I have been a heavy user of diet pop and other products sweetened with apartame. Then 4 weeks ago my girlfriend quit using diet pop and lived with a massive migrane for a week. That got me to thinking and I decided to quit the pop too. I felt bad for a few days and had several wopper headaches but managed to come out of it o.k.

The I started looking for information on artificial sweeteners and was shocked to discover what they do to us. I think it is appalling that these sweeteners were ever approved by the government. I found this site detailing the symptoms of aspartame poisoning and was so surprised to find I have a lot of these myself.



I am the only one who hasn't heard how bad this is?

Many years ago a doctor friend warned me, when it first came out, never to use aspartame because of its negative effects on the brain.

I don't use any artificial sweeteners and I figure that a teaspoon of sugar (16 calories) here or there can be worked into my daily allowance. I'm fortunate that I very rarely drink soda and I know a lot of people rely on artificial sweeteners because of all the soda they drink. I usually drink plain water or various kinds of tea (unsweetened)

Is it poison? IMO, YES. I wouldn't eat any artificial sweetener or items containing them...EVER!

Water can be poisonous in right dose.

And dose is key, I think, for just about anything. Some people might be sensitive to the artificial sweetners and do poorly after eating just a bit. Others might tolerate them quite well and never have any problems with them when consumed in the amounts that people typically eat. You just have to find out for yourself which type you are, if you are interested in using these products. For what it's worth, I think that if these products caused problems for the majority of people who used them, they wouldn't be on the market all that long.

For the record, I do use artificial sweetners. Most noticably Splenda, which I use alot of in iced tea (which I drink gallons of, hence my username). It's the only artifical sweetner I've found that I can tolerate the taste of in a beverage. I do use aspartame in stuff like diet jello and yogurt, and do just fine with it.

Sheri, I removed the link from your post because we don't want to give any publicity to that website, particularly the one woman who apprears to be single-handedly responsible for the whole aspartame scare. She's not even a real medical doctor. Some of her data has already been proven to have been faked. Just about every single document on the internet that claims aspartame is dangerous can be traced to that woman - not to legitimate medical establishments, or hospital or university studies.

There have been a lot of studies done around the world that show it is safe. I highly recommend reading about those studies at this site http://www.aspartame.org

MrsJim recently wrote a great post about aspartame here http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...82&postcount=2 that might be helpful.


Like any other substance we consume, some people may have reactions to it. That includes all food additives (msg, food coloring, etc) as well as natural foods. Heck, my tongue swells when I eat spinach. But I choose to eat it anyway. I also choose to use Splenda and aspartame.

It's a personal choice.

What baffles me is how so many people can take diet supplements that are often mysterious, have not been tested or proven safe, have never been shown to be effective on humans, and for which long term effects are not known because they are not regulated and no one is even looking -- And yet will still avoid food addtives that ARE regulated and have undergone rigorous and extensive testing.

OR people who take drugs (phentermine comes to mind) that have scary side effects. There are people who take phentermine, starve themselves, drink alcohol and smoke and think it's okay because the amphetamines are given to them by a doctor and all the substances they abuse are LEGAL... it's sad to me (and SCARY) and really no different really than the meth-head who is buying speed off the street.

I wonder how much of the headaches were caused by a sensitivity to aspartame, and how much was due to a caffeine addiction?

The headaches, for a lot people, are a type of withdrawal symptom. As with any substance, if you 'feed' it to your body on a regular basis for long periods of time, then suddenly stop, it's very possible, yes, that your body will respond in a negative way. It's simply a matter of either riding it out or resuming consumption of the substance to give your body small 'feedings' of it and then bring yourself down off of it gradually instead of "cold turkey".

A couple years ago, coworkers convinced me (ok, I was gullible out of desperation) that my Diet Mountain Dew was causing my fibromyalgia, so I gave up both aspartame and caffeine for nearly a year. I felt really lousy at first (which I expected as I had been drinking a significant amount of caffeine), and then stabilized. Over the year, my fibro symptoms did not get better. In fact, the pain and fatigue got somewhat worse.

When I read that several studies have shown that moderate amounts of coffee (fewer than 4 cups a day) actually had health benefits, I asked my doctor about both the aspartame and the caffeine. He said that people who are sensitive to aspartame, generally know it (just like people with allergies know it, because they get sick) and that caffeine often helps people with fibro if they don't drink it three to five hours before bedtime.

I have returned to my diet sodas, and I feel better. Is caffeine good for me? I don't look at it that way, but it definitely improves my quality of life with fibro, so if there are long term side effects, I am willing to take the risk.

Whenever anyone tells us something is poisonous and there is a conspiracy to keep it secret, it is important to do your own research (the first step is hoax sites which follow-up on stories trying to verify them), before assuming it is gospell.

BTW, Kentucky Fried Chicken does not serve rat or mutant chicken, There are no internal organ thieves, and Febreeze does not kill household pets (it might kill a pet bird sprayed with it, but so will perfume).

Colleen

KFC doesn't serve rat? Well, then I am no longer eating there

Seriously, I agree with you. The "Snopes" website is a good hoax-buster site. They are usually pretty well informed on where/how the rumours get started.

What's "poison" to some may not be "poison" to others.

What is poisonous? Drinking a gallon of windshield wiper fluid might do the trick. Is drinking too much diet soda poisonous? Hardly.

Again, it depends on the person; how a certain substance may affect you and/or your own personal preference etc. Some people avoid aspartame because of negative reports, but I've heard just as many negative reports about Splenda. Will I put down either one? No. Because I don't know all the facts and neither one has caused me any personal problems. The only substance out there that I've had a few problems with is Olestra. Olean. Whatever they call it. That stuff they use to make potato chips fat-free. It bothers my gut.

As for foodstuffs being poisonous? I agree with kaplods post. Anything can be 'potentially' poisonous when ingested in ridiculous amounts. Even water.

Wow, I am glad I posted this question, I am trying to learn as much as I can about what I put into my body and I want to get both sides of every story, it sure can be hard to figure out who is telling the truth and it helps to get as many viewpoints as possible, thanks Suzanne for the other link, I am heading right over there to see what they say. And I never thought about the caffine in the pop as I have used caffine free for so long but that may well have been the cause of her headaches as she did drink a lot of pop. Thanks again for all the info,

Our bodies were not meant to eat anything other than real, pure foods.

So, no I will not allow any kind of *fake* processed food pass my lips. That includes anything with artificial sweetener, trans fats, partially or hydrogenated oils, hormones, antibiotics, artificial food coloring, etc.

It's just bad. (IMO)

WOW. Someone on 3FC that's a bit like ME

COOL!