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

Dixen81 · Dec 1, 2003

Originally posted by 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.

I'm 42. :rolleyes:

allnurses Guide · Dec 1, 2003

I'm 46 and NO heartburn.

I did have it two years ago but I was preggers.

Just had a cup of coffee with Splenda . . . soon to imbibe in a Diet Pepsi.

If it bothers you, stop using it. If not, go ahead. Just don't pass on rumors and innuendo . . .we are professional medical people. The public trusts us, or should trust us to make solid scientific decisions.

steph

Gompers, BSN, RN · Dec 1, 2003

Been drinking diet pop for 10-15 years, have no problems.

For people seeming to be affected by aspartame, the docs should have also asked what else is in their diet, how much sleep they get, do they excersize, how physically demanding their jobs are, etc.

I have coworkers complain of the same things - stiff joints, headaches, fatigue, etc. - and try to blame aspartame - but most of them are trying to take care of their families and houses all day long, never get more than 3 hours sleep per day, never excercise, eat junk all the time, etc. Especially if there are busy nurses complaining about these side effects - maybe the problem has more to do with lifestyle?

(Of course, my rant about how nurses treat the night shift as if it's some other plane of existance is another topic altogether. We all have coworkers who wake up at 6am every day, never take a nap, and come onto the night shift as if there's nothing wrong with being on no sleep, EVERY NIGHT THEY WORK. I know childcare is an issue, but so is your patients' safety!)

Nurse Ratched, RN · Dec 1, 2003

I too question how we are tending to use anecdotal information when scientific studies have not shown anything. Anectdotally, I have had no problems with aspartame and so tend to believe that it's not a problem.

I tend to side with those who point to our overall unhealthy lifestyle choices in this society and our tendency to want to blame a single thing for the attendant health problems when, like most problems, the cause is multifactorial. If we outlawed aspartame tomorrow, we would still be a people that (generalizing here) overeats, doesn't exercise enough, wants a pill to fix everything we've done wrong to our bodies, and doesn't take responsibility when our chickens come home to roost.

kids · Dec 1, 2003

Originally posted by Nurse Ratched
I too question how we are tending to use anecdotal information when scientific studies have not shown anything. Anectdotally, I have had no problems with aspartame and so tend to believe that it's not a problem.

I tend to side with those who point to our overall unhealthy lifestyle choices in this society and our tendency to want to blame a single thing for the attendant health problems when, like most problems, the cause is multifactorial. If we outlawed aspartame tomorrow, we would still be a people that (generalizing here) overeats, doesn't exercise enough, wants a pill to fix everything we've done wrong to our bodies, and doesn't take responsibility when our chickens come home to roost.

I don't use aspartame, I can't stand the taste.

Brittneesher · Dec 1, 2003

I know this topic is about aspartame, but I have a little rant about saccharin. I bought these nutrasweet tablets for my coffee (I think they were on sale almost free and now I know why).

I recently started to get severe migraine headaches immediately after drinking coffee when I've drank coffee for years and never had a problem. In fact for me caffiene usually cures a headache.

I finally made the connection that the saccharin was causing the HA. One of the tablets was equal to a package of sweet-n-low and I'd put 2 in my coffee and drink about 3 cups... so 6 tablets of saccharin. Chunked it down the trash!

Anyone else experienced the same?

Sarah Kat · Dec 1, 2003

Originally posted by Brittneesher
I know this topic is about aspartame, but I have a little rant about saccharin. I bought these nutrasweet tablets for my coffee (I think they were on sale almost free and now I know why).

I recently started to get severe migraine headaches immediately after drinking coffee when I've drank coffee for years and never had a problem. In fact for me caffiene usually cures a headache.

I finally made the connection that the saccharin was causing the HA. One of the tablets was equal to a package of sweet-n-low and I'd put 2 in my coffee and drink about 3 cups... so 6 tablets of saccharin. Chunked it down the trash!

Anyone else experienced the same?

Nutrasweet is aspertame, sweetnlow is saccharin.

Morguein · Dec 1, 2003

From what I've been reading lately, it seems like Stevia is pretty much the only safe "sugar" to use. It is natural and not synthetically made. It also does not cause an increase in your blood-sugar levels; and therefore does not cause an increase in insulin secretion. It truly is hard to know what to believe these days. There's so much written about this subject on both sides of the fence. It's hard to know who is more credible than the other. I got my information from a book written by Diana Schwarzbein, MD who is an endocrinologist. She wrote "The Schwarzbein Prinicple I & II." She says to avoid artificial sweeteners (including aspartame & sucralose), because they damage the cells of your body and age you faster. :stone

LisaRN2B · Dec 2, 2003

Originally posted by Moonepie
From what I've been reading lately, it seems like Stevia is pretty much the only safe "sugar" to use. It is natural and not synthetically made. It also does not cause an increase in your blood-sugar levels; and therefore does not cause an increase in insulin secretion. It truly is hard to know what to believe these days. There's so much written about this subject on both sides of the fence. It's hard to know who is more credible than the other. I got my information from a book written by Diana Schwarzbein, MD who is an endocrinologist. She wrote "The Schwarzbein Prinicple I & II." She says to avoid artificial sweeteners (including aspartame & sucralose), because they damage the cells of your body and age you faster. :stone

I've used Stevia from time to time. It is hard to get it "just right"...either not enough or too strong, and talk about a funny aftertaste!

As for the artificial stuff aging you too fast, I don't know about that. I have always used artificial sweeteners since I was a teenager. I am almost 40 now and have been mistaken for someone quite a bit younger. (Genetics, plain and simple). Think I'll stick with the old "everything in moderation" and do just fine.

Brittneesher · Dec 2, 2003

I must make a correction.... the product giving me H/A was NECTAsweet not NUTRAsweet. It definitely was saccharin. Aspartame doesn't give me the migraines. I suppose it affects people differently just like most other chemicals.

chris_at_lucas_RN, RN · Dec 2, 2003

If aspartame, Splenda and whatever were as dangerous as some say, lots more of us would be dropping dead than are. (We all *hear* about these deaths, but very rarely does any of us have personal experience or personal knowledge....)

There are many more pollutants in air and water and soil (and therefore food--thank the farmers' pesticides, growth hormones and artificial fertilizers for that one), than there have ever been. Therefore, it is impossible to say whether these anecdotal incidents were caused by the suspected compound or something else. There are too many "confounding variables" (anybody else take stat? or research?)

If you have an illness, you probably ought not to be living on artificial anything. Some of the junk, we are stuck with, but we do have choices....

If you get a HA from aspartame, or sucralose or cabbage, don't eat it... Find something else or learn to like unsweetened stuff.

And as for chocolate? I think it should have it's own food group, but I won't make you eat it....

LOL--I'm going for coffee..... with sugar and cream. (Diet starts 12/26. )

niki1103 · Dec 4, 2003

In the hot, humid days after my first son's birth, in our un-air-conditioned apartment in Queens, I tried twice to have a big glass of Crystal Light to stay hydrated while I nursed the baby -- only to find that the poor little guy would projectile vomit as soon as the "light" breast milk hit his stomach! As soon as I made the connection and trashed the Crystal Light, everything was great and his feedings went smoothly. Later, as a toddler, he also quickly returned a diet soft drink that a babysitter gave him. Nothing else has ever had this effect on him.

I do drink soft drinks containing aspartame occasionally, but all in all, considering past experiences, I'd rather take my chances with real sugar.

Elizabeth

mom of 2, stepmom of 2

certified medical assistant

ADN student