aspartame
 

One keeps reading in posts here about the evils of aspartame and how we must avoid using it to prevent stalls, etc. I am not questioning that some folks may be sensitive to it....just like lots of us are sensitive to aspirin or other specific things.

But I am wondering if anyone can cite any research evidence here regarding how and why it causes stalling. As I recall, Atkins is not very specific about it either..just says don't use it. As someone pointed out, there are many times more deaths due to aspirin say, than due to ephedra (I am not advocating for ephedra...I am one of those who is sensitive to it and get bad heart beats reaction to stimulants) and I expect the same is true for aspartame. I have used it for years and it never stopped me from losing weight in the past..nor did I ever suffer any bad effects. And I note that lots of people who are badly stalled in this forum are not using aspartame.

Sodium cylamate was similarly castigated because some mice developed tumors when given enough of it to be equivalent to our eating lbs of it daily.

I am currently using Splenda where I can, but many of the sugar free products I have access to where I live contain aspartame.

Val

http://www.mercola.com/article/aspa...t_gain_myth.htm

http://www.mercola.com/article/aspartame/fda.htm

Thanks for the reference. The same argument can be made for a number of drugs that get approved for prescription by the FDA...Big Pharma has a lot to answer to and for.

But this article does not answer my question. It points to the evidence of cancers in mice. It does not tell us if it was the same issue as with sodium cyclamate reearch...if they were feeding the lab animals amounts of aspartame that amount to what would be pounds of the stuff for us. There is no evidence given in what he says that the tiny amounts we consume are any worse for us than if we don't consume them. (I might also note that he advocates against using smallpox and HepB vaccines too, Smallpox was virtually radicated in one generation thanks to vaccines.)

I feel that they need to re-do the research on aspartame, using amounts that are mouse-equivalent to the absolute maxium that we might consume and see what adverse affects it has, if any, on animals. As he says, we have been 'guinea pigs' in its use for years, but doesn't provide any evidence anywhere that this has actually harmed us. The increase in diagnosis of cancer in the past 20 years can be linked with any number of things.. not the least of which is the enormous use of plastics, inhalation of exhaust fumes, cleaning chemicals, electromagnetics and so on.

I am not suggesting that aspartame is safe...I am just saying that it has not been shown to NOT be safe in humans at the dosages we use it. If we took pounds of aspirin or salt daily we would die. We are not taking pounds of aspertame. It is quite possible that our livers/kidneys can deal with it with no bad effects except to those that are particularly sensitive to it. We are all of us sensitive to particular things. (I am totally unable to take American Ginseng for example, and millions of others find it medicinal...)

Val

Sorry, I didn't respond to the first article you posted. What he is saying there about sweeteners applies to all of them, including Splenda. I do believe people have to work on their sweet tooth which leads them to consume more just because they crave sweet tasting things in their gob. But speaking personally, I don't feel driven to eat more if I've had a Splenda (or aspartame) sweetened item. I think this may be true for a lot of people but certainly not all that one should generalize to such a degree. In any case, the point he makes goes for all sweeteners.

There are lots of folks on these forums who have dropped a heap of weight despite using sweeteners every day.

Val

I use the sweetners a lot and, although I just started, I lost 9 pounds in 6 days. I don't want to lose too much too fast either.

If I stall, I'll just reduce them...

I read somewhere (can't remember where though) that "If it looks like sugar and tastes like sugar... the body interprets it as sugar..."

That may be part of the whole deal...

ND, congrats on your weight loss...my point was that people seem to stall whether they are using sweeteners or not and many haven't used aspartame at all and still stall.
I was asking for evidence that they cause stalls. I think it is possible that some of us just have stalls and it isn't caused by any one thing, but perhaps by a number of things or even nothing. Sometimes it could be calories, sometimes it could be metabolism changes, sometimes it could be that the scales aren't registering subtle changes, who knows. A lot of people are unbelievably resistant to weight loss and others are not. But almost everyone on these forums feels a heck of a lot better by not consuming sugar and starch.

Val

I remember when saccharine was the devil... now it's off the "naughty list" for just that reason.. it would take pounds of it a day to give humans the "mouse effect"...

I'm hearing grumblings about artificial sweeteners causing blood sugar spikes, but the only ones I know of that raise blood sugar are sugar alcohols, but they raise it MUCH slower than pure sugar, and it's open to debate just how MUCH.

I am wary of such research... for one thing, how do we know, given that one could demonstrate a blood sugar spike with sweeteners, that this effect isn't just a short lived conditioned response to years of eating sugar, and will dissipate over a week or so when the real stimulus (sugar) isn't present. We also get placebo responses to drugs too.

Val

I don't know about ya'll...but, I know [from experience] that a couple Diet Sodas [w. Aspartame] will stall my weight loss. Diet Rites [w. Splenda] and Home-Made Beverages [w. Stevia] do not stall me.

IIRC, Aspartame does not taste "like Sugar." It has a strong chemical taste, which is barely tolerable (initially) and takes getting used to. It works by acting on the brain, causing your brain to believe it is sweet. It has no natural sweetness.

Other Artificial & Natural sweeteners (Splenda & Stevia) are truly sweet (don't act on the brain to feign sweetness) and thus don't appear to cause the same effects [on me at least.]

I think the issue for me with sweeteners is that essentially it is a chemical.....However, it doesnt stop me and I think with this diet the key to losing is moderation..Dont eat too much on one thing and youll be ok.
4

Who cares about stalls??? I don't need any STEADILY INCREASING level of formaldehyde or methanol running around in my body, thankyouverymuch. Not to mention the fact that Phenylalanine is a NEUROTOXIN! Aspartame is 50% phenylalanine for those who don't know.

Here is a link with some info on articifial sweeteners:

http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/

Headaches...and Insulin Spikes...
 

Well I agree that stalls aren't really the concern...these are chemicals that we are putting into our bodies... Personally, I have tried them and they cause me to have headaches and I instantly get jittery and sweats.... I use stevia instead...which is natural....I get mine at the health food store... I still have to eat protein with it however, I can't just drink something alone...that contains sugar.... I am hypoglycemic and extremely sensitive now... I also tested my blood sugar, my dad's diabetic, right after consuming them and my insulin levels were through the roof...

I'm certain that years of my sugar addiction have contributed to these symptoms...but now I am finally doing something about it...

Good luck all...

I find that aspartane leaves a really unpleasant aftertaste, any better reason for avoiding it I can't think of.

BTW, Aspartame is also the only artificial sweetener that breaks down [into its component chemicals] when ingested. In fact, if you heat Aspartame above 86 degrees...it will break down and completely lose it's sweetness. What does it break down into:

Phenylalinine -- Some folks are sensitive to Phenylalinine. There is some talk that it may be toxic [to most people] in large doses.

Aspartic Acid -- Aspartic Acid and Glutamic Acid [the part of MSG that many people are highly sensitive to] have near identical effects on the body. Aspartic Acid is also believed to be Nuerotoxic in large doses.

Methanol -- Methanol is a known POISON. For this reason, the ATF requires it to be added to industrial alcohol [as a denaturant]...so, they cannot be drunk [to evade the tax on alcoholic beverages.] Signs of Methanol Poisoning include: Headaches, Blindness, and [in enough quantity] Death.

DKP -- DKP is a suspected nuerotoxin/carcinogen.

Free Methanol cannot be legally added to a food...So, why [other than graft and bribery] is a chemical that quickly breaks down into Free Methanol allowed in our food supply ??? My favorite excuse from NutraSweet is "Methanol is found naturally in some foods." Yup, Cyanide is found naturally in cherries, and Arsenic is found in Spring water...But, we don't allow these poisons to be ADDED to our food supply.

In fact, you cannot even buy a bottle of Emblaming Fluid (Methanol) over the counter. Yet, you can buy Aspartame tablets [which in seconds can be broken down into a chemical cocktail that includes Methanol] in any Grochery Store.

...and the key phrase there is "in large mounts". If you ate enough cherries to ingest a lethal amount of cyanide, I'd imagine you'd have other problems on your hands!

Frankly, I'm not too worried. Maybe I have my head in the sand, but there are so MANY things that are supposed to be bad for us, that to me, it's the "boy who cried wolf",