That's 2 doctors out of 970,000, both with rather sketchy reputations. I'm not saying that aspartame is great or faultless, it isn't the greatest sweetener out there for many reasons, but the broad generalizations you made:

1) Don't apply to "most doctors".
2) Don't apply to most sweeteners, artificial or not.

I have no idea how many sweetening products are out there now, many of them are as natural as sugar and probably a whole lot healthier.

Tokyo, have you thought of using non-sweet marinades for your barbecue?

Google "Cornell University chicken marinade". My aunt worked there in their home ec department, and helped create it. It's a savory barbecue, not a sweet one, and it's delicious. My mom started using it when my aunt sent her the recipe, and never looked back; our entire family prefers it.

Well Nancy you don't need to justify using artificial sweeteners. You know deep down "artificial" anything, is unhealthy. So its up to you. I really don't care what you do with your body. I care how I take care of mine so good luck.

Even stevia plants and Lo Han fruit? I just can't think in black & white terms like that. There are shades of grey... oops, that has a new connotation these days.

I'm going to have to try that!

That almost seems a mayo based bbq sauce, the main ingredients being oil and egg.

That does look good and I will definitely try it.

My big problem though is...

Since I live in Tokyo, every time I go out to eat nearly every single restaurant is carb heavy. Big bowl of rice with a little fish/meat. So I have to choose meat restaurants. Steak/Hamburg etc...


Another good option is Korean BBQ and Yakitori (meat on sticks). But there are plenty of places that put sauce on everything and then cook it until it's blackened. So I just wanted to see if someone knew if most of the sugars actually cook off. Like an alcoholic eating sauce with wine in it. Almost all the alcohol burns off, so who cares. But I guess if it's sweet, don't eat it haha.

(Also, this thread really went off topic because of Mayflowers.

I understand your concern over "artificial sweeteners" but basing those concerns on unscientific information is... foolish.

I have been following the aspartame situation since the '80s and I have probably read dozens of similar articles. But instead of reading the article and blindly believing it's true you may want to be more skeptical. That article is full of generalities, truths, untruths, half-truths and hyperbole that you really cannot believe a word of it. The author has a clear agenda to shock people into thinking the worst. But where is the actual science?

Here's a good example, a study done by the NIH on rats specifically to determine if aspartame causes brain tumors in rats:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7245229

This is an example of actual science. Have you ever read a science article in a magazine or newspaper and then actually read the study? You will find news stories to be gross misrepresentations of the science probably 99% of the time. Take all those stories over the years on cohort studies on Olive Oil. News articles will have headlines such as:

People Who Use Olive Oil Have Less Wrinkles

Here are the problems with articles like that:

1) It was a cohort study with no control. So the study is a possible CORRELATION between olive oil and wrinkles and does NOT show CAUSATION. It's an indication that a randomized, double blind control trial may be done to determine if it's TRUE
2) The cohort study does not actually say that olive oil reduces wrinkles.
3) People who use olive oil tend to be more wealthy and tend to eat more vegetables and not work outdoors (white collar and not blue collar). So the cohort may have nothing to do with olive oil.
4) It is written by a journalist who has a vested interest in having people read their articles and NOT actually producing scientific data.

I chose this particular example because this guy gives a good TED Talk which contains that example:
https://www.ted.com/talks/ben_golda...nce?language=en


In the article you linked, it tells the story of the approval process, possible flaws in studies, investigations and how a prosecuting attorney was hired by the law firm that was defending the main researcher. These circumstances are true. BUT THAT DOES NOT CHANGE THE SCIENCE AND HAS NO EFFECT ON OUTCOMES.

That all being said, aspartame is bad for the human body. But so is sugar, bread, fruit... Why aren't you out there raging against sugar? Why aspartame? Because you read some alarming articles about it.

Science rule no. 1:
If you read an alarming scientific news article, you must investigate the source yourself and/or look for contrary data.

Be skeptical. Don't hijack my forum thread asking a simple question to blast your opinions and hysterical views.

And one more thing "artificial anything" is unhealthy? What are you talking about?

How about corn, bananas, domesticated farm animals? All engineered by humans over centuries. These plants and animals did not exist in nature. Humans created them. Are they "artificial?"

Let's just take pigs as an example. Pigs used to be like wild boar. The meat was dark red and more like beef or lamb. And over time they were bred to be more docile and domesticated. The meat was still dark and fatty (the high fat was one of the reasons they were so valuable as food). Then, in the '50s, something happened. Some influential scientists were spreading the idea that fats caused heart disease. This idea spread and became entrenched in politics despite having little (or no) data to support it. The main example they gave of food you should not eat is fatty red meat. So the pig farmers associations decided they needed to change something or they were screwed. So they started breeding the pigs to be “The Other White Meat." And that is why pigs are no longer red meat. WE MADE THEM THAT WAY.

Is that unhealthy? They are "artificial" aren't they?


Here's an article about that if you're interested:
http://modernfarmer.com/2013/08/the...t-american-hog/

my car is a beautiful charcoal/shimmery color, and i nicknamed her "Fifty."

i had mentioned stevia and monkfruit, and i would like to add erythritol to the list.

I love Japanese food too but it is very hard for me to eat it now because of all of the carbs and sugar in and on everything.
I wouldn't count on all of the sugar burning off even if it is BBQed black.

Now, I usually order Chawen Mushi http://www.tripadvisor.com/Location...-Singapore.html

A salad and sashimi.

Yeah, I love Sashimi and Chawan Mushi too! One of my favorite things in the world haha.

Sugar alcohols are definitely natural as in they occur in nature. I suppose if your definition of natural is unprocessed or unmodified then even butter is unnatural. Sugar would be too. Takes lots of processing to make either one.

And... I LOVE that gray color of car! Wish mine was that color. I HAD to have a new Honda Fit before they were readily available so I ended up with a silver one. Not my favorite color, but it is okay.