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Aspartame, yay or nay? |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 10,268
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Aspartame, yay or nay?
I'm sure we're all aware of the controversy around this so what's your opinion. Do you avoid it, actively search it out or just not bothered one way or the other? Personally, I avoid it, not because of the scare stories, but because, like chocolate, it leaves me feeling really thirsty.
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#2 |
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Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 21,738
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What controversy? Some people have an allergy to it like some people have an allergy to seafood or nuts. There are scores of reputable studies out there that say it's completely safe and then there's all the nutters who say it isn't.
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#3 |
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 5,230
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There are questions as to whether the initial testing of aspartame was undertaken in the correct way. However, that was decades ago, and there is now huge amounts of evidence that apart from people who have specific allergies aspartame is safe when consumed in normal amounts.
Personally it took me some time to get used to drinking artificially sweetened drinks, when I was losing weight. And, I only became used to sucralose and acesulfame potassium. While I am confident that aspartame is safe, as I haven't become used to drinking it, I find drinks sweetened with it to not taste very nice, and hence avoid it for that reason. From what I've read, aspartame has better proven safety than the artificial sweeteners I do consume. |
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#4 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 1,636
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I try to avoid it as it's a trigger for my IBS but in some of my favourite low calorie drinks it's unavoidable.
I don't believe it's dangerous in normal amounts though. |
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#5 |
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Bedmond, United Kingdom
Posts: 400
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I am quite happy to drink drinks with it in, doesn't concern me in the slightest. My sweetener of choice though is Sodium Saccharin
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#6 |
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 5,111
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As others have said, there is no controversy. It's the same as any other substance that can trigger an allergic reaction.
I avoid all artificial sweeteners because I hate the taste of them. I don't have a particularly high sugar intake generally, so on the odd occasion when I fancy soft drink or whatever, I go with the full sugar version. |
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#7 |
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Sitting at my PC
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Quote:
As others have said, there is no controversy. It's the same as any other substance that can trigger an allergic reaction.
I avoid all artificial sweeteners because I hate the taste of them. I don't have a particularly high sugar intake generally, so on the odd occasion when I fancy soft drink or whatever, I go with the full sugar version. |
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#8 |
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Join Date: Aug 2009
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Quote:
Same as me. I tend to drink only tea or water these days as all squashes are artificially sweetened.
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#9 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 16,816
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It's been proved over and over again to be safe and The World Health Organisation and the European Food Safety organisation have endorsed it.
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#10 |
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Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 9,227
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Quote:
I'm sure we're all aware of the controversy around this so what's your opinion.
I've never heard of it and had to Google it. It may be because I take my beverages without sugar or sweeteners and I never drink stuff like Coke or 7Up or any "fizzy" stuff. Where else might I find it? |
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#11 |
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 5,111
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Quote:
Controversy?
I've never heard of it and had to Google it. It may be because I take my beverages without sugar or sweeteners and I never drink stuff like Coke or 7Up or any "fizzy" stuff. Where else might I find it? |
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#12 |
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Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Edinburgh
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#13 |
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Join Date: Aug 2009
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Quote:
http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/goodfood/...aspartame.aspx Quote:
Amid the continuing disquiet, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) conducted a comprehensive review of the evidence in 2013 and concluded that aspartame was safe for human consumption, including pregnant women and children.
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#14 |
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Bristol (BBC1 West)
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Quote:
A lot more of interest on this page
Aspartame is probably the most studied food substance in the world and despite a huge amount of studies - all over the world, funded by different groups with different interests, there's never been any evidence to suggest that it's harmful in anything other than extreme dosages. |
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#15 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 4,087
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Can't stand the taste and don't trust it. It turned my grandmother into a newt and then she spontaneously combusted. The coroner said it was a growing problem with aspartame.
I hate the way that Lidl appear to have aped Tesco in removing their concentrated blackcurrent and orange juices with sugar from the shelves, leaving only ones with sweeteners. Apart from cola, all of Aldi 's own-brand drinks have been full of sweeteners since I've been shopping there, so I can't stand any of them either. Now I have to pay Sainsbury's prices for such drinks, and they don't taste as good as Lidl's used to. The minimum charge for alcohol was abandoned because too many posh people complained that they shouldn't be made to pay for the antics of alcopops and special brew-swilling chavs in parks. Well why should I 'suffer' because of fat people who consume too much sugar and fat? I doubt Britain's swelling obesity crisis is going to be slowed or ended by Lidl dropping their very popular blackcurrent juice drink. |
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#16 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Mid Wales / Canolbarth Cymru
Posts: 37,555
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Nasty artificial sweetness. I have a reaction to it and avoid it altogether.
I first realised when o/h bought a large pack of diet fizzy drinks one summer - I eventually noticed it was the aspartame making me poorly. I resent that old favourites like Robinsons squash have abandoned natural sugar as a sweetener. Bloody nannying again. They should have maintained a sugared range and sold it in more discreetly designed bottles in the alcohol aisles of supermarkets. That way normal people would be happy and the "Think of the children" hand-wringers could have their chemical cocktail squash in the squash aisle for the kiddies. |
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#17 |
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Join Date: Jul 2015
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A huge nay for me, with a capital N!
Just do a quick bit of research, it's very bad for our health, as is flouride. |
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#18 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 21,738
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Quote:
A huge nay for me, with a capital N!
Just do a quick bit of research, it's very bad for our health, as is flouride. |
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#19 |
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 16,017
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No doubt less harmful to health in normal doses than the equivalent amount of sugar. Obviously some people are allergic to it and should avoid it.
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#20 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 16,816
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Quote:
A huge nay for me, with a capital N!
Just do a quick bit of research, it's very bad for our health, as is flouride. |
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#21 |
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: The Sunny Side Of The Street
Posts: 40,106
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Quote:
Same as me. I tend to drink only tea or water these days as all squashes are artificially sweetened.
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#22 |
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Bedmond, United Kingdom
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Aspartame is safe, regardless of what any hillbillies say on the net. Most people who have used it have used it for decades without it causing harm to health. I consume a healthy balance of sugar free squash, sparkling/still water and decaf coffee/tea (though using Hermesetas instead) and it has done wonders for my health.I am now at a really healthy weight and I owe it to sweeteners. This enabled me to reduce my intake of Sugar which is known to cause lots of health related issues.
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#23 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Mid Wales / Canolbarth Cymru
Posts: 37,555
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Quote:
Aspartame is safe, regardless of what any hillbillies say on the net. Most people who have used it have used it for decades without it causing harm to health. I consume a healthy balance of sugar free squash, sparkling/still water and decaf coffee/tea (though using Hermesetas instead) and it has done wonders for my health.I am now at a really healthy weight and I owe it to sweeteners. This enabled me to reduce my intake of Sugar which is known to cause lots of health related issues.
In their favour sweeteners are less calorific and better for teeth etc but to be honest I find them a lazy way towards a healthy lifestyle plan rather than a comprehensive approach. I've eaten healthily for years and trained myself out of my sweet tooth. When I do have something sweet every now and then I want it to be the real McCoy made with delicious natural ingredients e.g a trifle made with proper custard, sugared jelly and dairy cream. I would find that much more rewarding (and probably healthier) than daily trying to cheat my body into thinking it's getting something sweet. |
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#24 |
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 22,992
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I don't avoid it, but probably don't have very much, as I don't have a sweet tooth.
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#25 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 15,890
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I drink Diet Coke, so you can say I actively seek aspartame.
It's made by joining together the amino acids (the building blocks of life) aspartic acid and phenylalanine. An 8-oz glass of milk has six times more phenylalanine and thirteen times more aspartic acid than an equivalent amount of pop sweetened with aspartame. And an 8-oz glass of fruit juice or tomato juice contains three to five times more methanol than an equivalent amount of soda sweetened with aspartame. http://www.joslin.org/info/correctin...aspartame.html People with the rare genetic disease, phenylketonuria know they have to avoid anything with phenylalanine, not just aspartame, but other than that, I do wonder what it is about this sweetener (and not milk or fruit juice) that has so many people declaring it poison, especially when so many controlled studies have been done which have not shown a correlation of aspartame use with any of the adverse reactions people claim. |
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