recommend age 7, some argue into adolescence). A banana or a piece of chocolate is just as hazardous to these people, but because these natural foods contain no such warnings, there aren't any banana or chocolate scares out there.

Even stopping aspartame use may not tell you if your symptoms were caused by aspartame because of the strong possibility of coincidence or the placebo effect being involved, but the health journal really can help you determine which factors are affecting your symptoms, especially if you are able to stick to it over time, even when you are feeling better.

Excuse me if this was already said I didn't read the entire thread. I feel that all preservatives, Aspartame, artificial anything, oh and of course HFC, are bad for you. If I could afford it, I would eat organic, but it cost a fortune. I do drink an occasional diet drink, or flavored water. But I'm not gonna be naive about it, the stuff cant be good for you. I try to use honey for a sweetener when ever possible. You know the old saying if its too good to be true.... Well think about it. Something that taste yummy sweet and has no fat or cal.... yeah right.
Arnold Swartsenator (the body builder, not the politician ) once said if it taste good, don't eat it. Now those are words to live by. LOL

My doctor always quotes that. It's funny, and does have a grain of truth.

I certainly don't mean to imply that aspartame is a health food (yikes), and the cumulative effects of eating "fake" foods adds up. Knowledge is our best defense, but the knowledge has to be based on fact not fictional scare tactics. For optimal health, I agree that whole foods grown organically are the best choice. The problem is that even some organic methods are unsafe, so you still have to accept that there are "risks" involved in eating anything. That doesn't mean you shouldn't pay attention to what you eat, it means you have to pay attention no matter what you eat.

One thing I have noticed, is the less processed food I eat, the better the healthy foods taste. Diet soda and fruit are pretty much the sweetest things I eat. Last night I even diluted my diet soda with flavored but unsweetened mineral water, and it tasted a lot better. I dilute Crystal Light more than the package calls for. I've never had a huge sweet tooth (except during TOM, but that's a different story), but I've noticed a big change in what I now consider "too sweet."

I've never sought out organic products because they've always been way too expensive, but we recently got a new health food store in town that looks like an old-fashioned grocery. The store is owned by a local organic farmer (large beautiful photographs of the farm decorate the walls) . The produce is his, or co-opped from other organic farmers (they trade produce). They even make fresh ground horseradish, fresh salsa, and homemade soups and breads. The produce looks and smells so wonderful, I have no problem paying a little extra (though I refuse to pay twice the price for produce that is withered and yucky looking, just because it is organic). And much of what they sell is actually cheaper than the grocery store - so there's no difficult choice there.

Caffeine helps me manage the symptoms of my fibromyalgia, so I usually drink diet sodas to get my caffeine. I'm trying to develop a "taste" for tea, because it is the more natural form of caffeine. I've found I like green tea the best (which unfortunately usually has the least caffeine), but I need to sweeten it. The biggest problem I have with teas, it is difficult to regulate how much caffeine you are getting, so the sodas work best for me.

Misti, I never said that there are not people who will have adverse reactions to aspartame, just as there are people who will have adverse reactions to peanuts or strawberries or milk or wheat. I never touted that aspartame was a "healthy" food, in fact I was a huge Diet Coke drinker and now drink mostly water, not because I was having problems with the Diet Coke, but because I was not getting in as much water as I should when drinking it. I was merely stating that like Colleen posted there are a lot of wive's tales regarding aspartame, that I have had discussions with physicians that I admire and respect for their intelligence on numerous subjects that I have dealt with them about as an RN, and that there are a lot of people who have used it for years without having any adverse reactions to it. Like anything else it all comes down to personal choice, personal reactions, and personal feelings. I have never experienced a negative effect from using aspartame, personally I prefer splenda, but I do believe that of course, the more natural a food, the better it is for you! But that is just my opinion from my own research and discussions, and I am certainly ok with others having a different opinion.

Hi all,
Thank you for all the responses. I must agree that I do feel much better when I stay away from the articial foods. I'm starting to get worried about the memory loss. It hasn't gotten worse in the last couple of days but it's still there. I don't know if it's the apartame or not. I do know that my consumption has increase by 50% in the last month or so and now I can't remember things that should be second nature to me. I was having twin in my coffee, drinking flavored water, and using sugar sub on anything that needs a little sweetness. Then of course crystal lite everyday so that I can get my 2L in and jello and and and. I need to stick to the basics that are natural or nothing at all.
Thanks again everyone
Robin