I'm in a minority within my extended family and circle of friends that artificial sweeteners are incredibly horrible. I've read dozens of medical reports and articles on the topics (most of which state they can cause caner and are very bad), but my gut reaction to them comes from actually ingesting them.


(fyi, these are all used in "sugar free" products but have common names:
aspertame = NutraSweet
sucralose = Splenda
saccharin = Sweet 'n Low)

First off, they taste horrible!
Second, smelling them (intense whiff) triggers a headache in my brain that is unrivaled by anything, including most physical pain.
Third, eating it irritates my nose and throat. My wife handles it even worse, it, she's virtually incapacitated with a headache and body pain.
Fourth, I tend to go crazy as I'm "coming down" from them, I usually get paranoid and am convinced by body is growing cancer as I sit there.

I should note, although the above is in the present tense, I have not willingly ingested any of these chemicals in well over a year. However, sometimes they slip by when I'm a someone's house or out to eat.

Neither of us are allergic, according to an allergist. But I know the issue doesn't lie with me. But I'm loosing the argument with family, and hate standing by as I watch my 'rents eat nothing but foods containing the sweeteners (they are proud of giving up sugar, but my dad puts like 4 teaspoons of this stuff in his coffee!)

How can the mass public accept something that holds such health risks? Even more so, how can anyone ingest this over simply moderating real sugar intake? Isn't this like MSG, asbestos, or cigarettes all over again? Any thoughts from the peeps here?


Best Regards,

Anecdotally, I have noticed that since avoiding Diet Coke and other "nutra sweet" containing substances, I have decreased my number of migraines.

Interesting...

While I don't really care for artificial sweetner, I've never experienced any bad side effects other than a bad after-taste.

I can relate to how frustrating it can be watching others eating stuff that is bad for them. In the end, I think the only thing any of us can do is point it out and then hope it helps them make better choices. Ultimately you can't control what other people choose to do.

gm

I used to drink a lot of diet soda, but now I only have one small glass a day. I do not like all the artificial sweeteners. My sister still uses the one in the pink packet, Sweet n Low, and I do believe it is a lethal substance...yuck :p

I try not to be a zealot with artificial sweetners but I pretty much have given them up as much as possible.

They all have risks and side effects. But they are different for everyone and many times people aren't bothered at all...that they currently know of.

For me:

Nutrasweet causes a gradual increase in symptoms that are like arthritis. It starts in my feet. Then my hips and shoulders if I keep drinking or using it. My cafeteria at work is being renovated so I can't get to the filtered water and ice I used to get. So I have been dipping into the soda machine and a daily diet coke has reactivated my symptoms, yet again. I never learn. :hopeless:

Splenda. I was excited by this invention since I eat low carb. But Splenda makes my kidneys ache badly and I get woozy spells.

Saccharin doesn't taste good to me at all. I think since there was nothing else back in the day, people accepted that it had a remotely sweet taste, but, blech!

I just use Stevia. It has been used safely for hundreds if not thousands of years by indigenous people everywhere. It's made directly from a leaf that is sweet but has no calories. It has no reported side effects of any kind. It's painfully sweet and a little goes a long way. I use stevia glycerate (liquid form) since the powder seems to not dissolve well in all liquids.

The story of why the FDA refused to grant Stevia approval as a sweetner is tied to fierce lobbying by the Nutrasweet camp. It's a sad tale of special interest and money winning over common sense. Just google: stevia FDA or search on Mercola.com. The FDA caved in and allowed stevia to be listed as a "supplement" so it's in with the vitamins at the store.

Jennifer

With the exception of Stevia which is a natural herb, all of the "sugar substitutes" are just a unnatural chemical brew cooked up by human beings.

Nature provided us with natural foods for our good health. It's when we start making and eating chemical concoctions that our health can suffer.
High Fructose corn syrup, Hydrogenated oils-trans fats, and artificial sweeteners :lildevil: -none of that is natural and we really shouldn't ingest or eat any of it. (I just wish they had never made Diet Coke with Lime! :banghead: but I've cut down dramatically soon I will completely eliminate it!)

I've never really been able to understand the penchant for artificial sweeteners. Why not just use sugar?

I can understand certain conditions - diabetes, for example - where sugar might cause problems, but why not just use natural cane suger or get used to the taste of things without sugar?

Wouldn't that be easier?

Natural sugar is the way to go. I've actually been able to do without any added sugar...tough but you get used to it!

I have a friend who worked for the PR firm that represented the company that manufactured aspertame. She said they spent most of their time keeping the bad stuff out of the news. Factory workers got bloody noses, migraines, kidney problems and more - just from inhaling the dust. Imagine what it does to your body after ingesting it for years....

Although I must confess that I do enjoy a diet soda now and then....you would think I would know better!

I stopped drinking pop and took to drinking bottled water.. the kind that is flavoured and has potassium in it too... but is also has some aspertame in it too... I also get migraines, but usually only that time of the month or when the chinook winds come in. I haven't noticed any migraines from drinking the water with it, as of yet... :hmm:

Go to mercola.com and buy a copy of 'Sweet misery' it is a documentary on the aspartame story.
Seriously scary, seriously real!

the FDA is a scab on the face of the planet!

love and hugs

FAQ

I haven't noticed any migraines from drinking the water with it, as of yet... :hmm:

stop drinking the flavored water, and you'll feel much better. Of all beverages, those flavored waters have some of the highest % of artificial sweeteners.

It would be more healthy to just mix up sugar and water (if you need flavor, add lemon or lime juice) Hmmm, lemons, sugar and water, I should patent that!

It would be more healthy to just mix up sugar and water (if you need flavor, add lemon or lime juice) Hmmm, lemons, sugar and water, I should patent that!


Hey! Great idea Duder...why don't you call it lemonade?!:D

You can't do that -- *I* have the patent on lemonade! At least the kids in my neighborhood believe I do.

Every summer I go round the streets collecting $5 from every lemonade stand as a royalty payment. He-he-he!!!

It's called 'passive income.'

I stopped drinking pop and took to drinking bottled water.. the kind that is flavoured and has potassium in it too... but is also has some aspertame in it too... I also get migraines, but usually only that time of the month or when the chinook winds come in. I haven't noticed any migraines from drinking the water with it, as of yet... :hmm:
Migraines always have a cause!

there may also be an environmental trigger or the time of the month,phase of the moon or something else but at the core the key is what you ingest.

the other thing to get clear about is that it is not as simple as drink flavoured water = immediate migraine. that may happen but there may also be an extended period of time between the two events, although they are still connected.
these things are not safe at any level. the only proven safe level is zero.
you are risking your life having one can/glass of any of these substances.
by that i am saying that in some way it is going to diminish the quantity or quality of your life at some point. now or in the future. you know that bit thats waaaaay out there. 30-40 years from now.


I invite you to get a hammer from your tool box.

put your hand on the table.

now use the hammer to hit your hand.

go on do it.


not interested are you you know its going to hurt right now massively.

thats the problem.

there is no immediate pain in many cases.

Aspartame will kill you if somehting else doesnt first.
go get the movie and invest 2 hours in getting educated.

I repeat:
the FDA (and I will add the American government) is a scab on the face of the earth for what they did on this subject.Rampant corruption in high places!
and as this is an equal opportunities situation I will add that the UK government are equally scum for having followed on like little sheep.and every where else that also followed in allowing this nightmare without independant testing.

Aspartame has never been independantly tested and found to be safe.
All the original research was in house and corrupt!


love and hugs FAQ

I will ask you one simple question.

Who is more likely to have got this right and created safe sweet things?
who has had the most time to figure this out.
who would have organised things so that they were easily and instantly accessable without the use of factorys etc.
who has had 'volunteers' to go through whole life time testing for thousands of years?

Some scientist in a lab somewhere with a limited amount of time and money and pressure to produce a result regardless of the unforseen consequences.


or

God/the Universe who has had millions of years to figure it out and get it right.

no product gets more than a few years of testing at most.
YOU are a guinea pig unpaid and uncared for when ever you volunteer to use this stuff or any other artificial 'food' substance.

How smart do you need to be to answer this question?

love and hugs

FAQ

You can't do that -- *I* have the patent on lemonade! At least the kids in my neighborhood believe I do.

Every summer I go round the streets collecting $5 from every lemonade stand as a royalty payment. He-he-he!!!

It's called 'passive income.'I think you've endlessly argued that passive means NO work or effort. What you describe is called "Curmudgeon Mafia".
Either that, or Yer the Union Boss of Scrooge Local 153.

No $25K for You!

I think you've endlessly argued that passive means NO work or effort. What you describe is called "Curmudgeon Mafia".
Either that, or Yer the Union Boss of Scrooge Local 153.
No $25K for You!Wait! Don't take away my $25,000! This is a life lesson I'm teaching these kids. (Not to mention the thousands that are benefitting from my charitable works with the money.)

Lessons being taught--

1. Invention is rewarded but don't steal someone else's ideas.

2. Buying someone else's ideas is okay.

3. Taxation is a fact of life.

4. Old geezers generally know more than you do.

5. What they know isn't necessarily worth knowing.

I'm teaching them the basics of business, see?

In fact, this is part of my charitable donation work, the royalty payments being used to boost the $25k to help more people, see?

The reason why people try to not use sugar is that it triggers an insulin response. In everyone. Everytime. Also, anything that is made from starch triggers an insulin response. That's A LOT of insulin in a given day with the average person. Insulin is not our friend.

Insulin causes hunger pangs and hunger messages to the brain which make you eat even when you don't need to. Cortisol effects. Weight gain. Cancer in some studies. Negatively affects longevity in other studies. Coronary artery disease. Raises cholesterol. Abuse it and it's own systems completely fail: Diabetes. The list of damage this hormone does is endless.

Now we could all eat perfectly and ideally. Right out of the wild. No machinery, no cooking, no processing. But who would accept that? FAQ would. That's about it.

The rest of us are keen on the things our tongues/brains have decided are YUMMY. We want them without all the bad things that happen as a result. So, being that exploitation for profit fuels every business in the Western world, companies are trying to figure out ways to give us what we want. We, as individuals, must decide if these "inventions" hurt us, kill us or seemingly have no effect on us.

I believe they have a negative effect on us. Just because it doesn't happen the instant you put it in your mouth, people think they are safe and blame the cancer, arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, ALS, autism, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, heart attack, migraine etc...on "aging" or some "unknown" factor.

The human body is perfect in it's design. It maintains homeostasis every time unless acted on negatively by an outside factor. The outside factor is YOU. People are responsible for every single disease they get. Just because they can't pinpoint these causes doesn't make the statement untrue. It starts at conception (with either gifts from your parents or genetic curses from them) and goes downhill from there.

You can effect the quality of your life. Both negatively or positively. Conventional wisdom is not your friend. If you just eat what is put in front of you by people whose main goal is to make as much money as possible, you will die because of it.

People spend more care and time picking out Christmas presents than what they put in their mouths every day. You see people spending thousands of dollars on ANOTHER big screen TV and then railing against having to spend a few more cents on organic produce.

Hell in a handbasket, I tell ya.

Jennifer

I haven't seen any correlation between my migraines which I always get that time of the month... and that was long before I started drinking the flavoured water. No migraines from drinking the water.

What I found interesting it that one poster here mentioned it bringing on arthritis type symptoms which I do have! But I also know I actually have arthritis in my hips too... again before I started drinking the bottled water.

I was trying out some chewable vitamins, and they have some kind of sweetener in them... so sweet it was SICKENING sweet! I ate maybe 3 of them, and now there bottle of them sits. They are disgusting and I won't use them anymore. Unfortunately I bought 2 bottles of them cause they were on sale for a good price. I will check the bottle and let you all know what they were... they are huge like the size of a loonie or toonie! (Coin dollars we have in Canada) Bigger than an alka selzer tablet.... you are supposed to eat them before a meal for some reason. After eating those gross things, it ruins the taste of any food you want to eat. Truly GROSS!

Okay I went to my kitchen to get them.... might as well do it now while I am thinking of it! They are Jamieson "Chewable Adult Multivitamins" Wildberry Flavour. Aha! Sweetened with Sucralose!! GROSS!!!!!!!!!

I have since switched to plain Centrum one a day vitamins. They are like horse pills, but feel like I have more energy since I have been taking them! And no sweeteners in them!!

The reason why people try to not use sugar is that it triggers an insulin response. In everyone. Everytime. Also, anything that is made from starch triggers an insulin response. That's A LOT of insulin in a given day with the average person. Insulin is not our friend.

Hell in a handbasket, I tell ya.

JenniferWell, that IS an explaination of one LOGICAL reason.

the reason people use other-than-natural products is because from the time that almost every kid in developed industrial countries is born, they are taught to eat processed foods. WHY? Because their Parents were taught by THEIR Parents that is was an OK thing to do, because it's Modern and a product of Modern Science. and because it's easier" to do it that way.

We are only 3 generations into the Chemicalization of Life, and already have forgotten how or why we got here.

The reason why people try to not use sugar is that it triggers an insulin response. In everyone. Everytime. Also, anything that is made from starch triggers an insulin response. That's A LOT of insulin in a given day with the average person. Insulin is not our friend.

Insulin causes hunger pangs and hunger messages to the brain which make you eat even when you don't need to. Cortisol effects. Weight gain. Cancer in some studies. Negatively affects longevity in other studies. Coronary artery disease. Raises cholesterol. Abuse it and it's own systems completely fail: Diabetes. The list of damage this hormone does is endless.

Now we could all eat perfectly and ideally. Right out of the wild. No machinery, no cooking, no processing. But who would accept that? FAQ would. That's about it.

The rest of us are keen on the things our tongues/brains have decided are YUMMY. We want them without all the bad things that happen as a result. So, being that exploitation for profit fuels every business in the Western world, companies are trying to figure out ways to give us what we want. We, as individuals, must decide if these "inventions" hurt us, kill us or seemingly have no effect on us.

I believe they have a negative effect on us. Just because it doesn't happen the instant you put it in your mouth, people think they are safe and blame the cancer, arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, ALS, autism, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, heart attack, migraine etc...on "aging" or some "unknown" factor.

The human body is perfect in it's design. It maintains homeostasis every time unless acted on negatively by an outside factor. The outside factor is YOU. People are responsible for every single disease they get. Just because they can't pinpoint these causes doesn't make the statement untrue. It starts at conception (with either gifts from your parents or genetic curses from them) and goes downhill from there.

You can effect the quality of your life. Both negatively or positively. Conventional wisdom is not your friend. If you just eat what is put in front of you by people whose main goal is to make as much money as possible, you will die because of it.

People spend more care and time picking out Christmas presents than what they put in their mouths every day. You see people spending thousands of dollars on ANOTHER big screen TV and then railing against having to spend a few more cents on organic produce.

Hell in a handbasket, I tell ya.

Jennifer

you know I almost think there is a compliment in there somewhere.



love and hugs

FAQ