[Eliana]

I can't help but think there ought to be warnings out there on foods that have artificial sweeteners! I hate that it's so common it's just assumed that everyone's ok with consuming this stuff!

Personally, first and foremost, this crap gives me migraines. I have good reason to stay away from it and it's not a case of "a little bit won't harm you." Yeah it will. It will land me in bed for two days!

My office just had a Friday morning breakfast and all the food is of course stuff I do not choose to eat, but there was fresh fruit. I had that. It was very sweet and I assumed it was just really good fruit. NO. The person who made it said I could eat it guilt free because it just had Nutrasweet in it. Dag gum! I usually taste it straight off!

Searching for it in packaged crap is hard enough with all the names it goes by. But in restaurants I have to stay away from "lite" because more than likely I know it has artificial sweeteners.

I guess it's a little like having an allergy. I'm sure people with nut and soy allergies get just as aggravated with having to be so careful about what people make. I guess I'm just venting, because keeping that mind I don't expect people to write up a nutrition label every time they bring in a dish to share. That would not be fair. But there are people out there with food sensitivities to this junk.

[alicia89]

That's really scary that it makes you feel that way when you eat it! I don't have a specific sensitivity to aspartame, but I avoid it like the plague because I don't want to put chemicals like that into my body. I would be annoyed too if I went to eat a bunch of fruit only to discover it was coated in aspartame. Ugh! I hope your head didn't suffer too much and that you feel better soon!

For some reason, I thought that nutrasweet had largely fallen out of fashion in the world of artificial sweeteners now that everyone is so big on splenda and stevia? I know it's still in some yougrts and pops, but I'm surprised people are still adding it to dishes they make themselves for a party.. to me nutrasweet seems like an out-dated remnant from the 80s that was lurking in the sugar-free-carrot-marshmallow-jelllo salad, lol.

Anyways, did you talk a bit more to the person who made the fruit dish? I know that she's just one person and even if she changes it's not going to fix the problem of aspartame everywhere else, but I don't think it would be wrong to politely and tactfully educate her about nutrasweet. I would just let her know that her fruit dish was absolutely beautiful and much-appreciated, but that you have an allergy/sensitivity to artificial sweeteners and that many other people out there do too. Explain it to her using the comparison you used above - that it's similar to people who have soy, egg, wheat or dairy sensitivities. I would apologize a lot and say that you're not trying to make her feel bad, but that you need to be aware of whether or not it's lurking in a dish for your own healthy and safety. Hopefully her feelings wouldn't be hurt, but at the very least I suspect word of your allergy/sensitivity would be disseminated around the office and you wouldn't have to deal with any surprise! nutrasweet at future office functions with food.

[flippychick]

I hear ya Eliana! My mom would put it in stuff for my dad (because he's diabetic) and it doesn't bother him at all, but then she'd give me some of what he was having and not tell me. She'd say "oh, it was only a little bit". Grrr... It gives me panic attacks, ringing ears, visual disturbances and all kinds of fun things. Splenda is not really much better. The FDA should seriously be put on trial for the things they have put their stamp on. Anything that basically turns into formaldehyde (or chlorine) at body temp should not be considered safe to ingest.

[JenMusic]

Why in the world would someone put Nutrasweet (or anything else, for that matter) on fresh fruit???? I don't get that.

Sorry for you!