Everyday Systems: nosdiet: message 518 of 3212

Note: This is an archived message from our old discussion software. Join the current discussion here.

    
On Tue, Mar 02, 2004 at 07:30:57AM -0800, SoldierMtn <zebella@...> 
wrote:
> > > .stay away from the Big A...
> > > Gives somes people headaches, gives me hyperglycemia,
> >
> > ... and gives millions of people no problems at all.
> >
> >
> But not much comfort if you are one of the folks who do have a bad 
reaction.
> :( I personally think there is enough questionable data about it that it 
is
> worthwhile to avoid it on a regular basis. Why stuff unneeded junk 
like
> that into your body?

Why stuff snacks, sweets or seconds into your body? Presumably if
everyone here had no problem dropping extra food cold turkey then we
wouldn't be here in the first place. 

Until then, some people will get to 'fewer sweets' via 'diet sweets',
and especially via 'diet soda', where you find aspartame all over the 
place.

It's great that you choose to avoid it yourself, and I have no problem
with that at all; going from that and "some people get headaches" 
to
"you should avoid this outright" seems a bit counterproductive. For 

someone that does not have reactions to aspartame -- and since most
people do not there is a high probability that the person you were
advising to avoid it does not -- it is advice that will make it more
difficult for them to change their eating patterns.

In short, the dangers of aspartame are urban legend.

The British medical journal The Lancet published an opinion on aspartame
and internet pseudoscience, in which the authors wrote

Patients at our diabetes clinic have raised concerns about information
on the internet about a link between the artificial sweetener
aspartame and various diseases. Our research revealed over 6000 web
sites that mention aspartame, with many hundreds alleging aspartame to
be the cause of multiple sclerosis, lupus erythematosis, Gulf War
Syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, brain tumours, and diabetes
mellitus, among many others. Virtually all of the information offered
is anecdotal, from anonymous sources and is scientifically
implausible.

An MIT study (press release at
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/tt/1998/sep16/aspartame.html) 
found
no adverse health effects from daily large doses of aspartame:

During a four-month period, subjects received either aspartame, sugar
or a placebo and underwent physical and psychological testing. Some
subjects were given doses of up to 45 milligrams per kilogram of body
weight--the equivalent of 17 to 24 12-ounce diet beverages for males
and 14 to 19 12-ounce drinks for females. In the general population,
most Americans who consume aspartame take in 3 milligrams per
kilogram of body weight a day, the equivalent of one or less 12-ounce
diet beverage.

Despite the high consumption of aspartame, the 48 normal subjects
showed no changes in mood, memory, behavior, electroencephalograms
(which record the electrical signals of the brain) or physiology that
could be tied to aspartame, Dr. Spiers found. Although some subjects
reported headaches, fatigue, nausea and acne, the same number of
incidences were reported by subjects taking placebo and sugar as
those taking aspartame.

The US Food and Drug Administration has weighed in as well
(from http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/qa-adf9.html):

To date, FDA has not determined any consistent pattern of symptoms that
can be attributed to the use of aspartame, nor is the agency aware of
any recent studies that clearly show safety problems.

Lastly, the Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard University talks about
aspartame and diabetes
(http://www.joslin.harvard.edu/education/library/aspartame.shtml):

Since [aspartame] does not contain calories in the usual amounts
consumed, it cannot affect blood sugar levels or cause weight gain.

If your doctor has told you that your hyperglycemia is a result of
consuming aspartame I recommend that you find someone else to help you
manage your condition. 

(I should add that individuals with the genetic condition 
phenylketonuria are unable to metabolize some of the components in
aspartame, but phenylketonuria is rare, and the components that PKU
individuals cannot metabolize are present in other foods.)

Generally, then, I think aspartame is a reasonable way to improve from
being a regular soda drinker; while ideally we'd all just go to water or
tea right away, some are going to have to take smaller steps, and diet
soda with aspartame, being readily available all over the world, is a
safe smaller step.

Lastly, I am not a doctor, and none of the above should be considered
medical advice.

Cheers,

-Rich

-- 
Rich Lafferty --------------+-----------------------------------------------
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus!
http://www.lafferty.ca/ | http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus.html
rich@... -----------+-----------------------------------------------