'Have your views on aspartame changed? DO you use it?"

[passing thru]

Several docs at work are ADAMANT that no one eats/drinks anything containing aspartame....

They all say it has a distinct adverse effect on brain cells.

What are you all hearing? Anything?

They advocate Splenda.

[Sarah Kat]

I do not drink diet drinks. I drink the occasional soda, caffeine free only (I avoid caffeine -- fibrocystic breasts) and not diet. Mostly I drink water and 100% juices. I started avoiding aspertame about 10 years ago.

My mother, who lives off of caffeine free Diet Coke, is suffering from fibromyalgia. She has been drinking aspertame sweetened drinks since I can remember. I even drank those sodas when I was growing up from the time I was very young. I had a mysterious bout of mono like symtoms (and despite repeated blood tests I was negative for mono) when I was in the 5th grade. I was sick for over a month and missed school the whole time. I could barely get out of bed and was severly depressed and my whole body ached. I slowly recovered from this, suffered occasional relapses, and a few years later was diagnosed as having chronic fatigue syndrome. I wasn't on diet drinks because I was heavy, in fact, I was extremely active and very slender. We drank diet drinks because my mother was on a perpetual diet and that was what she bought.

Well, I feel so much better now that I have been off of aspertame for 10 years. Mom is getting worse. She has diabetes, so her excuse for not quitting the aspertame is her diabetes. I guess people just don't like drinking water anymore. Her fibromyalgia has gotten so bad that she doesn't like to do much of anything. I don't know if there's a corrolation, but it is pretty interesting to me.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Originally posted by GLDLPN

So, how do you know what information to believe and where is a reliable source of accurate information? Please help ~ it is so confusing.

Gayle

Well, check out the sources. I trust snopes and urbanlegend because they debunk all the internet hoaxes. I also like the "skeptics" sites.

I'm not saying y'all should go out and drink diet Pepsi . . I'm just saying we are professional nurses for Pete's sake . . let us not jump on the "myth bandwagon". It does a disservice to the people we are supposed to be caring for when we start blaming every ill in sight on aspartame.

Scare tactics are easy to spot . . .

steph

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

This week this fries brain cells, next week it'll be something else. Don't know what to think or believe anymore on what food will help you live or what ingredient will kill me.

[kitty29]

I'm slowly switching to splenda....I love the fruit-2-0....but also love crystal light!

I have heard much bad news about aspirtaine (?).....sorry my spelling bites and I'm too tirered to scroll up and check the spelling.

[bluesky, BSN, RN]

Well anything can be toxic if used excessively. I am trying to cut down on nutrasweet use but I also feel that the evidence of some real, clinically and statistically significant, pathologic, causal relationship is lacking. Aspartame, or phenylalanine is, after all, a natural amino acid present in the body at 98.6 degrees F anyway.

[Noney]

I'm with you Steph. I drink Diet coke everyday. I have no chronic problems I'm 34 years old and have been drinking it for over 10 years. I'd say the caffiene is more harmful.

Larry G that article you posted was ridicolous!

Noney

[Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN]

Don't know what so "ridicolous," Noney.

But I agree with the research suggestion. Lots of reliable info out there. Some voodoo too. Suggest we be leery of information supplied by those wanting to sell ya something or those with a monetary interest (business and politicos come to mind).

Another approach would be to speak with health care folks knowledgeable in nutrition. IMHO there's lots to learn in this area (aspartame isn't the only chemical we need to be concerned with, e.g., pesticides).

I've also witnessed people diagnosed with aspartame prob's (mostly heart related issues) at the hospital.

Up and till last year, I had the same attitude as some of the above posters. Feel so much better after discontinuing Equal. (No other changes made.) So if you're open to finding out for yourself, still another course would be to experiment. (Give it, at least, a couple of months.)

Not trying to convert anyone. I'm for personal choice. After all, it's our bodies and minds.

Let's celebrate our health!

[jemb]

So Sonny Bono was drinking diet coke when he crashed into a tree skiing, huh?

And John Ritter may have been a diet coke drinker?

That sort of garbage included in 'research' seen by the public is just stupid.

Maybe all these reported deaths possibly related to aspartame were in reality due to these people eating carrots or green beans or potato chips or drinking tap water instead of bottled water or....? Did this researcher check to see if these folks had any of these things in common?

We have brains for a reason. We are supposed to use them!

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

A comedian once said "no i'm not a healthnut, it would suck for my last meal to be wheat germ and bee pollen, gimme the Big Mac"

My feelings exactly about "research".

[flowerchild]

I don't like all the hype re aspartame. It's hard to know what to believe and what to dismiss. All I know is that I used to drink diet sodas and eat foods with aspartame daily. I had stiff joints, loose stools to the point of IBS s/s, headaches, and hypoglycemic episodes, all in my 30's. I was tired and fatigued almost all the time. Even went to my Dr who tested my thyroid, blood levels, and he couldn't find any problem. I decided to cut out the aspartame and after about a month, all my s/s went away and have not returned. The only thing I changed was my intake of diet products. Coincidence? I doubt it. Perhaps it bothers some but not all? I have no scientific data to share, only my own personal experience. But, I do wonder why there is so much information/misinformation out there re aspartame if there isn't some problem with the product?

[Dixen81]

Crap...I drink diet cokes and use Equal in my coffee every day. Is that why I can't quite reach that 94% on my exams to make an A? Is it killing my brain cells? They said alcohol kills brain cells, so I quit drinking...now it's aspartame.

No smoking, no drinking, no eating (the good stuff)...die anyway. sigh...

[kitty29]

As one of my brothers is fond of saying: "No one gets out alive!"

If ya really like the soda....keep on keeping on...you won't have problems until in your 40's when the heartburn starts.