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Avatar universal

more on the safety of aspartame

http://informahealthcare.blogspot.com/2007/09/aspartame-deemed-safe-according-to.html

Here are five references to the safety of aspartame from unbiased medical bodies.  I'm just sick and tired of hearing about the supposed dangers of this very helpful supplement.  Judge for yourselves, folks, but please check out these websites first.

http://informahealthcare.blogspot.com/2007/09/aspartame-deemed-safe-according-to.html

http://www.tuftshealthletter.com/ShowArticle.aspx?rowId=347

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/329/7469/755?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=aspartame+and+health&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/564923

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Avatar universal
"Aspatame is poision.
So is alcohol."

Amen.
Why anyone would advocate alcohol for HCV patients and survivors (let alone aspartame) is beyond my understanding.  

It doesn't take a fancy-schmancy Ivy league education to figure that one out.
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Avatar universal
So is alcohol.
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Avatar universal
Aspatame is poision.
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Avatar universal
First of all, thanks to all of you who've sent me personal messages supporting my point of view, which is that science prevails over nonsense.  

Andromadae, you can eat or not eat whatever you wish, but please do not attack me personally.  My various physical ailments have nothing to do with my lifestyle past or present.  I've never drunk to excess except for a couple of times in my teens, never done IV drugs, do not overeat and especially eschew junk foods.  For you to assume that I have done any of these things is out-of-bounds, IMHO.

Re alcohol after SVR, you might go over to the physician-moderated forum on hcv and see what Dr. Douglas Dietrich has to say about the liver's return to normal after SVR:
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/534318

The liver, unless deeply cirrhotic, does return to normal, and as anyone with any brains knows, normal livers can handle 1 drink a day for women, 2 for men.  Wine is good for the heart.

I'm not going to continue on this thread, however, as I'm busy today.
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Avatar universal
"think you are lost, in that you seem obsessed with the supposed "harm" of a chemical like this, but are unable to see the forest from the woods, which is that all substances, man made or not, carry risks. Nothing is perfect. We live short lives. Until someone shows me a scientific research that shows that Aspartame is proven to chop many years of a persons life (as is the case with smoking), t"

I agree with a great deal of what you say , except for the "you are lost" thing of course [g].  The only thing that I am saying is that there are studies that call the safety of the chemical into question.  I've made a personal choice not to use it and whether anyone else uses it or not is a personal decision - and one that should be respected.

I do disagree with the original poster who maintains that he chemical is safe and that all studies to the contrary are somehow false and misleading.  The same poster regularly advocates the use of small amounts of alcohol to HCV survivors.  

I disagree very much regarding pigeonca's posts about alcohol and ... well it's pretty clear about my feelings regarding the chemical aspartame.

People who have been infected with HCV, carry varying degrees of liver damage, in most cases.  I can not understand why someone would counsel alcohol or other liver-damaging chemicals (like aspartame) to people who, like myself, have HCV or have had it.
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232778 tn?1217447111
"If that's what it takes to make you feel better about the choices that you made then you are lost."
I think you are lost, in that you seem obsessed with the supposed "harm" of a chemical like this, but are unable to see the forest from the woods, which is that all substances, man made or not, carry risks. Nothing is perfect. We live short lives. Until someone shows me a scientific research that shows that Aspartame is proven to chop many years of a persons life (as is the case with smoking), then I think there are more important things for people to be worried about in living a healthy life, than worrying about this chemical, or some other chemical in food, be it a "natural" food, or not.
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Avatar universal
"As for the rest, I have a degree in philosophy from an ivy league university - with a specialization in logic."

1976 - University of Pennsylvania.  Physics.  Not impressed.

And FWIW , George bush has a degree from Yale University.  And we all know how well THAT worked out.

I am very sorry that you have hurt your own health and now seek to have others follow in that path by advising HCV survivors that moderate alcohol usage probably won't hurt (yes, you did on 2 different threads) and by advising them to partake of chemicals (like aspartame) that have been proven negatively affect liver metabolism (insulin insensitivity).

If that's what it takes to make you feel better about the choices that you made then you are lost.
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Avatar universal
As far as my diabetes goes, BTW, I am neither overweight nor an unhealthy eater.  It IS genetic in my case.  All the skinny people in my family have it - it is a variant of diabetes prevalent in Askenazic jews and is not uncommon.

As for the rest, I have a degree in philosophy from an ivy league university - with a specialization in logic.  If you want some help deciphering what you read, I'd be happy to assist you.
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Avatar universal
Well, you are so insightful that you don't even know how to read.  I do NOT have cirrhosis.  I have NEVER advocated light alcohol use for anybody who has hcv, cirrhosis or who is treating.  I have said, as per my physician, that after SVR, moderate drinking may be appropriate, especially for those who have heart disease, with the permission of their doctors.

You obviously want to believe what you want to believe.  Since Roche and Schering contribute to research on hcv, perhaps you shouldn't believe any studies on the efficacy of Interferon and Ribavirin. Why don't you just treat with stevia?
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Avatar universal
"Here's a list of citations for you.  I imagine you'll say they're all in on the conspiracy ..."

As it turns out....
All one has to do is have a min open to alternatives and spend five minutes doing a google search.  And when you do that what do you find??

Well let's take a look at your citation from the "American Diabetes Association"

From
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/aspart.p17

"Monsanto/NutraSweet gives large sums of money to
organizations so that those organizations will help promote
the "safety" of aspartame. In January 1993, the American
Dietetic Association (ADA) Courrier published a notice that
NutraSweet gave the ADA a $75,000 grant (ADA 1993). The
notice went on to say that NutraSweet helps write the ADA
"Fact" sheets. "

75 grand ...  and Monsanto writes the ADA "fact sheets" . Well no possibility of coercion there , eh?

So pigeonca, you poo-poo away legitimate scientific studies from a great many peer reviewed journals about connections between the chemical and cancer, diabetes, brain disorders, etc and you won't  take 5 minutes to google up "American Diabetes Association". "Nutrasweet ", "grants or funding".

So what's going on here?   You certainly don't come across as a stupid person so my guess is that you've intentionally put blinders on yourself

"There are none so blind as those who will not see."
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Avatar universal
"I imagine you'll say they're all in on the conspiracy, but take a look at these, please.  No conspiracy can be that big and that widespread.  I just don't believe it.   "

I guess when you think about it it does seem silly for a company to be able to control things like product placement on television and movies, print media advertising, state legislatures through the use of grant dollars, court decisions through the use of massive influx of money and lawyers,  and even the FDA and congress itself .

I mean it would be incomprehensible for anyone to believe that some company could manipulate congressional hearings and lie blatantly to the American people ON TELEVISED HEARINGS with impunity about their product.for decades.

I mean you'd have to be a cigarette company to do something like that.  Oh wait ....

P.S. There's a thing called "misery loves company" in this world.  I see it as something like a bad internalized solution to one's own internal cognitive dissonance about doing something wrong.  

You see it in people who do drugs.  They LOVE it when other's do it with them.  You see it in smokers or alcoholics who LOVE to share a drink or smoke with anyone else.  Why?   Because on some level they KNOW they are doing something bad to themselves BUT if they can get everyone to join in then human nature can fall back to that old excuse, "How should I have known?  EVERYONE was doing it!"

I don't think you are a bad person but you have some health issues and at least one of those issues is directly related to your intake of alcohol and others MAY be related to other unhealthy choices you have made (such as diabetes).  You can't fall back on "it's genetic".  Genes become expressed by the choices we make .  You may have a genetic TENDENCY towards cirrhosis's or diabetes but it sure as heck will never be expressed as a reality until you do things to set it off - like drink or take substances that cause your body to become resistant to insulin.

I am suggesting that maybe you are old enough to think about taking some measure of responsibility for your past health problems and instead of getting everyone to jump on the same bandwagon you were on - start looking for ways people could avoid making the same mistakes you have made.  I know I've made some mess-ups in my time.  Poor choices.  Bad decisions.  The only real meaning I can give to them is by giving them as personal examples to others of the consequences of poor choices in my own life.
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Avatar universal
"As I've already noted, all of your citations refer to test tube and animal studies.  I have an open mind"

Toxicity studies are always done on animals because killing people with drugs requires a bit more explanation.  Everyone knows that.  Unlike you, I am not going to stand here and tell everyone that there is clear evidence one way or another.  Unlike you, I am going to say that there is enough evidence for a reasonable person to be cautious.

You also come on here and regularly advocate the use of moderate alcohol and cause the same kind of ruckus that you seem to enjoy with something silly like aspartame.  Whatever game you are playing it has little to do with helping people make informed decisions for themselves.

I understand that you are 64 years old have cirrhosis and are diabetic.  You advocate the use of alcohol and aspartame for HepC survivors.  Alcohol has been linked to cirrhosis.  Aspartame has been linked to metabolic syndrome  (pre-diabetes)..

Enough said.

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Avatar universal
I know that the anti-aspartame zealots claim that aspartame can cause, among other diseases, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, lupus and cancer, yet millions of us diabetics satisfy our sweet-tooths with artificially sweetened treats.  So I thought I'd check out statements from the pertinent foundations.  

Here's a list of citations for you.  I imagine you'll say they're all in on the conspiracy, but take a look at these, please.  No conspiracy can be that big and that widespread.  I just don't believe it.  

From the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation: http://www.msfacts.org/publication_articleDetails.php?ID=18

Parkinson’s Disease Foundation:
http://www.pdf.org/ask/kb.cfm?selectedItem=14980&returnURL=kb.cfm%3Fcategory%3D22&print%3Dtrue&start%3D1

Lupus Foundation:
http://www.lupus.org/webmodules/webarticlesnet/templates/new_aboutfaq.aspx?articleid=379&zoneid=19

The American Cancer Society:
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_1_3X_Aspartame.asp?sitearea=PED

From the American Diabetes Association:
http://www.diabetes.org/nutrition-and-recipes/nutrition/sweeteners.jsp


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Avatar universal
As I've already noted, all of your citations refer to test tube and animal studies.  I have an open mind.  Please show me a reputable source - not an individual doctor, but a legitimate organization like a university or a journal - which shows any danger to human beings from the ingestion of normal amounts of aspartame.  My citations come from "Critical Reviews in Toxicology," "The British Medical Journal," Tufts University, the Mayo Clinic and  Medscape.  Can you provide the equivalent?  

Where there's smoke, the facts can be obscured.
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Avatar universal
And be sure to also check out the threads titles "Aspartame Safety I " and ""Aspartame Safety II "  where over 10 studies are presented liking aspartame to increased cancers risk, insulin insensitivity, NACL metabolic disruption and several other icky things.

Where there's smoke ....
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Avatar universal
I'm sorry, there are only four refs. here.  But I can provide plenty more, from reputable sources affiliated with medical associations and universities, not chiropractors and nutritionists.  Don't get me wrong, I use chiropractors myself, but I take their advice with a large grain of salt.

As far as big pharma militating against stevia, if this were so, wouldn't they also militate against, for example, niacin for heart trouble or saw palmetto for enlarged prostate?  But they don't.  They prescribe these natural remedies, usually before prescribing the expensive stuff.

Anyway, sorry for the rant.  This anti-aspartame stuff is one of my major peeves...
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