Aspartame may be sweet but it isn't good

by Shayna Glick, Posted Feb 27th 2008 @ 1:01PM

There's a lot of research coming out about artificial sweeteners and how they are not good for you. I had heard unsubstantiated claims about aspartame a long time ago, but I did not know this. Did you know that aspartame was at one time listed as a biochemical warfare agent by the pentagon? What?!

I guess that's why it took eight years for the FDA to approve it's use, and only then though political pressure (or so I was informed). And no wonder the FDA didn't want to approve it. Research, both new and old, show the sweetener causes all kinds of medical side effects like "headaches, memory loss, mood swings, seizures, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's-like symptoms, tumors and even death."

On top of that, aspartame is hard to avoid. It's in everything, from diet soda to prescription drugs. It's sold under the commercial names of Nutra-sweet and Canderel. I don't know about you, but I will drop anything like it's hot if I see those words on the label. I try not to ingest artificial sweeteners anyway, but now I'll really be on the lookout!

Source

Filed Under: Science, Did you know?, Health & Medical
Tags: artificial sweetener, aspertame, did you know

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Reader comments (Page 2 of 2)

2-27-2008 @9:34PM Kevin Ehl said... Yeah, let's see - "baycol" was "scientifically tested" and was totally safe! Mercury has never been "scientifically" proven to be harmful to the body. Bisphenol A is totally safe! I say - show me the research that is NOT done or at least funded by big pharma and I'll believe it.
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2-28-2008 @2:00AM Dave A. said... Shayna, just delete this post-- please.

Every food is bad for you. Every food is good for you. Research shows that there's just as many bad things about foods (natural and artificial) as there are good things about them. There is no such thing as "the perfect food". There will always be benefits and risks to everything that goes into our bodies and we have to accept whatever consequences our choices bring.

So just shut up and let me enjoy my tea with whatever sweetener I choose, be it sugar, Sweet 'n low (made from saccharine), or Equal (made from aspartame, not aspertame). I refuse Splenda because it leaves a bitter taste, not because of the health effects; however, if you want to use it, be my guest. Or are you going to argue that I'm feeding my caffeine addiction and depleting my calcium & iron levels, too?
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2-28-2008 @7:12AM Megha said... http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

MIT did a study confirming that it's safe as well. Be careful, there's a lot of misleading stuff on the internet.
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2-28-2008 @9:29AM eric said... uh-oh. i've been enjoying formaldehyde smoothies every morning for years now.
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2-28-2008 @11:00AM cybele said... Wow, no editorial oversight on Slashfood at all? No one even comes back to their previous posts to correct spelling errors?
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2-28-2008 @12:36PM eric said... i was thinking the same thing, cybele. it's kind of unsettling, actually.

ummm...could someone correct the spelling of aspartame, please?
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2-28-2008 @6:50PM jackiecat said... Since Shayna Glick has not chosen to respond to any of these concerns, I'm putting her on my do not read list.
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2-28-2008 @7:50PM cybele said... Wanna see something really funny? Click on "Notify AOL" at the bottom of the page:

http://www.weblogsinc.com/report/

Click on the Readers element in the middle and it says, "If we get something wrong, we correct the error immediately."

So I stand corrected. It must be right, otherwise they would have corrected it immediately. (And Shayna has posted since the commenters have noticed the error.)
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2-29-2008 @11:54PM Shayna Glick said... I do apologize, guys. I didn't mean to stir up so much controversy. I found an article that genuinely scared me and I chose to share it. The article is linked to in the post. I generally do a better job of keeping up with comments, but I obviously slipped up on this one. I am sorry about the misspellings most of all. I detest misspellings and incorrect usages. I try very hard to not do either of these things, and again, I slipped up. I can only say that I'm human and I make mistakes. I'll try harder in the future, but that's all I can do. Again, I'm sorry.
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3-05-2008 @9:06AM christel said... speaking of FACTS: http://sweetpoison.com/ and http://www.issplendasafe.com/

but silly me... Snopes seems to have a better handle on facts?
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3-14-2008 @1:56PM Kevin said... http://myaspartameexperiment.com/

Studies done by people without "special interests" attached are far more believable!
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