Aspartame

[Sallyspelling]

I have been warned against low sugar drinks and other products containing aspartane . With possible side affects
Which i must say are quite scary ,as prior to real hi b/s i was drinking quite a lot of pepsi max and suger free juice,
All of which contain this sugar substitute . I have researched a little on
Government health sites that says its fine. And in some holistic and green peace etc. Very conflicting results.. has anybody researched . And what was your findings , i have stopped using products containg this so called poison untill i have some kind of proof either way .

 

[Resurgam]

I found that anything with Aspartame made me lightheaded - so I have avoided it for years.
I have found some drinks which are fairly low carb and very low carb sweetened with Sucralose, which doesn't seem to have the same effect, but I am so used to drinking water, coffee and herbal teas that I can go weeks without having a fizzy drink - I am just brewing up some real ginger beer which will have artificial sweetener as I managed to get hold of some brewer's yeast recently.
If your 'sugar free juice' was actually 'no added sugar' real fruit juice then it would have been quite high carb - fruit juice is full of fructose by its nature. Food processors can be pretty crafty about what they put on the packets.

 

[Guzzler]

I took aspartame sweetener in my tea for twenty years before my daughter in law came across an article about the way aspartame affects the liver, kidneys and gut. It's a while back now so the details evade me but basically the liver cannot process aspartame but tries in vain to metabolise it, it changes from one chemical make up to another until it ends up being the same as a chemical that is commonly used in embalming fluid. Once in the human body it stays there.
I have forgotten its effects on the kidneys but aspartame can irritate the lining of the gut causing the death of good bacteria.

It is interesting to note that all sweeteners to some extent make one eat more. And lastly it seems very shady to me that Monsanto dropped the patent on aspartame within months of the first and only recorded 'Death by Aspartame poisoning' in New Zealand.

 

[Pipp]

I think there are several members with knowledge and experience of problems with aspartame.

One I believe is @zand. I have tagged her for her input.

(Apologies if I am mistaken in this @zand)

 

[noblehead]

I have been warned against low sugar drinks and other products containing aspartane . With possible side affects

We buy the Robinsons No Added Sugar Squash which has Aspartame listed in its ingredients, tbh I can't say we've experienced any adverse effects from drinking the squash and don't intend to stop buying it anytime soon.

 

[Sallyspelling]

I took aspartame sweetener in my tea for twenty years before my daughter in law came across an article about the way aspartame affects the liver, kidneys and gut. It's a while back now so the details evade me but basically the liver cannot process aspartame but tries in vain to metabolise it, it changes from one chemical make up to another until it ends up being the same as a chemical that is commonly used in embalming fluid. Once in the human body it stays there.
I have forgotten its effects on the kidneys but aspartame can irritate the lining of the gut causing the death of good bacteria.

It is interesting to note that all sweeteners to some extent make one eat more. And lastly it seems very shady to me that Monsanto dropped the patent on aspartame within months of the first and only recorded 'Death by Aspartame poisoning' in New Zealand.

 

[Sallyspelling]

Wow thats scary . I have stopped using anything with aspartame. To be honest i hadnt realy took mych notice of it untill my partner told me to stop using it . But its in an awful lot of stuff i would usualy buy . Must definately research further but have switched to stevia now

 

[zand]

Thanks for the tag @Pipp

I first noticed that aspartame was affecting me around 15 (?) years ago. I got horrid shooting pains from my jaw up to the top of my head. When I next went to the dentist and she asked if I had headaches I told her about these pains. She checked my jaw and it was slightly off true alignment. She was the one who suggested that aspartame could be the cause. I had changed from regular fizzy drinks to diet ones many years before, drinking around 2 litres a day.

It took me a long time to give up diet colas - years. Sugar is known to be addictive and for me sugar substitutes are too. I eventually managed to cut out colas altogether, substituting them with sparking mineral water. Now I try to drink only teas and still water.

Before I was diagnosed with T2 I read up about insulin resistance and found that diet drinks could help to cause this and therefore make you fat if you drank enough of them for long enough. It certainly wasn't sugary drinks that made me obese, I never drank them. I am fearful that the obesity problem will get worse instead of better if everyone changes to diet drinks thinking they are more healthy. I used to very occasionally have a very weak drink of Tesco 50% squash. Now they have reduced the sugar content and put sweeteners in I no longer buy it. Aspartame affects the gut microbiome and therefore the metabolism. I occasionally weaken and have the odd diet cola. I always regret it, I wake up next day with liver and kidney pains and know I've been stupid.

I agree with the comments from @Resurgam and @Guzzler above.

I saw your thread earlier and started to reply. Then I deleted what I had prepared to write as I have said this on the forum before and have been slated for it. Before I drank diet drinks I was slim. I have tried to warn others not to do what I have done, but most don't want to hear it. I don't want anyone to mess up their body like I have, especially T1s who could be landed with 'double diabetes' and weight gain if they become very insulin resistant. I am grateful that Pipp tagged me for my input here and that you have asked for our opinions on the subject @Sallyspelling . I won't be arguing my case with any naysayers though. I know aspartame has damaged my health as I have seen the effects.

 

[Pipp]

Thank you @zand.
Sorry if I put you on the spot with this.

I also try to avoid artificial sweetners, as I think taste for sweet can be addictive. Haven't used sugar for most of my life. Didn't take long for my taste buds to get used to the flavours of food without. Now anything sweetened with either sugar or alternatives I can't bear the taste.

 

[Guzzler]

While I am not proposing that everyone give up their sweeteners I would strongly advise that you do your research and make up your own minds. I have tried to research the new generation of sweeteners such as Stevia but I am no biochemist so a lot of the information I have found has left me none the wiser. My overriding feelings though are a mistrust of giant companies such as Monsanto who, by the way, are well known for dissembling their information and hiding behind daughter companies.
As has been said, I have come to the conclusion that although I may want to eat sweet things it is better that I do not. Does this mean an end to apple crumble? No, not at all, it means a small portion as a treat once or twice a year and it will be made with golden caster sugar.

The end make up of the aspartame that I couldn't recall in my earlier comment is Formaldehyde which is a constituent part of embalming fluid. I joked at the time of reading the article that I would need two funerals, one for me then one for my liver ten years later. But joking aside, please do your research. We have been steered into believing that carbohydrates are good and fat is bad for decades. Now the truth is coming out. I believe that the truth about sweeteners is coming out. Question everything, folks.

 

[Guzzler]

Wow thats scary . I have stopped using anything with aspartame. To be honest i hadnt realy took mych notice of it untill my partner told me to stop using it . But its in an awful lot of stuff i would usualy buy . Must definately research further but have switched to stevia now

@Sallyspelling
Aye, it is in an awful lot of foods now and that is because Monsanto did not renew their patent so everyone and their uncle can use it freely.

 

[bulkbiker]

Wow thats scary . I have stopped using anything with aspartame. To be honest i hadnt realy took mych notice of it untill my partner told me to stop using it . But its in an awful lot of stuff i would usualy buy . Must definately research further but have switched to stevia now

Personally I tried to re-educate my palate to not crave sweet things so hardly ever use sweeteners. Nowadays even regular milk has a sweet taste to me.

 

[zand]

The only time I use a sweetener nowadays is when I use Stevia to sweeten home grown rhubarb. Since I'm not much of a gardener this doesn't happen often.

 

[Brunneria]

I'm really lucky - most of the artificial sweeteners give me unpleasant symptoms (varying from headaches to thirst to insomnia). The reason I think this makes me lucky, is because I very quickly learned to avoid them. Actually, I would rather have the odd bit of sugar rather than have something like aspartame, simply because I don't enjoy staying awake til 4am, staring at the ceiling, feeling like there are ants crawling over my skin.

I do have real concern for all the people who don't get reactions, and therefore drink/eat them regularly, because I suspect that they may get longer term less easily identifiable symptoms, and never have a clue that the problem is caused by the artificial sweeteners they have been taking for years.

Nowadays, I use erythritol (sparingly and with no noticeable reactions) and avoid the others wherever possible.
I would happily use xylitol, but that is poisonous to dogs, and we have dogs.

 

[donnellysdogs]

I was apparently diagnosed as aspartame intolerant in 2003. Being T1 I had diet cokes or chewing gum etc.
Or in meds even!!

I suffered horrendously from 2003-2015 and nobody figured out what it was.. blaming fibromyalgia, all in my brain etc.. in 2015 I asked for a review of my medical notes. They told me that a note in 2003 from a rheumotologist that we paid to see privately had not been put on my records. I had not been informed.

There are no tests for aspartame intolerance. Just give it up and see.

In 2012 I had a really good healthy year and could not fathom out why. What it was, and we know now was that we lived in a mobile caravan for year inbetween buying / selling homes. There was no room for diet coke so I stopped it totally.
I only drank it socially if we had friends round or in drambuiee for xmas and my birthday.
We just thought it was because we had no heating, no easy supply of food or water and toiletting etc was different.

I know if I go anywhere and have anything with aspartame (or any preservative) in it. Citric acid is also bad for me.

Its not just aspartame with me.. its all sweeteners, preservatives. Even solidifying things in tablets and many tablets.

I am extreme though. I'm intolerant to some dressings used for surgery, my body now rejects cannulas too for insuli pumps... skin does not accept, although ok innmy main veins.

You have to decide for yourself but to me natural and the best natural is best.

 

[Sallyspelling]

Thanks for the tag @Pipp

I first noticed that aspartame was affecting me around 15 (?) years ago. I got horrid shooting pains from my jaw up to the top of my head. When I next went to the dentist and she asked if I had headaches I told her about these pains. She checked my jaw and it was slightly off true alignment. She was the one who suggested that aspartame could be the cause. I had changed from regular fizzy drinks to diet ones many years before, drinking around 2 litres a day.

It took me a long time to give up diet colas - years. Sugar is known to be addictive and for me sugar substitutes are too. I eventually managed to cut out colas altogether, substituting them with sparking mineral water. Now I try to drink only teas and still water.

Before I was diagnosed with T2 I read up about insulin resistance and found that diet drinks could help to cause this and therefore make you fat if you drank enough of them for long enough. It certainly wasn't sugary drinks that made me obese, I never drank them. I am fearful that the obesity problem will get worse instead of better if everyone changes to diet drinks thinking they are more healthy. I used to very occasionally have a very weak drink of Tesco 50% squash. Now they have reduced the sugar content and put sweeteners in I no longer buy it. Aspartame affects the gut microbiome and therefore the metabolism. I occasionally weaken and have the odd diet cola. I always regret it, I wake up next day with liver and kidney pains and know I've been stupid.

I agree with the comments from @Resurgam and @Guzzler above.

I saw your thread earlier and started to reply. Then I deleted what I had prepared to write as I have said this on the forum before and have been slated for it. Before I drank diet drinks I was slim. I have tried to warn others not to do what I have done, but most don't want to hear it. I don't want anyone to mess up their body like I have, especially T1s who could be landed with 'double diabetes' and weight gain if they become very insulin resistant. I am grateful that Pipp tagged me for my input here and that you have asked for our opinions on the subject @Sallyspelling . I won't be arguing my case with any naysayers though. I know aspartame has damaged my health as I have seen the effects.

Thanks for the tag @Pipp

I first noticed that aspartame was affecting me around 15 (?) years ago. I got horrid shooting pains from my jaw up to the top of my head. When I next went to the dentist and she asked if I had headaches I told her about these pains. She checked my jaw and it was slightly off true alignment. She was the one who suggested that aspartame could be the cause. I had changed from regular fizzy drinks to diet ones many years before, drinking around 2 litres a day.

It took me a long time to give up diet colas - years. Sugar is known to be addictive and for me sugar substitutes are too. I eventually managed to cut out colas altogether, substituting them with sparking mineral water. Now I try to drink only teas and still water.

Before I was diagnosed with T2 I read up about insulin resistance and found that diet drinks could help to cause this and therefore make you fat if you drank enough of them for long enough. It certainly wasn't sugary drinks that made me obese, I never drank them. I am fearful that the obesity problem will get worse instead of better if everyone changes to diet drinks thinking they are more healthy. I used to very occasionally have a very weak drink of Tesco 50% squash. Now they have reduced the sugar content and put sweeteners in I no longer buy it. Aspartame affects the gut microbiome and therefore the metabolism. I occasionally weaken and have the odd diet cola. I always regret it, I wake up next day with liver and kidney pains and know I've been stupid.

I agree with the comments from @Resurgam and @Guzzler above.

I saw your thread earlier and started to reply. Then I deleted what I had prepared to write as I have said this on the forum before and have been slated for it. Before I drank diet drinks I was slim. I have tried to warn others not to do what I have done, but most don't want to hear it. I don't want anyone to mess up their body like I have, especially T1s who could be landed with 'double diabetes' and weight gain if they become very insulin resistant. I am grateful that Pipp tagged me for my input here and that you have asked for our opinions on the subject @Sallyspelling . I won't be arguing my case with any naysayers though. I know aspartame has damaged my health as I have seen the effects.

 

[Sallyspelling]

Thanks zand i am beginning to think it might be aspartamw that caused my sudden resistance to insulin . I was buying 24 cans of pepsi max a week the more i drank the thirstier i became. And was stuck in circle . With restless leg syndrome aswell . I am glad of this forum its helped a lot

 

[Sallyspelling]

While I am not proposing that everyone give up their sweeteners I would strongly advise that you do your research and make up your own minds. I have tried to research the new generation of sweeteners such as Stevia but I am no biochemist so a lot of the information I have found has left me none the wiser. My overriding feelings though are a mistrust of giant companies such as Monsanto who, by the way, are well known for dissembling their information and hiding behind daughter companies.
As has been said, I have come to the conclusion that although I may want to eat sweet things it is better that I do not. Does this mean an end to apple crumble? No, not at all, it means a small portion as a treat once or twice a year and it will be made with golden caster sugar.

The end make up of the aspartame that I couldn't recall in my earlier comment is Formaldehyde which is a constituent part of embalming fluid. I joked at the time of reading the article that I would need two funerals, one for me then one for my liver ten years later. But joking aside, please do your research. We have been steered into believing that carbohydrates are good and fat is bad for decades. Now the truth is coming out. I believe that the truth about sweeteners is coming out. Question everything, folks.

 

[Sallyspelling]

Thank you i am tesearching like crazy . All i thought was good .maybe isnt and vice versa its a minefield . But no more aspartame for my family thats for sure

 

[Sallyspelling]

Thanks everyone your advice is appreciated . The general concencus seems to suggest aspartame is not the safe option it is prososed to be. Staggering how much it is in