aspartame anyone?

Mimi Wheeze · Feb 5, 2003

Fortunately, I think it tastes disgusting, so not eating/drinking it is not a problem for me.

When I was pregnant w/my son 9 yrs ago, my doc told me not to ingest any aspartame, not even a stick of sugarless gum. He didn't trust the stuff. Just give me some plain ol' sugar.

delirium · Feb 5, 2003

I now drink diet rite, which is made with splenda and not aspartame.

Or Pepsi, when I'm feeling indulgent. Recently, though, I've been trying to lose 10 lbs for graduation.

Tinkertots · Feb 5, 2003

:eek: I have had serious problems with aspartame. For years Diet coke was my Primary source of fluid, sadly enough.

I started having severe joint pain ( was 37 at the time). I couldn't bend my fingers or grip anything. My right hip got so painful that i could barely lift my foot to take a step. A fellow Rn suggested it was my aspartame intake. So, after I researced it, I decided to give it up. After about one month all my symptoms of pain went away. On occassion, I buy the wrong type of yogurt that contains aspartame. I can feel it the next day. I start thinking about what I could have eaten with aspartame. Now I read all the labels and drink more water. During my research, I did find a lot of material that links aspartame to MS and brain tumors. If memory serves me right, aspartame was discovered while a chemist was working with wood grain alcohol. He licked his fingers to turn the page ( not a smart thing to do in a chem lab). Anyway, when he licked his fingers, he tasted this sweetness. Hence, Aspartame evolved, which I think is like 9 times sweeter that then pink stuff. I also have tried Splenda, and so far so good.

rnparrot · Feb 6, 2003

aspartame gives me severe migraine headaches! so no nutrasweet for me........makes being a diabetic a bit difficult though. hubby was addicted to diet coke...until he was given an article to read about the effects of nutrasweet on the brain and general personality disorders. he quit cold turkey and he is a different person. his memory has improved and he is a nicer person to be around. i think there needs to be more research done...because it does turn into formaldehyde. ever drink an expired can of diet soda???? it will embalm you!

angelbear · Feb 6, 2003

OMG you guys are just awsome Thanks for the info. My son has severe epilipsy and we let him drink diet soda and eat diet yogurt. Boy do I feel like an idiot. Noone ever mentioned it could effect him neurologically. If it has already done damage does anyone know if it can be reversed. Thanks so much I find a new reason to love this BB every day.

Anaclaire · Feb 6, 2003

I'm wary of aspartame too.

I've been using Splenda a little bit lately and have found no problems with it... yet.

Dr. Andrew Weil mentions Splenda on his website. He doesn't recommend anyone eat any sugar substitutes but I think I heard him say on "Oprah" that if a person absolutely must use an artificial sweetener, that Splenda would most likely be the best choice right now.

I think I got this from his website (but I'm not positive) when I was researching Splenda and Equal:

"Splenda (sucralose) is made from sugar by substituting three chlorine molecules for three hydrogen-oxygen groups on the sugar molecule, a change that prevents sucralose from being metabolized by the body...therefore, we can't digest it nor obtain calories from it. It is 600 times sweeter than sugar."

Isn't science interesting?!!

Just my two cents...

Granted Fal · Feb 6, 2003

I've read that some blame the "desert war syndrome" on diet soda's baking in the desert heat there, and then the troops drinking them. The contention is that aspartame is stable at lower temperatures and then destabilizes at higher temperatures. Also that it in someway metabolizes into formaldehyde in the body, and presents the same destabilization problem as the cokes in the sun, since the human body is warm. Just as saccarine was found to be a harmful carcinogenic at massive doses in lab rats, massive doses of aspartame caused neurological disorders. I hear that antifreeze is sweet too, but i wouldn't drink it either.

ChainedChaosRN · Feb 6, 2003

I found out about aspartame the hard way a few years ago. It causes severe abdominal cramping, diarrhea and GI bleeding for me. I haven't touched the stuff in years. I now list it as an allergy, question desserts in restaurants etc. You'd be surprised! It only takes a very small dose to put me down.

LucyGoosey · Feb 6, 2003

My mother s/p mastectomy with following years suffering chronic symptoms of fibromyalgia/arms more recently polymyalgia/legs.

Visited her recently and she is steady user of diet soda, nutrisweet, crystal-lite, diet gum, and of course what she is getting in daily dose with toothpaste (people don't realize how many places they have put this crap) Have begged her for years to avoid the stuff. Now she's on ...yup you guessed it...prednisone.

By the way -- great news at Hackensack, NJ Hospital where they started program to green the cleaning. Awesome positive step for patients and nurses too. Somebody finally figured out it didn't make sense to give children chemotherapy and then come into their rooms spraying Lysol and Windex. DUH

howie122832 · Feb 6, 2003

I'm sticking to go old sugar!

2MagnoliaTrees · Feb 8, 2003

All I know is that when I eat or drink something with Aspartame in it I get a crushing headache with 1-2 minutes right in the middle of my forehead. I read labels very carefully.

flowerchild · Feb 8, 2003

I had what I thought was arthritis. Also suffered from weakness and fatigue that I was too frightend to find out what was the cause (had thyroid checked though). And suffered what I thought was IBS. I was on this BB a while back and the subject came up then. I decided to do a little research and found the same thing as nursetobe-babe found. Decided to quit ingesting aspertame and after about a month the above problems were better. Now, it's been 1 to 1 1/2 years since I've had any aspertame and all of the above problems are gone, totally! Only problem is I have not been able to loose the weight I need to b/c I drink sugar sodas instead of diet. I'm afraid to try any other artificial sweeteners, I'd like to know more about Splenda.