aspartame

[paganess03]

Hi everyone, i'm fairly new to the forum and diabetes, I've been diagnosed with type 2 but docs are dithering whther i'm really type one. My problem is i've just discovered i'm intollerant to aspartame, found in most diet sodas. I feel really ill after drinking diet juices and wondered if anyone else suffers with this and how they get around it, I'd really appreciate any advice, i'm so fed up just drinking water. :-(

Shelley

 

[Lenny3]

Sainsburys and asda own brand doesnt use aspartame.

 

[Spiker]

I guess you are in the US since you say sodas. Use this as a spur to stop drinking sodas altogether. It feeds a mental addiction and a habituation to sweetness which will affect your whole diet, not just drinks. It can fool your body into reacting as if sugar had been ingested and cause blood sugar to rise. And caffeine is also addictive and also may screw with your blood sugar. So kick the habit. Drink water. Or bourbon.

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[zand]

I agree with Spiker, though it took me years to give them up. Nowadays I drink water. When tap water doesn't 'hit the spot', I drink sparkling mineral water, maybe with ice and lemon. If that's not good enough I add just a dash of fruit juice or squash (that's normal squash with sugar and without aspartame) I am type 2 and my BG's can usual tolerate a tiny amount of squash or juice. Or there's tea or herbal teas. Generally I am fine with this but have had the occasional blip in the 7-8 years I have been doing this. It's always tough to get back to it after a blip.

 

[sam381]

I guess you are in the US since you say sodas. Use this as a spur to stop drinking sodas altogether. It feeds a mental addiction and a habituation to sweetness which will affect your whole diet, not just drinks. It can fool your body into reacting as if sugar had been ingested and cause blood sugar to rise. And caffeine is also addictive and also may screw with your blood sugar. So kick the habit. Drink water. Or bourbon.

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Is there any evidence that diet drinks can fool the body into thinking that sugar has been ingested?

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[Daibell]

Hi. Sam, I did read some research on the web recently that showed the brain responding to sweeteners in the same way as sugar but obviously the blood sugar didn't go up, so probably not a problem. There are other sweeteners other than aspartame so I would read the drink labels? At least in the USA you normally have all three sweeteners colours on the table (pink, blue & yellow). In the UK it's either white sugar or brown sugar or both.

 

[Opalshards]

Is it safe???
http://themindunleashed.org/2013/08/the-shocking-story-of-how-aspartame.html

 

[brdavies]

I think i'd rather take my risks with aspartame than with statins...
In any case, my drink of choice when I drink now is Jack & Coke Zero.

I've had to give up my beloved beer

 

[Opalshards]

That's your choice.

 

[brdavies]

That's your choice.

Yes it is. But it's a choice based on a healthy skepticism of everything that appears on the Internet. I believe the Aspartame site linked is in the category of an Internet hoax/conspiracy theory. Generally speaking, if something doesn't have solid references backing it up, I start looking to see if it's actually valid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

Of course if you are actually intolerant of aspartame (as the OP appears to be), or a phenylketonuric it's definitely bad. The only suggestion I would have in that case would be to try something like San Pelegrino (fizzy water) and add a squeeze of lemon juice to it over ice. I've found this to be highly refreshing. The amount of fructose in a squeeze of lemon is pretty small.

 

[Heathenlass]

Hello and welcome


There are some diet drinks out there that don't contain aspartame, unfortunately I can't remember which ones as I very rarely drink them.

It's down to reading the labels on everything I'm afraid. Beware of other food items that contain aspartame too, some sugar free jellies [jello] for example .

I react badly to aspartame, and know quite a few people who do .Sucralose and Stevia seem to be better tolerated.


Signy

 

[Spiker]

Thanks @brdavies great links especially the Snopes link.

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[Opalshards]

Yes it is. But it's a choice based on a healthy skepticism of everything that appears on the Internet. I believe the Aspartame site linked is in the category of an Internet hoax/conspiracy theory. Generally speaking, if something doesn't have solid references backing it up, I start looking to see if it's actually valid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

Of course if you are actually intolerant of aspartame (as the OP appears to be), or a phenylketonuric it's definitely bad. The only suggestion I would have in that case would be to try something like San Pelegrino (fizzy water) and add a squeeze of lemon juice to it over ice. I've found this to be highly refreshing. The amount of fructose in a squeeze of lemon is pretty small.

For every so called positive you find I can find a negative. You quote my contribution as a hoax and yet you quote Wikipedia as the Bible, don't make me laugh. Have a look at You tube at professional Doctors. If you are still not convinced, you carry on eating wood alcohol (that can make you blind as it converts into formaldehyde. As I said it is your choice.

 

[collectingrocks]

Aspartame is a known neurotoxin. There's plenty of evidence out there

 

[Spiker]

Aspartame is a known neurotoxin. There's plenty of evidence out there

Could you post some links?

 

[collectingrocks]

A book "Excitotoxins, the taste that Kills" by Russell (somebody) comes to mind

 

[Spiker]

Russell Blaylock



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[Spiker]

http://americannutritionassociation.org/newsletter/review-excitotoxins-taste-kills

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[brdavies]

T

For every so called positive you find I can find a negative. You quote my contribution as a hoax and yet you quote Wikipedia as the Bible, don't make me laugh. Have a look at You tube at professional Doctors. If you are still not convinced, you carry on eating wood alcohol (that can make you blind as it converts into formaldehyde. As I said it is your choice.

I do not consider your contribution to be a hoax; rather I value your contribution but disagree with it. What I am saying is that the weight of evidence is against Aspartame being harmful. The reason for the wikipedia quote is that the article itself quotes 70 different references. Most of the time wikipedia is fairly neutral, and it's moderated by a lot of different people (a self correcting mechanism). But the fact that there are references is really valuable because you can research it and determine what the likely truth is.

You may come to a different conclusion that I have after searching, and that's OK. But be advised that there are a whole lot of sites out there with agendas, which tell slanted truths, and in my opinion that link is one of them. Conspiracy theories are especially popular. You cannot believe everything you read on the Internet (including Wikipedia as you implicitly point out), so it's best to do a bit of research and consider the weight of evidence in coming to a conclusion.

 

[brdavies]

http://americannutritionassociation.org/newsletter/review-excitotoxins-taste-kills

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Interesting link Spiker, i'm having a look.